Forgotten Heavyweight of the '70s/'80s: Bernd August

[sweetviolenturge]

April 6, 1976, the table was set for Germany's Bernd August to win the vacant European Boxing Union Heavyweight title in a bout with England's rather brittle chinned Richard Dunn at Royal Albert Hall in London. The winner guaranteed a world title fight vs Muhammad Ali the following month in Munich, Germany. Dunn, the British & Commonwealth champion, was the more experienced of the two at 32-9, but August had youth, height, reach & power edges that couldn't be ignored being just 24 years old, standing 6'6" tall & sporting a record of 12 KOs among his 21 victories in a 21-2-1 mark.
But those advantages never came into play that night as August had a difficult time keeping the 6'3" Dunn from boring inside of his reach & guard & landing effective punches. Resulting in a third round KO loss & ending August's dream of fighting for the world title in his home country. That opportunity went to his conqueror Dunn, who fought Ali in Munich the following May 24. Suffering a fifth round KO defeat & becoming the last man that Ali ever KO'd.
August had earned his shot at the EBU title by beating the likes of Arno Prick, Billy Joiner, Santiago Alberto Lovell & "Bepi" Ros, all serviceable opponents.
And though August wasn't able to secure a title more than his domestic level, he did enjoy a reign as the heavyweight champion of Germany by beating the best that the country had to offer in Conny Velensek, Hartmut Sasse & Rudiger Schmidtke. That is until being upset via second round KO to the unheralded Kurt Luedecke. A result that he later avenged in the same exact fashion, taking the German title back inside of two rounds in a rematch.
August held the German title for five more years before losing it for good in a rematch with Reiner Hartmann whom he had previously beaten via 8 round KO before the rematch in which he was KO'd in 6.
The loss to Hartmann was enough to convince August to hang up his gloves in 1983 after compiling a record of 28-9-2 ( 19 KOs ).
Sadly, August didn't live a very long life after he retired as he was killed in a motorbike accident while on holiday in Australia in 1988. While riding he'd crashed his bike while attempting to dodge a Kangeroo in the road. He was just 36 years old at the time of his passing.