Sinan Şamil Sam (23 June 1974 – 30 October 2015) was a Turkish

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

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 ...

As a professional boxer, Sam won the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

, WBC international and WBC Mediterranean titles in the heavyweight division. According to his former managers, Sam died after battling liver and kidney failure.

Amateur career

Sinan Şamil Sam won Turkish Amateur Boxing Championship nine times.

Highlights

Junior European Championships (Middleweight),

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, 1992: * Quarterfinals: Defeated Istvan Kozak (Hungary) KO 1 * Semifinals: Defeated Chris Davies (Wales) 8:7 * Finals: Lost to

Vassiliy Jirov Vassiliy Valeryevich Jirov (; born 4 April 1974), sometimes known as Vasily Zhirov, is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2009, and held the IBF cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2003. As an amateur he won a gold ...

(Kazakhstan) 7:11 Junior World Championships (Light Heavyweight),

Montreal, Canada Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, 1992. * Preliminaries: Defeated Jay Massie (Canada) 8:2 * Quarterfinals: Defeated Dmitriy Gorbachov (Russia) 14:5 * Semifinals: Defeated Yuriy Dvornikov (Ukraine) 17:6 * Finals: Defeated Alexander Gonzalez (Puerto Rico) 11:1

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fr ...

(Light Heavyweight),

Languedoc-Roussillon, France Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and bordered the other French regions of Provence-Alpe ...

, 1993. * Semifinals: Defeated Mohamed Benguesmia (Algeria) on points * Finals: Defeated Vasilikos Paris (Greece) TKO 1

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

(Light Heavyweight),

Bursa, Turkey Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

, 1993. * Preliminaries: Defeated Kelly Oliver (England) TKO 1 * Quarterfinals: Defeated Ervins Chelmanis (Latvia) 6:1 * Semifinals: Defeated Sven Ottke (Germany) 4:2 * Finals: Lost to Igor Kshinin (Russia) 2:2+

World Military Games The Military World Games is a multi-sport event for military sportspeople, organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). They have been held since 1995, although championships for separate sports had been held for some years. A ...

(Heavyweight),

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 1995: * Quarterfinals: Defeated Ionas Dambrauskas (Lithuania) 12:1 * Semifinals: Lost to

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

(Ukraine) 2:12

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(Heavyweight),

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

, 1995: * Preliminaries: Defeated

Kwamena Turkson Papa Kwamena Andze Turkson (born 17 January 1976) is a retired male boxer from Sweden. Turkson competed for his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was stopped in the second round of the men's heavyweight di ...

(Sweden) 6:4 * Preliminaries: Defeated

DaVarryl Williamson DaVarryl Jerome Williamson (born July 25, 1968) is an American former professional boxer. A highly-touted amateur, he challenged once for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2005. Early and personal life Williamson was raised in poverty in the ...

(United States) 10:0 * Quarterfinals: Defeated Mustafa Amrou (Egypt) TKO 3 * Semifinals: Lost to

Luan Krasniqi Luan Krasniqi (born 10 May 1971) is a German-Albanian actor and former professional boxer. He held the European heavyweight title and also challenged for the WBO world heavyweight title. Background Krasniqi is the youngest of eight children to ...

(Germany) 3:7

(Super Heavyweight),

Minsk, Belarus Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk region ...

, 1998. * Preliminaries: Defeated

Mirko Filipović Mirko Filipović (; born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a Croatian former professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro Cop ...

(Croatia) 5:1 * Quarterfinals: Defeated Patrick Halberg (Denmark) 3:0 * Semifinals: Lost to Alexey Lezin (Russia)) 3:9

(Super Heavyweight),

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 1999. * Preliminaries: Defeated Tomasz Bonin (Poland) 8:3 * Quarterfinals: Defeated

Audley Harrison Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur, he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and ...

(England) 4:3 * Semifinals: Defeated Felix Diachuk (Russia) 10:3 * Finals: Defeated

Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov Mukhtarkhan Qabylanbekuly Dildabekov (, ''Mūhtarhan Qabylanbekūly Dıldäbekov''; born March 19, 1976) is a Kazakh boxer, best known to win the silver medal in the Super Heavyweight division (+91 kg) at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Career ...

(Kazakhstan) +4:4

Professional career

Sam, known as "Bull of the Bosphorus", turned professional in 2000. He won his first 18 fights, including victories over Przemyslaw Saleta, Danny Williams, and

Julius Francis Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a British former professional boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the mid 90s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout, having been a former European ...

. In 2003, he suffered his first professional defeat to

Juan Carlos Gómez Juan Carlos Gómez (born 26 July 1973) is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2014. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 1998 to 2002, and challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2009. Amateur career *Ama ...

and lost the following fight against

. In 2005, he beat

Lawrence Clay Bey Lawrence Marvin Clay-Bey (born December 14, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who fought at heavyweight. As an amateur he was a two-time winner (1995 and 1996) of the United States National Championships as well as a bronze medalis ...

to set up a fight with

Oleg Maskaev Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev (; born 2 March 1969) is a Kazakhstani-born former professional boxer of Mordvinian origin, who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2006 to 2008. Throughout his career, he represented ...

, a fight which he lost on points by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

. After the loss to Maskaev, he defeated Saul Montana in 2006, but then lost a WBC eliminator to

Oliver McCall Oliver McCall (born April 21, 1965) is an American professional boxer who began competing professionally in 1985. A veteran of the sport for over three decades, he is best known for winning the WBC heavyweight title in 1994 by scoring an upset k ...

in June 2007. After three more victories against limited opponents he fought

Paolo Vidoz Paolo Vidoz (born 21 August 1970) is an Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2011 and held the European heavyweight title from 2005 to 2006. As an amateur Vidoz won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in the super-heavyw ...

on July 4, 2008; he won the fight by a majority decision.

Professional boxing record

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Bob Mirovic Bob "The Big Bear" Mirovic (born 25 February 1966) is an Australian boxer of Croatian descent. Standing at 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) and with a reach of 203 cm (80 inches), he started boxing at the age of 22 in 1987. He has fought ...

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George Arias George Alberto Arias (born March 12, 1972) is an American former baseball player in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball. Career Arias was drafted by the California Angels in the seventh round of the 1993 Major League Basebal ...

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, , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 22–2, , align=left, Denis Bakhtov , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 21–2, , align=left, Siarhei Dychkou , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 20–2, , align=left, Doug Liggion , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 19–2, , align=left, Edgars Kalnars , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss, , 18–2, , align=left,

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Przemysław Saleta Przemysław Saleta (born 7 March 1968) is a Polish professional boxer, as well as a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Later he became an actor and sports commentator as well as a TV personality. Achievements Kickboxing: *1990 W.A.K.O. ...

, , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 15–0, , align=left, Roman Bugaj , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 14–0, , align=left, Thomas Williams , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 13–0, , align=left, Chris Isaac , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 12–0, , align=left, Henry Kolle Njume , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 11–0, , align=left, Ratko Draskovic , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 10–0, , align=left, Yuriy Yelistratov , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 9–0, , align=left, Stanyslav Tovkachov , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 8–0, , align=left, Denis Edwige , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 7–0, , align=left, Willie Chapman , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 6–0, , align=left, Bradley Rone , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 5–0, , align=left, Vlado Szabo , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 4–0, , align=left, Eduardo Antonio Carranza , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 3–0, , align=left, Daniel Jerling , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 2–0, , align=left, Alex Kosztopulosz , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win, , 1–0, , align=left, Frantisek Sumina , , , , , , align=left, , align=left,

Television viewership

Germany

{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Date !! Fight !! Viewership () !! Network !! Source , - , , Sinan Şamil Sam vs.

, ,

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

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, , ZDF , , - , , Sinan Şamil Sam vs.

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Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

, , - ! ! Total viewership ! 10,560,000 ! !

References

External links

*
News and Pictures of Sinan Samil Sam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sam, Sinan Samil 1974 births 2015 deaths Martial artists from Frankfurt Turkish male boxers German male boxers German sportspeople of Turkish descent German people of Azerbaijani descent Light-heavyweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Super-heavyweight boxers European Boxing Union champions Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Turkey Mediterranean Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Burials at Karşıyaka Cemetery, Ankara 20th-century German sportsmen