RIP Karl Mildenberger

[scorpio83]

Another sad news, 3 days after the sudden death of former IBF Super Middleweight and WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Graciano Rocchigiani, another German legend Karl Mildenberger, who was one of Muhammad Ali's opponents and challenger for his title in 1966 have passed away at the aged of 80.

[DrDuke]

RIP Karl. He provided a solid effort against Ali. Mildenberger even troubled him early, but then Ali took over.

[bennie]

Just days after the horrible death of Graciano “Rocky” Rocchigiani, German boxing suffered another blow when Karl Mildenberger passed away at the age of 80 late last week.
The bull-like Mildenberger, the first ever southpaw to fight for the world heavyweight title, challenged Muhammad Ali for the title in Frankfurt in September 1966 and gave the unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable champion all the trouble he could handle before Ali asserted himself and came through in the 12th round of a 15-rounder.
It ranks as a heroic performance from Mildenberger who was given absolutely no chance beforehand but dominated the early rounds with educated southpaw attacks, particularly to the body, and continued to mix it after Ali dropped him in the eighth and 10th rounds. Cut and swollen around both eyes, Mildenberger was virtually defenceless by the time of the stoppage but the crowd of 45,000 roared his name and his display earned him a precious spot in the eight-man tournament to find Ali's successor after the great man was stripped of the title in 1967.
Unfortunately for Mildenberger, he faced the volatile Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena of Argentina in the first stage of the competition, a man even stronger than he was, and he took a beating over the course of 12 rounds to lose widely on the cards on German soil. (Jimmy Ellis, Ali's sparring partner, then beat Bonavena and made a mockery of the whole tournament by winning it.) The brave Mildenberger was not the same afterwards, losing two of three fights and calling it quits after Henry Cooper outboxed him in a European title meeting at Wembley in 1968. Karl, who was slung out for reckless headwork against Cooper, left with a fine 53-6-3 (19) record that included wins over Americans Eddie Machen, Jimmy Slade and Pete Rademacher and several British opponents. He was still only 30.
Mildenberger turned pro as a 20-year-old in 1958 and proved remarkably active on the way up, often fighting twice a month and losing only two of his first 54 fights - one of them a stunning first-round knockout at the hands of our own Dick Richardson in a crack at the European heavyweight title in Dortmund in 1962. It was a seemingly disastrous setback but Karl bounced back with wins over the likes of Joe Erskine, Billy Daniels and Joe Bygraves, then challenged again for the European crown in 1964 and flattened Italy's Santo Amonti in the opening frame to make amends for Richardson, who had retired to run a string of butcher's shops.
Karl developed into an outstanding champion, rattling off six defences and virtually toying with Billy Walker in one of them in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley, stopping the golden boy in the eighth round. Despite his burly, uncomplicated appearance, Mildenberger was clever with his attacks, moving in and out or from side to side smoothly. He won most of his fights on points and his body punches in particular discouraged many of his opponents and had them in survival mode. It was no fluke he did so well against Ali.
“He was hard to get to,” admitted a gracious Ali after their battle, “and he had a pretty good punch – he was sharp.”

[scorpio83]

I forgot to mentioned that Mildenberger was the last surviving boxer who fought in the WBA Heavyweight Title Elimination Bout to passed on and out living 7 boxers who fought in the same elimination tournament, including former two-time World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson, former WBA Heavyweight Champion Ernie Terrell, and eventual WBA Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis, contenders Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Thad Spencer and Leotis Martin.

[SteveO]

Very sad news.
'Milde' gave Ali a very tough fight.
Does anyone know what illness Karl was suffering from?

[Flump]

I remember watching his fight with Bonavena on Channel 5 in the early hours about 15 years ago.. It was a strange one because Mildenberger was beating Bonavena for large portions of the fight but he kept getting floored and therefore lost the decision.

As bennie says in his excellent piece, the first southpaw to fight for the World Heavyweight title, incredible really considering the title as we know it had been in existence by 1966 for 80 odd years.

[Bodyshot3]

A fine fighter.........and during a period when European heavyweights were (often) held in little regard.

[Ambling Alp II]

Too bad not much footage of him seems available. I don't think there is much besides the Bonavena fight on Youtube. He really seemed to be pretty mobile.

[prewarboxing]

Just days after the horrible death of Graciano “Rocky” Rocchigiani, German boxing suffered another blow when Karl Mildenberger passed away at the age of 80 late last week.
The bull-like Mildenberger, the first ever southpaw to fight for the world heavyweight title, challenged Muhammad Ali for the title in Frankfurt in September 1966 and gave the unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable champion all the trouble he could handle before Ali asserted himself and came through in the 12th round of a 15-rounder.
It ranks as a heroic performance from Mildenberger who was given absolutely no chance beforehand but dominated the early rounds with educated southpaw attacks, particularly to the body, and continued to mix it after Ali dropped him in the eighth and 10th rounds. Cut and swollen around both eyes, Mildenberger was virtually defenceless by the time of the stoppage but the crowd of 45,000 roared his name and his display earned him a precious spot in the eight-man tournament to find Ali's successor after the great man was stripped of the title in 1967.
Unfortunately for Mildenberger, he faced the volatile Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena of Argentina in the first stage of the competition, a man even stronger than he was, and he took a beating over the course of 12 rounds to lose widely on the cards on German soil. (Jimmy Ellis, Ali's sparring partner, then beat Bonavena and made a mockery of the whole tournament by winning it.) The brave Mildenberger was not the same afterwards, losing two of three fights and calling it quits after Henry Cooper outboxed him in a European title meeting at Wembley in 1968. Karl, who was slung out for reckless headwork against Cooper, left with a fine 53-6-3 (19) record that included wins over Americans Eddie Machen, Jimmy Slade and Pete Rademacher and several British opponents. He was still only 30.
Mildenberger turned pro as a 20-year-old in 1958 and proved remarkably active on the way up, often fighting twice a month and losing only two of his first 54 fights - one of them a stunning first-round knockout at the hands of our own Dick Richardson in a crack at the European heavyweight title in Dortmund in 1962. It was a seemingly disastrous setback but Karl bounced back with wins over the likes of Joe Erskine, Billy Daniels and Joe Bygraves, then challenged again for the European crown in 1964 and flattened Italy's Santo Amonti in the opening frame to make amends for Richardson, who had retired to run a string of butcher's shops.
Karl developed into an outstanding champion, rattling off six defences and virtually toying with Billy Walker in one of them in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley, stopping the golden boy in the eighth round. Despite his burly, uncomplicated appearance, Mildenberger was clever with his attacks, moving in and out or from side to side smoothly. He won most of his fights on points and his body punches in particular discouraged many of his opponents and had them in survival mode. It was no fluke he did so well against Ali.
“He was hard to get to,” admitted a gracious Ali after their battle, “and he had a pretty good punch – he was sharp.”

Another superb obit from Bennie. He is really very good at these.

My own obit for Karl will be published in Boxing News next Thursday (18th). It only mentions Ali in passing, rather it is more of an appreciation of him set against his battles with British opponents.

Miles

[scorpio83]

Mildenberger almost fought everyone in the 1960s between Europeans and world class fighters. He even fought Zora Folley to a draw and beat fellow German southpaw Gerhard Zech twice.

[bennie]

Just days after the horrible death of Graciano “Rocky” Rocchigiani, German boxing suffered another blow when Karl Mildenberger passed away at the age of 80 late last week.
The bull-like Mildenberger, the first ever southpaw to fight for the world heavyweight title, challenged Muhammad Ali for the title in Frankfurt in September 1966 and gave the unbeaten and seemingly unbeatable champion all the trouble he could handle before Ali asserted himself and came through in the 12th round of a 15-rounder.
It ranks as a heroic performance from Mildenberger who was given absolutely no chance beforehand but dominated the early rounds with educated southpaw attacks, particularly to the body, and continued to mix it after Ali dropped him in the eighth and 10th rounds. Cut and swollen around both eyes, Mildenberger was virtually defenceless by the time of the stoppage but the crowd of 45,000 roared his name and his display earned him a precious spot in the eight-man tournament to find Ali's successor after the great man was stripped of the title in 1967.
Unfortunately for Mildenberger, he faced the volatile Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena of Argentina in the first stage of the competition, a man even stronger than he was, and he took a beating over the course of 12 rounds to lose widely on the cards on German soil. (Jimmy Ellis, Ali's sparring partner, then beat Bonavena and made a mockery of the whole tournament by winning it.) The brave Mildenberger was not the same afterwards, losing two of three fights and calling it quits after Henry Cooper outboxed him in a European title meeting at Wembley in 1968. Karl, who was slung out for reckless headwork against Cooper, left with a fine 53-6-3 (19) record that included wins over Americans Eddie Machen, Jimmy Slade and Pete Rademacher and several British opponents. He was still only 30.
Mildenberger turned pro as a 20-year-old in 1958 and proved remarkably active on the way up, often fighting twice a month and losing only two of his first 54 fights - one of them a stunning first-round knockout at the hands of our own Dick Richardson in a crack at the European heavyweight title in Dortmund in 1962. It was a seemingly disastrous setback but Karl bounced back with wins over the likes of Joe Erskine, Billy Daniels and Joe Bygraves, then challenged again for the European crown in 1964 and flattened Italy's Santo Amonti in the opening frame to make amends for Richardson, who had retired to run a string of butcher's shops.
Karl developed into an outstanding champion, rattling off six defences and virtually toying with Billy Walker in one of them in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley, stopping the golden boy in the eighth round. Despite his burly, uncomplicated appearance, Mildenberger was clever with his attacks, moving in and out or from side to side smoothly. He won most of his fights on points and his body punches in particular discouraged many of his opponents and had them in survival mode. It was no fluke he did so well against Ali.
“He was hard to get to,” admitted a gracious Ali after their battle, “and he had a pretty good punch – he was sharp.”

Another superb obit from Bennie. He is really very good at these.

My own obit for Karl will be published in Boxing News next Thursday (18th). It only mentions Ali in passing, rather it is more of an appreciation of him set against his battles with British opponents.

Miles

Cheers, Miles. Look forward to your tribute. Incidentally, in the photo of Karl squaring up to Ali is Jurgen Blin, the other German to have fought Ali.

[Ambling Alp II]

I just happened to check out the book "Facing Ali" from the library. It has a few pages on several of Ali's opponent's including Mildenberger. Mildenberger was a pretty big star in Germany after the Ali fight. However, over time, he gradually became less known to the general public there.
Ali always liked him. According to the book, Whenever Ali was Germany in later years he was often asked about what he liked most Germany, he would always say "Karl Mildenberger".

[Tuan_Jim]

How funny, I was about to bring up his entry in Facing Ali. Very good chapter on Karl as he was then (circa 2002 I think). The Blin chapter is another good one. In fact the whole book is quite engrossing. Amazing that most of them are dead now.