Eckard Dagge (WBC Light-Middleweight Champion)

He was an alcoholic and pill abuser during his career which fukced him up. He´d often vanish from training for days just to come back drunk and start training. He finally beat alcoholism just to die a few month later from cancer. He trained Michaelchewski for a while too until he got fired because he spent more time with him in bars and ***** houses than in the gym. Very bitter man because he never got real recognition in Germany.

 

Why did he not get more recognition?

 

He sparred with Rudy Koopmans in the mid 70,s ...Koopmans beat him up and got fired.

 

Because of his addicitions, because he lived under the long shadows of Schmeling - Dagge´s comment on a comparison to Schmeling "at least I won my title while standing" - and Bubi Scholz, because his red-light connections and his off-putting public personality - no respect, impolite and so on. And that despite beeing then the second world champ coming from Germany.

 

Everybody beat him up in sparring. He was a masochist, his trainer once said he likes beeing punched as much as punching someone and nearly as much as his alcohol and drugs.

 

You,re a Manfred Jassmann fan ?

 

Interesting fight...Dagge vs Obed. Obed was on a roll as champ, and in the Dagge fight he had the German down early on but fell apart under a body bombardment and the fight was stopped in the 10th. Really, Dagge deserved to lose his title to Emile Griffith. That was robbery..blatent robbery. If he had moved up a class, Monzon would have killed him.

 

And that was a world champ fight. Bubi Scholz who was active the previous decade drew regularly more, he sold out the Berlin Olympic Stadium once about 70.000 people, while only fighting for European titles.

 

From what I saw him, he was arguably the worse 'world champion' of the 70s.

Very ordinary...

 

The little footage I've seen of him kind of reminds me of a poor man's Monzon.

 

The 154lb division was pretty sketchy back in the mid to late 70's. Dagge may have not been the cream of the crop, but he looked the part and had considerable skill.

Pepe. when I think of Dagge beating Obed, I think it was a fortunate development. Considering Obed's training habits and choice of challengers, we could have had much worse. Tony Gardner almost had Obed out on his feet in the 1st round of their title fight not long before this. Better Dagge than a tanktown fighter who looked like Alan Alda and trained at about the same level wearing the "World Title"....

 

Liked Dagge. Thought he was the best German boxer/puncher I'd seen 'n had a bright future.

Asked former fighters 'n trainers in Germany many years later about him. They just shook their heads, confirming what some on this thread have said: He was a mean drunk and had gone to jail for beating or killing his wife.

 

I never heard of this guy, but interesting insight from Bodhi, were you around during this time Bodhi

No joke, I was literally about to say he looked just like Monzon