Rated at Welterweight Wins 39 Losses 27 Role Boxer Martial art Boxing Total fights 70 | Nationality Danish Wins by KO 28 Name Waldemar Holberg Height 1.65 m Division Welterweight Stance Orthodox stance | |
Real name Waldemar Birger Holberg Born May 29, 1883
Copenhagen, Denmark ( 1883-05-29 ) Died May 18, 1927, Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
Waldemar Birger Holberg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 29, 1883. He won the World Welterweight Championship on January 1, 1916, 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.
Prior to his entry into the Olympics, Holberg was a five time amateur champion of Denmark. 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 in 1913 fighting for the Australian lightweight title. He had limited success in Australia, losing 6 out of 9 matches but in 1914 met Ray Bronson in Melbourne in a bout recognized by the Australian boxing authorities as a World Welterweight title. Holberg won on points after 20 rounds, but lost the title only 23 days later to Irishman Tom McCormick. For some reason, McCormick is more often recognized as a world welterweight boxing champion than Holberg.
After having lost the world title, he returned to Denmark only to lose two matches to Danish veteran Dick Nelson, one for the Scandinavian Welterweight title. Holberg had his last professional fight on August 29, 1921 when he was stopped in Vienna 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 the age of only 43.