German junior welterweight Simon “Saucy” Vollmer (6-0, 2 KOs) is the latest signee of Los Angeles-based boxing managers 3 Point Management (3PM). Vollmer made his successful 3 PM debut, dominating Leon Martinez (2-3-1, 2 KOs) en route to a six-round unanimous decision on a show promoted this past May by Red Boxing International, at Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California. Vollmar followed that with a six-round unanimous decision victory over Seiran Engel this past July 13th.
A four-time member of the German National Boxing Team, the 22 year-old Vollmer is a southpaw from Heidelberg who now trains in Santa Monica (CA) at Churchill Boxing Club under the guidance of head trainer Pedro Neme.
“I traveled a lot to different gyms in the United States and went to Brickhouse (Boxing Club in North Hollywood, CA) with a friend,” Vollmer explained his decision to sign with 3 PM. “I worked out there and we (manager David Shu) started following each other. He saw me fight on YouTube and contacted me. I studied a lot before I made a decision to sign. The big factor was the team: who they’ve signed, how they’ve moved their fighters, and where they are today. All categories were very good. They keep their fighters active and in big fights. There’s a lot of talent in Los Angeles. 3 PM takes good care of its fighters and that was very important to me.”
Vollmer started boxing at the age of 10, a self-described troubled kid who liked to fight. Living in Germany, naturally, he played soccer, but he wanted to be the center of attention, and didn’t like team sports. He turned to karate and other combat sports. There was an after-school boxing program offered. Simon attended, started sparring and quickly beat more experienced fighters, and soon fell in love with boxing.
On the German National Boxing Team, Vollmer lived at the Olympic Training Center in Germany, in addition to traveling worldwide for tournaments. He gained invaluable experience fighting opponents with various styles and became obsessed with boxing. Simon lost his first amateur match but went on to record an 80-9-1 amateur record.
“But I felt something was missing,” he said. “I’m proud of my country, but its amateur boxing program is not good because it isn’t supported. It’s political. I’d ask coaches what to do so I could improve, but they didn’t seem to care. I wanted to be in the Olympics and believed I had the skill level for it. I had raw potential, so I took the money I had saved from being on the German National Team and traveled to the United States.
Vollmer started going to different U.S. gyms and he eventually developed what he calls a very old-school American style. “People won’t believe it,” he added, “but that’s how I fight. Tom Yankello, who trained Paul Spadafora, mentored me and helped change my style. I’m a slick counter-puncher with my jabs and explosiveness from the outside. I’m versatile, though. I adjust during the fight and when there’s an opportunity to break down my opponent, I switch and start counter-punching on the inside.”
When he first started boxing, Simon enjoyed watching tapes of Sugar Ray Leonard, but his all-time favorite is fellow southpaw, the late, great Pernell Whitaker. A true student of boxing, Vollmer also appreciates old-school fighters such as Roberto Duran, Salvador Sanchez and Joe Louis, to name a few of the more notable boxers he has studied and admires.
