Anton Christoforidis

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Christoforidis, Anton boxer
Christoforidis, Anton
Data
Birth Name Christoforidis, Anton
Weight class Middleweight, light heavyweight
nationality Greek
birthday May 26, 1917
place of birth Mersin
Date of death October 31, 1985
Place of death Athens
style Left-hand boom
size 1.77 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 65
Victories 43
Knockout victories 10
Defeats 15th
draw 7th
Profile in the BoxRec database

Anton Christoforidis (born May 26, 1917 in Mersin , † October 31, 1985 in Athens ) was a Greek boxer . He was world champion and European champion of professional boxers in the middleweight and light heavyweight division.

Career

Anton Christoforidis started boxing as a teenager in his Greek homeland. But he went to France at the age of 17 to become a professional boxer. He is said to have played his first professional fight on March 6, 1935 in Paris against the Spaniard Francisco Garcia Lluch. He won this fight over 10 rounds on points. According to other sources, he is said to have fought nine fights before this fight, of which the opponents are not known by name, but which he is said to have won.

On September 3, 1935 he fought in Paris against the Cuban Kid Tunero , who shortly before had twice boxed against Marcel Thil from France , but unsuccessfully, for the IBF World Middleweight Championship, a draw. With this fight he was known in the European boxing scene in one fell swoop. In the next few years he won against such good boxers as Adrien Anneet from Belgium , Assane Diouf from France ( Senegal ) and Marian Casadei from Italy and boxed against Edouard Tenet from France in a draw. He was also defeated twice in other fights against Kid Tunero and in a fight against Edouard Tenet.

On January 14, 1938, Anton Christoforidis, who was an excellent technician but had no "heavy" hand, landed a surprising victory on points in Berlin over the German welterweight European champion Gustav Eder , who was also aiming for a title fight for the EBU European championship in the middleweight division . Gustav Eder also failed to beat Anton Christoforidis in the rematch on May 6, 1938 in Berlin. This fight ended in a draw. In another elimination match for the right to challenge the reigning European middleweight champion Edouard Tenet, Anton Christoforidis lost on May 23, 1938 in Rotterdam against the Dutchman Bep van Klaveren after 10 rounds on points. On November 14, 1938 Anton Christoforidis was then in Rotterdam by a point victory after 15 rounds over Bep van Klaveren, who had dethroned Edouard Tenet in July 1938, the new European middleweight champion.

Just two months later, on January 10, 1939, Anton Christoforidis lost this title in Paris by losing points after 15 rounds to Edouard Tenet. After this defeat, he fought only one more time in Europe and went to the United States at the outbreak of World War II . He was based there in Cleveland / Ohio . On January 5, 1940, he played his first fight in the USA in Madison Square Garden in New York, in which he defeated Willie Pavlovich on points. Six more victories over American opponents followed in the next few months. On November 15, 1940, in Cleveland, he met the American Jimmy Bivins, who was at the top of the world rankings . The jury gave Jimmy Bivins the point victory after 10 rounds. Anton Christoforidis and his followers did not agree with this judgment. As a result, on December 2, 1940, again in Cleveland, the fight for revenge took place, in which Anton Christoforidis won unanimously on points.

On January 13, 1941, Anton Christoforidis got the chance in Cleveland against the experienced American Melio Bettina , who had already been world champion and had stood in the ring with world class boxers Fred Apostoli and Billy Conn , to win the vacant NBA world light heavyweight title boxing. He grabbed this opportunity with both hands out and scored Bettina over 15 laps and was new NBA champion at light heavyweight.

After two non-title fights, which he won against Italo Colonello and Johnny "Bandit" Romero, Anton Christoforidis lost his world title on May 22, 1941 in Madison Square Garden in New York by a point defeat after 15 rounds to Gus Lesnevich .

In his further career Anton Christoforidis did not get any title fights. In a very interesting fight he lost on January 12, 1942 in Cincinnati against the young Ezzard Charles , who was supposed to defeat Joe Louis in 1950 and was world heavyweight champion, by techn. KO in the 3rd round. He was down twice in that fight. On February 23, 1943, Anton Christoforidis lost in Cleveland for the "Duration" heavyweight title against Jimmy Bivins after 15 rounds on points. Finally he lost on April 21, 1943 in Cleveland also against the upcoming man in the light heavyweight division, the American Lloyd Marshall after 10 rounds on points.

From the summer of 1943 until the summer of 1945, Anton Christoforidis served in the US Navy.

After the end of the Second World War, he fought a total of four times in 1946. He won his first two fights against second-rate opponents, but lost on November 22, 1946 in Detroit against Steve Belloise from the USA by knockout in the 10th round and against the strong Estonian exile Anton Raadik by knockout in the 8th round. After these defeats he ended his active boxer career.

After boxing

Anton Christoforidis and his wife ran a restaurant and bar in Geneva / Ohio for the next few years . In 1961 his marriage ended in divorce. In 1968 he gave up the restaurant and from then on lived in Florida in retirement. In 1971 he returned to Greece for the first time for 45 days . He was enthusiastically celebrated there by his compatriots, who had not forgotten him. In 1985 he was on another visit to Greece, during which he died on October 31 of a heart attack.

literature

  • Box Sport magazine

Web links

Commons : Anton Christoforidis  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Christoforidis, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek boxer
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Mersin
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1985
Place of death Athens , Greece