{"id":233977,"date":"2025-07-03T06:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T06:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/233977\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T06:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T06:13:10","slug":"michael-lowe-dead-aged-57-tributes-pour-in-as-unbeaten-former-world-champion-boxer-turned-rally-driver-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/233977\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Lowe dead aged 57: Tributes pour in as unbeaten former world champion boxer-turned-rally driver passes away"},"content":{"rendered":"

TRIBUTES have poured in following the tragic news that Michael Lowe has died at the age of 57.<\/p>\n

Lowe, real name Mihai Leu, was a Romanian boxing<\/a> world champion who later forged a career as a rally driver. <\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Mihau Leu has died at the age of 57Credit: Facebook\"Mihai<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

He was an unbeaten boxing world champion before injury forced him to abandon boxing\"Red<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

He later became a rally car driverCredit: Alamy<\/p>\n

Bild report Leu died in Romania<\/a> following a battle with cancer. <\/p>\n

He was unbeaten across 28 professional fights between 1991 and 1997, scoring 10 knockouts.<\/p>\n

And Leu’s prowess saw him achieve world champion status.<\/p>\n

In February 1997, he defeated Santiago Samaniego to become the WBO welterweight world champion.<\/p>\n

He then successfully defended his crown in September of that year, defeating Ireland<\/a>‘s Michael Carruth.<\/p>\n

However, he called it quits on his career and retired as one of only three undefeated European world champions at the time, after Jack McAuliffe and Terry Marsh.<\/p>\n

A hand injury suffered in his last fight forced him to abandon boxing altogether.<\/p>\n

But refusing to give up on sports entirely, he decided to switch careers to become a rally car driver full-time, having made his debut in 1994.<\/p>\n

And within three years of starting full-time in 1997, Leu was Romania<\/a>‘s rally vice-champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2003 he became his nation’s national champion.<\/p>\n

He eventually gave up pro racing in 2008 but did return as a team manager in 2010.<\/p>\n

In 2014, he survived a fight with colon cancer following surgery in Bucharest and treatment in Vienna.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his loving wife, Anna, and son Marco.<\/p>\n

The President of Romania, Nicusor Dan, paid tribute on social media.<\/p>\n

He said: “I learned with deep sadness the news of Mihai Leu’s passing.<\/p>\n

“Romania loses not only an exceptional champion with an impressive record in sports but also an honorable man who inspired through courage, passion, and integrity.<\/p>\n

“His public presence was always synonymous with uprightness and respect for authentic values.<\/p>\n

“He will remain in our memory as a true legend and a benchmark for what dignity means in sports and in life.<\/p>\n

“I extend my sincere condolences to his family and all those close to him.”<\/p>\n

Kickboxing Romania said: “Rest In Peace, Mihai Leu!”<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania added: “Romania has lost a tenacious athlete who will forever remain a legend of the ring. <\/p>\n

“Mihai Leu, our first world champion in professional boxing, has passed away. Thank you for everything you gave to Romanian sports. Rest in peace, champion!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TRIBUTES have poured in following the tragic news that Michael Lowe has died at the age of 57.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,203,1438,8310,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-233977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-celebrity-deaths","10":"tag-romania","11":"tag-section-sportboxing","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114787831622458095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}