Between illusion and farce: How playfully Raab manipulated the audience

Did Stefan Raab manage to win the fight?

The boxing spectacle between Stefan Raab and Regina Halmich was less of a sporting competition than a modern “bread and circuses” event. The question of whether Raab won the fight becomes less important when you look at the evening as a whole. From the beginning, the focus was on offering the audience a show – like in the old arenas of Rome, where the goal was to entertain the masses, no matter how absurd or staged the performance seemed.

Raab did not appear as a serious boxer, but as an entertainer who knew that the audience had come to see him – whether he won or lost. The real winner was the spectacle itself. The audience was practically forced to play along and throw themselves into this orchestrated event. Of course, the victory ultimately went to Halmich, but the real “win” was the fuss surrounding Raab and the assurance of his myth as an unshakable showman.

The fans were treated to a “fight” that was more of a show than a sport.

Christoph Maria Michalski is “The Conflict Navigator”, a speaker and coach for decision-makers in the workplace. There are many tools for better communication, but no system for how these tools can be specifically applied. For this purpose, he developed KonfliktFLOW – 6 waypoints as a checklist for a successful approach. The basic principles of this idea were published in “The Conflict Bible” in 2018. As a marathon runner, he knows that success is the result of continuous training.

How fit was Raab really?

Stefan Raab had cleverly played with a fat suit in the run-up to his return to the competition to maintain the illusion that he was completely out of shape. But as it turned out, this was just another part of the big game. Instead of focusing on real boxing, Raab staged his physical condition as part of the entertainment. Viewers were forced to be drawn into the misdirection while wondering: Is he fit? Can he compete?

The answer, like so much that evening, was beside the point. Raab was fitter than expected, but that was not the point. It was never about whether Raab was really at his best – it was about keeping the show going, manipulating expectations and keeping the audience on board. And while viewers hoped to see a serious competition, what they got was more of a circus performance.

How does the fight go?

The fight itself? A perfectly staged spectacle that had little to do with real boxing. From the first gong it was clear that this was not a serious sporting duel, but pure entertainment. Halmich could probably have defeated Raab in a few minutes. But the plan required that the fight last the full six rounds – so that the spectators had the feeling that they were experiencing a “real” duel.

In reality, the audience was being manipulated. It was less about who was the better boxer than about maintaining the illusion of a competition. Every punch, every move was part of the game, and the spectators – whether they wanted to or not – had to watch as they were being deceived. The spectacle was everything, the sport almost nothing.

The boxing match reminded me strongly of the famous boxing scene from Charlie Chaplin's 1931 film “City Lights”. Both events rely on comedic staging rather than serious sport.

Was this Raab’s final TV comeback?

It quickly seems cynical to ask this question, because it was clear from the beginning that Raab's “comeback” was more a demonstration of his entertainer status than a serious sporting event.

The self-staging ended with the announcement of a new Raab show on TV. However, it will not be broadcast on his old home channel ProSieben, but on RTL+.

How did the audience react to the spectacle?

The reactions to the evening could hardly have been more contradictory. Some celebrated Raab as the master of the show who managed to draw everyone into his world of illusions. But for many, the evening was a farce – a spectacle that had little to do with real sport. The celebrities applauded, the audience cheered, but beneath the surface there was a feeling of disappointment: Was that really all?

Many spectators feel like they were being “taken for a ride”: They had hoped for a real fight, but what they got was a perfectly choreographed spectacle that was more show than sport. In the end, there is a bitter aftertaste: the spectators were sacrificed for the entertainment, the sport was just an empty shell.

The best statement of the evening came from Regina Halmich: “That was our last fight!”