Eckhard Dagge, 58, WBC Middleweight Champ in 1976
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Former WBC junior middleweight champion Eckhard Dagge has died, the hospice where he was being treated for cancer said Tuesday. He was 58.
Leuchtfeuer Hospice in Hamburg, Germany, said Dagge died overnight.
The German won the WBC junior middleweight title on June 17, 1976, when he defeated Elisha Obed of Jamaica on a technical knockout in Berlin.
He defended the title twice before losing to Australia’s Rocky Mattioli in August, 1977.
Dagge won 26 of his 32 professional fights and held several European titles before ending his career in 1981.
The boxer was also well known in Germany for his hard-drinking lifestyle, once remarking that: “Many world champions have become alcoholics, but I am the first alcoholic to become world champion.”
