Harry Simon (born 21 October 1971) is a

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior middleweight title from 1998 to 2001, and the WBO middleweight title in 2002. In 2002, Simon was involved in a serious car crash. He was found guilty of " culpable homicide" and sentenced to jail in 2007. Simon was released in 2009. He lost his world middleweight title owing to injuries sustained from the car accident, being stripped of the belt for failure to defend it. In 2013 Simon won the vacant IBF International

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

title against Geard Ajetović, and defended it against him again in 2014. He retired undefeated with a record of 31–0–0, with 23 wins by way of knockout.

Amateur highlights

As an amateur Simon represented Namibia as a welterweight at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

in Barcelona, Spain, and had an overall amateur record of 121–9. His result was: *Lost to Aníbal Acevedo (Puerto Rico) 11–13

Professional career

Simon turned pro in 1994 and won the WBO junior middleweight title in 1998 by defeating Winky Wright by controversial decision. The bout had initially been ruled a draw, but then a "scoring error" favoring Simon was discovered. He defended the title four times against Kevin Lueshing, Enrique Areco, Rodney Jones and Wayne Alexander. He later captured the WBO middleweight title against Sweden's Armand Krajnc in a unanimous 12-round decision. In 2002, Simon was involved in a serious car accident, sustaining injuries that prevented his defending his title; because of this he was stripped of the belt. Simon returned to boxing in March 2007, winning an eight round decision over Stephen Nzuemb, in Namibia. He won a fight against Tanzanian Rashid Mutumla by knockout on 2 December 2010. Following his release from jail in 2009, Simon launched a comeback, recording several wins over journeyman opposition. On 24 November 2018 Simon fought together with his son, Harry Simon Jr. They both won their fights, making it a first in Namibia for father and son to appear together, and to both win.

Professional boxing record

Outside the ring

Simon was involved in two serious car accidents resulting in fatalities. In the first accident in 2001, two people died outside

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

in a hit-and-run accident. Simon's car's estimated speed was . Some controversy developed around this accident, as blood samples disappeared, and originally Simon was reported to be driving. His driver later admitted to have steered the vehicle and was sentenced to 2 years in jail. The second accident, in late 2002, saw Simon seriously injured and eventually sent to jail. Three Belgian tourists - two adults and a baby - died in the collision with Simon's Mercedes-Benz at Langstrand in November 2002. On 5 August 2005, Simon was given a two-year jail sentence, after he was found guilty of culpable homicide stemming from the November 2002 car accident, which resulted in the deaths of the three people. On 9 July 2007, Simon began serving his two-year prison sentence for culpable homicide after losing the appeal of his 2005 conviction. Simon did not call any witnesses or testify in his own behalf during the appeal proceedings, and his conviction and sentence were not overturned. He was released in 2009. In 2020 he published a book, ''"Lifestyle and Treatments in Prison"'', detailing his experiences in jail.

References

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