jimmy ellis vs karl mildenberger

It's hard to figure out where Mildenberger really stands.

Of course his records a little bloated with so so fighters, but Dundee personally told him he hurt Ali very badly with a pricise body shot.

Then again, he was destroyed when he stepped out of the country, once in devestating fashion by Ron Lyle.

 

Gah, I meant Leotis Martin, who he fought in the states and was blown out by.

 

I think Ellis would have knocked out Mildenberger out. Jimmy could really crack with his right cross, and he was an excellent stand up boxer as well. Mildenberger's style may have confused Ellis for a while, but eventually Jimmy would find the range and win within the distance.

Ali had Mildenberger hurt often in their bout. It was only because of Mildenberger's confusing southpaw style that he was able to remain in the fight and score some points as the rounds passed.

 

You're thinking of another German, Jurgen Blin.

After Mildenberger retired, Blin succeeded him as Germany's best heavyweight. For the most part, Blin was a clubfighter, and he was inferior to Mildenberger in ability.

As for the Lyle fight, yes, it was a blowout. Lyle knocked Blin cold in the third round. Brutally.

 

Blin was really considered Germany's best?

 

Yes, he was. Blin wasn't world class but he was at least good enough to win the European championship and obtain a rating in the world-wide top 20. All of the other German heavyweights of the '70s couldn't come close to matching Blin's moderate accomplishments.

Historically, Germany has not produced many good heavyweights. Schmeling was excellent, but after that, only a handful of Germans warranted a world-wide top 10 rating. Mildenberger was the last of them.

 

Huh, didn't know that.

I know Blin's entry in the book "Facing Ali" is pretty damned sad

 

Almost all of the leading heavyweights in Europe during the '60s, '70s and '80s were "C" level fighters. The exceptions who were world class -- Henry Cooper, Mildenberger, Joe Bugner, Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis -- had an easy time dominating European rings.

In fact, back then the European heavyweight title belt was regarded as an impediment if the Euro champion was a world class fighter. Having to make mandatory Euro title defenses against "C" class opposition was a career setback for Euro champs seeking big time fights in the USA.

I remember Bugner resigned his Euro title belt twice because he felt that defending the belt was below him. He was right.

 

Almost all of the leading heavyweights in Europe during the '60s, '70s and '80s were "C" level fighters.

how things have changed.

 

Yeah...

I always find it funny how Golota was one of the first of the current Eastern terrors, and maybe the scariest, all things considered.

Gets no credit for it, though.

 

Everything changed when the Iron Curtain fell, as that led to a flood of world class professional heavyweights from the former Communist countries in the '90s. Golota was one of the first of them.

Aside from the heavyweights I listed above, there were a handful of Europeans in the '60s to mid-'90s era who made relatively good fighters on the world scene. These guys were "B" level talents who couldn't contend but who could give a decent account of themselves. In this group I would include Blin, Brian London, Lorenzo Zanon, Alfredo Evangelista, Lucien Rodriguez, Richard Dunn and maybe a few more. These men could rate between 11th and 20th worldwide at their best.

Francisco Damiami was probably somewhere between the "B" level and the "A" level in ability. It's hard to tell. The same holds true of Zeljko Mavrovic. We didn't see enough of them to really know.

I would add Henry Akinwande to the "A" list consisting of Cooper, Mildenberger, Bugner, Bruno and Lewis. I think Akinwande was underrated.

Of all these guys of course Lewis was the best by far.

 

West Germany never had much boxing talent, or athletic talent in general in comparison to the GDR. All the great German sportsmen of the second half of the 20th century came from the GDR. Indeed, by 1988, the GDR was the #2 summer Olympic nation, ahead of the USA in total medals won and not very far behind the USSR (relative to the rest of the world).

Had the German speaking peoples not been carved up by the allies in 1945, it would have been a very different story. Then again, one could also say that if the Soviets decided to compete in pro boxing, the heavyweight division would have been declared full of "dull champions" back in the 1950s.

 

Yes, you are correct. I know that during the Communist days the East German boxing squads were among the most competitive in the world. If those guys could have boxed pro, they would have changed Germany's boxing status.

Come to think of it, Axel Schulz was from East Germany. I am now kicking myself for not including him in the list of fighters I posted earlier in this thread.

Schulz may have been better than Mildenberger and Cooper. He was probably better than the "B" level heavies I list above, but I could not imagine him beating Bugner or Bruno. Lewis of course would have obliterated Axel.