Pete Rademacher

Pete Rademacher
Statistics
Real name	Thomas Peter Rademacher
Rated at	Heavyweight
Nationality	American
Born	(1928-11-20) November 20, 1928 Tieton, Washington, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	23
Wins	15
Wins by KO	8
Losses	7
Draws	1
No contests	0
Medal record Men's Boxing Representing United States Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne Heavyweight

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.

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 [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	87-12	Bobo Olson	UD	10	03/04/1962	Honolulu Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
Loss	29-1	Karl Mildenberger	PTS	10	20/01/1962	Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	35-8-1	Buddy Turman	TKO	9	30/11/1961	Fair Park Coliseum, Dallas, Texas
Loss	181-22-9	Archie Moore	TKO	6	23/10/1961	Baltimore Coliseum, Baltimore, Maryland	Referee stopped the bout at 2:10 of the sixth round.
Loss	19-5-1	George Logan	KO	2	17/08/1961	Boise, Idaho	Pete knocked out at 2:40 of the second round.
Loss	17-0	Doug Jones	KO	5	29/04/1961	St. Nicholas Arena, New York City
Win	12-17-3	Dan Vanderford	KO	1	14/04/1961	Gastonia, North Carolina
Win	27-13-2	Harvey Taylor	KO	1	22/02/1961	Yakima, Washington	Taylor knocked out at 2:47 of the first round.
Win	35-10-1	Donnie Fleeman	UD	10	23/01/1961	Seattle Civic Ice Arena, Seattle, Washington	100-92, 100-91, 100-91.
Win	44-23-7	Willi Besmanoff	UD	10	13/12/1960	Cleveland Arena, Cleveland, Ohio	47-43, 48-42, 49-42.
Win	17-3-1	Kirk Barrow	SD	10	08/12/1960	Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, Washington	99-90, 97-95, 96-99.
Win	17-3-1	George Chuvalo	UD	10	19/07/1960	Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
Win	42-1	LaMar Clark	TKO	10	29/06/1960	Derks Field, Salt Lake City, Utah	Referee stopped the bout at 2:27 of the tenth round.
Loss	22-6	Brian London	KO	7	26/04/1960	Empire Pool, Wembley, London	Pete knocked out at 0:15 of the seventh round.
Draw	20-3-3	Ulli Ritter	PTS	10	08/04/1960	Sportpalast, Schoeneberg, Berlin
Win	13-0	Ulli Nitzschke	KO	7	06/02/1960	Festhalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hesse
Win	8-12-1	Johnny York	PTS	8	09/12/1959	Cleveland Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Win	3-4	Buddy Keener	KO	1	12/11/1959	Columbus, Ohio
Win	13-12	Calvin Butler	UD	10	29/09/1959	Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida	99-93, 99-91, 99-92.
Win	18-13-2	Ralph Schneider	TKO	3	17/09/1959	Greenville Memorial Auditorium, Greenville, South Carolina	Rocky Marciano refereed the fight.
Win	20-11-1	Eldridge Thompson	TKO	5	13/08/1959	Columbus, Ohio
Loss	40-2-2	Zora Folley	KO	4	25/07/1958	Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California	Pete knocked out at 1:15 of the fourth round.
Loss	32-1	Floyd Patterson	KO	6	22/08/1957	Sick's Stadium, Seattle, Washington	World Heavyweight Title. Pete knocked out at 2:57 of the sixth round.

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.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Pete Rademacher from BoxRec
• Alternate record site