 | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sboxing | ||
Representing Norway | ||
 | 1924 Paris | Heavyweight |
Otto Wessel von Porat (29 November 1903 – 14 October 1982) was aSwedish-bornNorwegianheavyweightboxer. He won agold medal inBoxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics, defeating Danish boxerSøren Petersen in the final.[1]
Von Porat was born in the little parish ofPjätteryd,Kronoberg County,Sweden, into an independently wealthy family. The von Porats lived on a huge estate inSweden. An English tutor gave von Porat and his three brothers their early education, hence von Porat learned to speakEnglish with a decidedlyBritish accent. He also learned to speakDanish,Swedish,Norwegian,German andFrench fluently.
While very young, he and his family moved toCopenhagen,Denmark, where his father organized a branch of theBerlitz Language School. In early 1914 the family settled inOslo,Norway, where his father made extensive maritime investments. The von Porat fortune disappeared rapidly whenWorld War I came along, forcing the four von Porat boys to seek work.
It was while employed as a minor clerk in the office of an Oslo shipping agent that von Porat became interested in boxing. He knocked out two opponents in one evening during his first amateur tournament. Shortly thereafter he knocked out the amateur middleweight champion of Denmark in two rounds. Otto von Porat went on to flatten all the best heavyweight amateurs in Europe, then won the Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medal at the1924 Paris Olympics. He returned to Norway to serve in the Norwegian Army.
He represented the clubOslo AK.[2]
Von Porat then came to theUnited States in the summer of 1926, turning professional at that time. He generally fought in the rings ofMinneapolis,New York City, andChicago. He was a huge drawing card in the Chicago area. He could often be found at theChicago Norske Klub, a Norwegian-American cultural center. It is said that his fight withPaulino Uzcudun "gave rise to the wide-spread impression that von Porat lack[ed] aggressiveness and ... the 'killer instinct.' Although he had a once-promising career and was a top contender for the Heavyweight Title, von Porat apparently lacked self-confidence and thus "lost fighting strength in the rough American school."
After his boxing career ended von Porat continued to live in Chicago. In 1982 he died inBærum,Norway.
1904–1908: +158 lb (71.7 kg) · 1920–1936: +175 lb (79.4 kg) · 1948: +80 kg · 1952–1980: +81 kg · 1984–2012: 81–91 kg · 2016–2020: 82–91 kg · 2024–: 81–92 kg | |
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