Pete Rademacher

Pete Rademacher

Born: November 20, 1928
Age: 95
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Biography

Thomas Peter "Pete" Rademacher (born November 20, 1928) is a former boxer who made boxing history by being the only man to fight for the world heavyweight championship in his first professional fight. Rademacher first began boxing as a form of rehabilitation during his recovery from Rheumatic fever, which he contracted in military school.

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Amateur career

In his amateur career, Rademacher had 79 fights, going 72-7. He won a series of tournaments, including the 1949, 1951, 1952, and 1953 Seattle Golden Gloves (he lost in 1950 to Zora Folley, who he would face several times in his career), and the US Amateur Championship as a heavyweight in 1953—avenging his earlier loss to Folley. He also captured the Chicago Golden Gloves, the All-Army championship, and the Service championship in 1956, before qualifying for the Olympic team. In the Olympics, held in Melbourne, he captured a gold medal in the heavyweight division.

Olympic results

  • Defeated Josef Němec KO 2
  • Defeated Daan Bekker KO 3
  • Defeated Lev Mukhin KO 1

Rademacher also attended college, playing offensive line on the football team for Washington State.

Professional career

After winning the gold medal, Rademacher started saying that he would be able to become world heavyweight champion in his first professional fight. He made his belief public and was able to lure world Heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson into defending his crown against the debutant Rademacher. It is the only time to date that a fighter making his professional debut has challenged for the world heavyweight title. The bout was refereed by former lightheavyweight champion Tommy Loughran, who himself had contended for the heavy crown once, vs. Primo Carnera, in 1934.

Rademacher dropped Patterson in round two, but Patterson recovered and defeated him by a knockout in six.

Rademacher fought Zora Folley, Brian London, George Chuvalo, Buddy Turman, and the former world light heavyweight champion, Archie Moore. He lost to Moore, Folley and London but beat Chuvalo, Clark, and Turman. His last bout was with former world middleweight champion Carl "Bobo" Olson, whom he beat by decision.

Professional boxing record

15 Wins (8 knockouts, 7 decisions), 7 Losses (6 knockouts, 1 decision), 1 Draw
Result Record Opponent Type Round Date Location Notes
Win Bobo Olson UD 10 03/04/1962 Honolulu Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
Loss Karl Mildenberger PTS 10 20/01/1962 Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win Buddy Turman TKO 9 30/11/1961 Fair Park Coliseum, Dallas, Texas
Loss Archie Moore TKO 6 23/10/1961 Baltimore Coliseum, Baltimore, Maryland
Loss George Logan KO 2 17/08/1961 Boise, Idaho
Loss Doug Jones KO 5 29/04/1961 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City
Win Dan Vanderford KO 1 14/04/1961 Gastonia, North Carolina
Win Harvey Taylor KO 1 22/02/1961 Yakima, Washington
Win Donnie Fleeman UD 10 23/01/1961 Seattle Civic Ice Arena, Seattle, Washington
Win Willi Besmanoff UD 10 13/12/1960 Cleveland Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Win Kirk Barrow SD 10 08/12/1960 Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, Washington
Win George Chuvalo UD 10 19/07/1960 Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
Win LaMar Clark TKO 10 29/06/1960 Derks Field, Salt Lake City, Utah
Loss Brian London KO 7 26/04/1960 Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Draw Ulli Ritter PTS 10 08/04/1960 Sportpalast, Schoeneberg, Berlin
Win Ulli Nitzschke KO 7 06/02/1960 Festhalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hesse
Win Johnny York PTS 8 09/12/1959 Cleveland Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Win Buddy Keener KO 1 12/11/1959 Columbus, Ohio
Win Calvin Butler UD 10 29/09/1959 Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida
Win Ralph Schneider TKO 3 17/09/1959 Greenville Memorial Auditorium, Greenville, South Carolina
Win Eldridge Thompson TKO 5 13/08/1959 Columbus, Ohio
Loss Zora Folley KO 4 25/07/1958 Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Loss Floyd Patterson KO 6 22/08/1957 Sick's Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Later life

After retirement, he went into business at McNeil Corporation in Akron, Ohio. He retired as President in 1987. In 1996, he and two of his daughters helped carry the Olympic torch around the streets of Cleveland, Ohio.

Rademacher is active in local politics in Medina County, Ohio. He is also well known in northern Ohio for the amazing gasoline-powered one wheel "unicycle" he rides in local parades.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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