Waldemar Birger Holberg was a Danish boxer. Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark on May 29, 1883, he won the World Welterweight Championship on January 1, 1914, defeating Ray Bronson in Melbourne, Australia in a twenty round points decision. He was a fierce boxer with a KO percentage of 40% in the virtually complete boxing record displayed on BoxRec.

Boxing career

Prior to his entry into the Olympics, Holberg was a five time amateur champion of Denmark. He won the featherweight division in 1902, and the lightweight division in 1903, 1905, 1907, and 1908. He qualified for the 1908 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated in the first round after losing to future welterweight world champion Matt Wells. After the Olympics, Holberg turned professional making his debut in Denmark. He had a number of wins in Denmark and Germany but moved to England in 1912. After losing two bouts on disqualification, Holberg moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1913 fighting for the Australian lightweight title.

Taking the Australian version of the world welterweight title

He had limited success in Australia, losing 6 out of 9 matches but on New Years Day, 1914 met American

Ray Bronson Ray Bronson (August 1887 – January 1948) briefly claimed the World Welterweight Boxing Title between February and December 1912. Early life Like so many boxers of his era, Bronson was forced to begin earning a living at an early age. After wor ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in a bout recognized by the Australian boxing authorities as a World Welterweight title. Holberg won easily on points after 20 rounds. He held the title for only twenty-three days, losing it in Melbourne to Irishman Tom McCormick in a sixth round foul on January 24. By several accounts, Holberg sometimes fought with questionable tactics, and had lost five previous fights to fouls. For some reason, McCormick is more often recognized as a world welterweight boxing champion than Holberg."Ray Bronson Loses", ''The Atlanta Constitution'', Atlanta, Georgia, pg. 8, 2 January 1914 After having lost the world title, he returned to Denmark only to lose two matches in Copenhagen to Danish veteran Dick Nelson on December 2, 1914, and February 14, 1915, one for the Scandinavian Welterweight title. Holberg had his last professional fight on August 29, 1921 when he was stopped in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

by Austrian Hans Hirschberger. Holberg retired from professional boxing in 1921 after his loss to Hirschberger. He died in Vienna on March 18, 1927, at age 43.

Professional boxing record

References

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holberg, Waldemar 1883 births 1927 deaths Lightweight boxers Olympic boxers of Denmark Jewish boxers Jewish Danish sportspeople World boxing champions World welterweight boxing champions Welterweight boxers Boxers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Danish male boxers Sportspeople from Copenhagen

Boxing career

Taking the Australian version of the world welterweight title

Professional boxing record

See also

References

External links