Anton "Rampaging Estonian" Raadik (January 15, 1917 – March 13, 1999) was the most famous
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n-born
middleweight boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
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of the 1940s and 1950s, fighting out of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Professional boxing career
Anton Raadik was
European Middleweight Champion in 1939. On May 13, 1939, he lost a three-round decision to middleweight
Jimmy Reeves in Chicago in the International Golden Gloves. In all, he had a reported 130 amateur fights, winning 118.
In 1940 and 1941 he had his first three professional fights in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. In 1943 he won three more fights in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
, losing only to Oiva Purho in
Gothenburg in 1944. Raadik fled the
Soviet occupation of Estonia
The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and settled first in Finland before moving to Sweden in 1945. He was inactive in 1945 and then moved to Chicago in 1946.
In the USA, Raadik made rapid progress and in December 1946 fought the formidable
Jake LaMotta. In 1947 he lost to two famous and experienced opponents,
Georgie Abrams
Georgie Abrams (November 11, 1918 – June 30, 1994) was an American boxer who came very close to winning the World Middleweight Championship in November 1941 against Tony Zale and was a top contender for the title in the early 1940s. In his ...
and Al Hostak.
On October 31, 1947, he had his most famous fight, with future middleweight champion Marcel Cerdan, in Chicago. Cerdan was well ahead on points going into the tenth round, but then Raadik floored him three times and came close to stopping him, only to lose the decision.
Raadik boxed until 1952, losing more fights than he won. He fought such highly regarded opponents as Carl (Bobo) Olson, Robert Villemain, Steve Belloise, and Harry (Kid) Matthews, but his heyday had passed.
Books
*''Mis juhtus Anton Raadikuga?'' by Jaan Sepp, Juhan Maidlo - 1997.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raadik, Anton
1917 births
1999 deaths
People from Rapla Parish
People from the Governorate of Estonia
Estonian male boxers
Boxers from Chicago
Estonian emigrants to the United States
American male boxers
Estonian World War II refugees