Karl Mildenberger (born
Kaiserslautern' is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century and is within easy reach of Paris , Frankfurt , and Luxembourg .Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
, 23 November 1937) is a retired
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
heavyweightHeavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
. He was the European Heavyweight Champion from 1964 to 1968 (retained the Title 6 times). Mildenberger fought
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...
for the World Heavyweight Title in September 1966.
Mildenberger, a left-hander, frustrated the champ for most of the fight, but ultimately lost by
TKOA knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
when the referee stopped the fight at 1:28 of the twelfth round following a flurry of punches by Ali.
Karl Mildenberger lost his first fight for the European Heavyweight title when he was knocked out by
Dick RichardsonDick Richardson was a heavyweight boxer from the Maesglas area of Newport, Monmouthshire. He held the European heavyweight title from March 1960 to June 1962. In all, he won 31 of his 47 professional bouts, losing 14, with two drawn. He was 6 ft 3ins tall and weighed about 200 lbs...
, the Welsh boxer, in one round in April 1962.
Karl Mildenberger (born
Kaiserslautern' is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century and is within easy reach of Paris , Frankfurt , and Luxembourg .Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
, 23 November 1937) is a retired
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
heavyweightHeavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
. He was the European Heavyweight Champion from 1964 to 1968 (retained the Title 6 times). Mildenberger fought
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...
for the World Heavyweight Title in September 1966.
Mildenberger, a left-hander, frustrated the champ for most of the fight, but ultimately lost by
TKOA knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
when the referee stopped the fight at 1:28 of the twelfth round following a flurry of punches by Ali.
Karl Mildenberger lost his first fight for the European Heavyweight title when he was knocked out by
Dick RichardsonDick Richardson was a heavyweight boxer from the Maesglas area of Newport, Monmouthshire. He held the European heavyweight title from March 1960 to June 1962. In all, he won 31 of his 47 professional bouts, losing 14, with two drawn. He was 6 ft 3ins tall and weighed about 200 lbs...
, the Welsh boxer, in one round in April 1962. Karl rebounded with wins over Joe Erskine,Archie McBride,Joe Bygraves and a knockout win over Billy Daniels. Mildenberger then got a draw with highly ranked
Zora FolleyZora Folley was an African-American heavyweight boxer.Born in Dallas, Texas, he moved with his family to Chandler, Arizona in 1942, where he grew up playing baseball. Upon joining the U.S. Army in 1948, he entered the boxing ring, and won the 6th Army championship within a year, eventually...
in April 1964. Later that year Mildenberger scored a first round knockout over Sante Amonte to capture the European Heavyweight title. He defeated
Eddie MachenEdward Mills Machen was born in Redding, California, on June 15, 1932. Machen was a convict turned boxer. His 64-bout career began on March 22, 1955, and he went on to win his first 24 bouts....
over ten rounds in 1966. In April 1966 Mildenberger had a five round exhibition in Sweden with former world champion Ingemar Johansson.
In 1967, Mildenberger participated in a tournament staged by the
World Boxing AssociationThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It is also the most major title out of the four. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
to determine the new heavyweight champion after Ali was stripped of the title for refusing induction into the draft. In the first round of the tournament, he lost to
Oscar BonavenaOscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena was a heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw...
by a twelve round decision in what was proclaimed the Ring Magazine upset of the year. Mildenberger was not the same afterwards, and was knocked out by contender Leotis Martin in seven rounds (April 1968). Subsequently in September 1968 Mildenberger lost the European Heavyweigh title to
Henry CooperHenry Cooper may refer to:*Henry Cooper , British Heavyweight Champion boxer*Henry Cooper from Tennessee*Henry Cooper , English recipient of the Victoria Cross...
on an eight round disqualification.
Mildenberger was the first southpaw to fight for the Heavyweight World Title.