Imagine spending months meticulous planning a major professional boxing event in a country where the combat sports landscape has historically been sparse, only to discover that you will be going head-to-head with one of the most powerful and influential promotional powerhouses in world boxing.
This is precisely the unexpected reality facing Florian Winter, the driving force behind Germany’s emerging Ringside Zone promotion. Next month, Winter and his team could hardly have anticipated finding themselves on a collision course with Frank Warren’s globally renowned Queensberry Promotions.
As far as Winter and his logistical planners were aware, there would be zero interference or regional competition when staging their upcoming show at Europa-Park. Located in southwestern Germany, Europa-Park is celebrated as one of Europe’s largest and most iconic theme parks, offering a uniquely grand and high-profile backdrop for a night of elite professional boxing.
That sense of smooth, unobstructed preparation persisted until the boxing world received the official announcement regarding a blockbuster showdown between Agit Kabayel and Nelson Hysa. That major card was scheduled to take place just a few hours away in Dusseldorf on the exact same weekend—albeit a day later—on November 28.
Geographically speaking, the physical distance between Dusseldorf and Europa-Park provides a modest cushion, meaning neither individual event should suffer catastrophic localized ticket sales due to direct audience cannibalization. Even so, the scheduling overlap is far from ideal for an ambitious domestic promotion. Having a world-class heavyweight contender and an immensely popular Kurdish-German sporting figure fighting in the same county on the exact same weekend as your next major showcase naturally creates fierce competition for media attention, corporate sponsorships, and public interest.
Yet, when speaking candidly with Boxing News, Winter acknowledged the awkward timing of the situation while resolutely choosing to view the overlapping calendar dates through an optimistic lens.
"It’s not frustrating—I always say: You need to find a solution and think positively," Winter reflected when addressing the Queensberry-backed card. "For sure, it would be better not to have these events on the same weekend, but I think we can handle it."
Part of the reason Winter remains entirely unruffled by the sudden emergence of the Kabayel-Hysa clash is his distinct strategic vision for the German market. While he fully recognizes the massive UK clout and promotional muscle wielded by Queensberry Promotions on an international scale, Winter believes that his own promotional banner, Ringside Zone, is actively cultivating an entirely different kind of relationship with German sports fans.
Rather than building a sustainable business model around one specific superstar fighter who can single-handedly move tickets, Winter’s ultimate goal is to nurture a brand ecosystem. He hopes to reach a stage where, regardless of who happens to be anchoring the main event, local and traveling fans will immediately purchase a ticket with the confident expectation that they will be thoroughly entertained from the first bell to the last.
"We can’t do it like you do in the UK, with fighters [selling tickets], so we have to build Ringside Zone into a platform like the UFC," Winter explained, pointing to the mixed martial arts giant as a blueprint for sustained domestic success. "Then you go to a Ringside Zone event and know it’s going to be good quality, with a lot of action and innovation. I think this is the key to holding boxing in Germany. Before, we just built the Klitschko brothers [Wladimir and Vitali], and when Wladimir lost to Anthony Joshua [in 2017], German boxing went to sleep because there was no platform."
British and Irish boxing aficionados may already be familiar with Winter’s methods, having witnessed Ringside Zone’s breakout night back in May. That memorable evening saw Paddy Donovan deliver a stellar performance to defeat Karen Chukhadzhian at Mannheim’s impressive SAP-Arena, capturing the attention of international observers.
In the lead-up to that high-stakes event, Winter was shouldering a considerable amount of pressure to prove that large-scale boxing could still thrive on German soil. Ultimately, he managed to deliver a triumphant, highly polished show that defied local pessimism by drawing thousands of enthusiastic spectators into the arena from the very start of the undercard at 7 pm, a stark contrast to the late-arriving crowds typical of many UK fight nights.
"I was really happy with the event in Mannheim—most people in Germany didn’t think we could bring more than 10,000 people to an arena for boxing," Winter said, reflecting on the milestone achievement. "It shows the target group is still there, and that event really helped us with sponsorship deals and media [exposure]."
For Winter, the high-pressure environment of combat sports promotion is not a deterrent, but rather an energizing force that drives his entrepreneurial ambitions forward.
"There’s always pressure, but I love pressure. How do you say—pressure makes diamonds? No risk, no fun!" he added with a smile. "And I always feel confident, because we have a great team. We are Germans, so we do things step by step, with planning and a structure in place."
Looking ahead to Ringside Zone’s imminent return at Europa-Park, expectant fans can look forward to another blockbuster heavyweight extravaganza. The card is set to feature the continued development of unbeaten heavyweight prospect Emanuel Odiase, alongside a high-stakes European title clash between Labinot Xhoxhaj and Eduardo Giustini.
When the conversation turns to why Germany has suddenly become a breeding ground for so much emerging heavyweight talent, Winter initially offered a lighthearted joke, suggesting that young German athletes simply "eat a lot." However, he quickly pivoted to a serious analysis of the country’s athletic infrastructure, highlighting the exceptionally high standard of amateur competition within the nation. He pointed to standouts like Nikita Putilov and Amin Younes Ouchaou as prime examples of elite talent currently leading the way in the unpaid code.
That robust pipeline of amateur success is steadily feeding into the professional ranks, where a new generation of fighters is beginning to capture the imagination of the public. Among the most promising rising professionals are Olympic bronze medallist Nelvie Tiafack and the talented Ademi brothers—Ismet and Endrit—who officially signed lucrative multi-year promotional deals with Ringside Zone just last month. As Winter and his team prepare to share the weekend spotlight with Queensberry Promotions, these young stars represent the foundational pillars upon which Ringside Zone hopes to build its lasting, platform-driven future for German boxing.
