Northern Switzerland The Boxing Club Basel celebrates its 100th birthday with "Boxing and Brecht"

The Boxing Club Basel is celebrating its 100th birthday. Among other things, on Saturday with a special evening at the Basel Schauspielhaus, which will build a bridge from boxing to boxing enthusiast Bertolt Brecht with fists, lyrics and songs.

The Basel Boxing Club was founded in 1924. The first fights took place in the Gesellschaftshaus zur Mägd in St. Johanns-Vorstadt. The traditional boxing club has now been based on the Basel barracks site for over 50 years. It was one of the first new users of the former military site.

The Boxclub Basel has distinguished itself with some outstanding fighters, but also with innovative approaches to expanding its clientele. In the early 1990s, for example, it was one of the pioneers of women's boxing.

In 2002, the club produced the first Swiss women's champion, Sonja Tuor. In 2023, Gabi Balboa Timar became European professional champion at the Volkshaus in Basel. She followed in the footsteps of her club colleague Arnold Gjergjaj, who won the men's heavyweight title in Basel in 2014.

Boxing and Brecht

The boxing club has also been staging cultural events related to boxing since 2001. For the anniversary event, the club is now teaming up with members of the Basel acting ensemble. The successful boxer Gabi Balboa Timar will also be taking part. She will be competing against Nunoi Kanyarat from Thailand.

Between amateur and professional fights, the Basel company will perform texts, scenes and songs by Bertolt Brecht at the Schauspielhaus on Saturday. "Boxing and Brecht", the title of the event, is not a contrived connection. After all, the famous playwright had a soft spot for boxing.

SDA