Karl Mildenberger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Mildenberger boxer
Karl Mildenberger (right) against Ulrich Ritter in Kiel's Ostseehalle (1963)

Karl Mildenberger (right) against Ulrich Ritter in Kiel's Ostseehalle (1963)
Data
Birth Name Karl Mildenberger
Weight class Heavyweight
nationality GermanyGermany German
birthday November 23, 1937
place of birth Kaiserslautern
Date of death 4th October 2018
Place of death Kaiserslautern
style Legal display
size 1.87 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 62
Victories 53
Knockout victories 19th
Defeats 6th
draw 3

Karl Mildenberger (born November 23, 1937 in Kaiserslautern ; † October 4, 2018 there ) was a German boxer and EBU heavyweight boxing champion from 1964 to 1968 .

Mildenberger boxed in the right display, which was atypical for its time . As a professional, he completed 62 fights from 1958 to 1969, of which he won 53 (19 of them by knockout), with three draws and six defeats. At times in the 1960s he was the only European in the world rankings , which he even led at times.

Boxing career

amateur

Mildenberger began his boxing career in 1946 with training in the youth relay of the boxing department of 1. FC Kaiserslautern , which was headed by his uncle Richard Mildenberger. Due to the war damage of the Second World War , he trained temporarily on the lawn of the Betzenberg Stadium in the summer half of the year . At the age of eleven, he played his first amateur boxing match and in 1956 entered the German amateur squadron. In 1958 he won the German amateur championship.

professional

EM fights

In the same year Mildenberger became a professional in the boxing stable of promoter Willy Knörzer . After his death in 1960, Bruno Müller became his trainer. In his first EM fight he lost to Dick Richardson in Dortmund on February 24, 1962 by a knockout. in round 1. After this "lightning knockout defeat", Mildenberger was named "Karl der Flache" by the Bild-Zeitung in reference to Charlemagne , whose name he was nicknamed since his victory against Howard King ridiculed. He won the European title on the second attempt in his 45th fight against Sante Amonti on October 17, 1964 in Berlin by knockout. in the first round. Mildenberger successfully defended the European Championship six times:

  • May 14, 1965 in Frankfurt by winning points against Piero Tomasoni ,
  • November 26, 1965 in Frankfurt by winning points against Gerhard Zech ,
  • June 15, 1966 in Frankfurt by winning points against Yvan Preburg ,
  • February 1, 1967 in Frankfurt by winning points against Piero Tomasoni,
  • May 21, 1967 in London by K.-o. in the eighth round against Billy Walker ,
  • December 31, 1967 in Berlin by winning points against Gerhard Zech .

On September 18, 1968 Mildenberger lost the European Championship fight against the English "British Empire Heavyweight Champion" Henry Cooper by disqualification in the eighth round.

World Cup fights

Mildenberger's most important fight took place on September 10, 1966 in Frankfurt's Waldstadion . On that day, the reigning European champion gave heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali a great fight up to the twelfth round in front of 45,000 spectators and gave it a hard time. He put Ali under pressure with his dreaded left, especially in the sixth and seventh rounds. But because of a laceration over the left eye, the referee took the ailing Mildenberger out of the fight in the twelfth round. "It was my hardest fight since winning the title against Sonny Liston, " said Ali after his sixth successful title defense and announced that he would never box against Karl Mildenberger again. It was the first heavyweight world championship fight that was held in Germany. The fight was broadcast live on television in 11 European countries, but not in Germany.

When Muhammad Ali was stripped of the title in 1967, Mildenberger was once again world number one. In a World Cup elimination match, however, he suffered a heavy defeat after twelve rounds against the Argentine Óscar Bonavena on September 16, 1967 in Frankfurt and went down four times.

After boxing

In 1969 Mildenberger retired from boxing. After finishing his active career, however, in addition to his work at the Bavarian Brewery Kaiserslautern, he always remained true to his sporting aspects in life. This was reflected in a job as a lifeguard at the Sports and Bathing Authority in Kaiserslautern, which he held until he reached old age.

He passed on his knowledge and experience of boxing to the boxing department in his hometown of Kaiserslautern. There he volunteered for the next generation.

He was seen again and again at major boxing events in Germany, for example at Axel Schulz's World Cup fights .

At the German premiere of the movie Ali in Riesa in 2002 , the contestant from 1966 was also a guest and met Ali again after many years. The seriously ill Ali even challenged him to a little sparring again.

Karl Mildenberger lived in Kaiserslautern and died there on October 4, 2018 at the age of 80 in a hospice .

Honors

Others

The fight of Mildenberger against the American Archie McBride , which should have taken place on Friday, January 25, 1963 in the Berlin Sportpalast , was postponed by the organizers for a day as a precaution, because it was feared that the audience would be absent that evening. The reason was the television broadcast of the sixth and final episode of Francis Durbridge's crime film Tim Frazer , which achieved an audience rate of 93%.

Web links

Commons : Karl Mildenberger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Horst S. Vetten: Karl Mildenberger: A new Schmeling in sight? In: Zeit Online . November 17, 2012, accessed on October 7, 2018 (An earlier version was published in Die Zeit 50/1963 on December 13, 1963).
  2. ↑ Birthdays - Karl Mildenberger turns 56 . In: Sport-Bild. November 16, 1993, p. 69.
    Hartmut Scherzer: “The Greatest” made Karl Mildenberger famous. In: faz.net . November 23, 2007, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-dpa-boxing-legend-muhammad-ali-l-fights-a-show-match-against-his-former-53698216.html
  4. ↑ European boxing champion Karl Mildenberger dies at the age of 80. In: The Rhine Palatinate . October 5, 2018, accessed October 5, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Mildenberger, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German boxer
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Kaiserslautern
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 2018
Place of death Kaiserslautern