Steffen Tangstad

[BoztheMadman]

Steffen Tangstad was and is the greatest Norwegian heavyweight ever. He was the only one to capture the European title and fight for a world title, the IBF one, in 1986, against Michael Spinks. But, as he himself says, he was at the end of his career and was thinking of quitting when he got that title fight, so it didn't go so well for him. He ended his boxing career after that fight, at only 27 years of age. But, in those relatively short 6 years of his pro boxing career, he achieved quite a lot and beat some good fighters, perhaps most famous of them was Joe Bugner. This is the story of Norway's only heavyweight world title challenger.

 

He was born 22 June 1959, in Tønsberg, an old town with a rich history, situated on the western side of the Oslofjord. Coincidentally, only a few months later, Ingemar Johansson would become the first and so far the only Scandinavian to win a world heavyweight title. Steffen was a six-time Norwegian national amateur champion between 1975 and 1980 and finished with a record of 61-9. He turned professional in October 1980 and drew after 4 rounds against Benji Smith. Unfortunately for him, the following year Norway banned professional boxing and the ban would not be lifted until almost 30 years after he had quit boxing. The amateur boxing establishment didn't like the fact that Tangstad was now a pro, according to himself. "It meant I couldn't represent Norway in the next Olympic games." He therefore had to relocate to Chicago, where he fought in the next 2 years, with the exception of one bout that was fought in Finland. He won 13 fights and scored 11 knockouts before he was matched against James "Buster" Douglas on 16 October 1982. It was an 8-rounder and the fight was even, with Douglas slightly ahead, however he got deducted two points and so the fight ended as a draw. 1984 would prove to be a good year for Tangstad, as he first beat the noted journeyman Ken Lakusta by UD8 and then in February he squared off against Joe Bugner, a semi-legend. The fight was in Denmark and after 10 evenly fought rounds, Tangstad emerged as the winner by split decision.

 

This victory paved the way for a showdown against the European champion, Lucien Rodriguez of France, in November. Again the fight was in Denmark, K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen and Tangstad won clearly on points after 12 rounds, becoming the first Norwegian heavyweight champion ever. However, in his very first defense against the huge Swede Anders "Tiny" Eklund, he would taste bitter and devastating defeat when he got stopped by TKO in the 4th round. Eklund, at almost 6'7, was almost 5 inches taller than the 6'2 Tangstad and weighed 28 pounds more. Tangstad's weight of 206 was also among his lowest for any professional match. He rebounded by knocking out Reiner Hartmann of Germany in 7 before beating the former world title-challenger Alfredo Evangelista of Uruguay on points after 8 rounds. Since Eklund had been stopped by Frank Bruno in his first title defense and Bruno had vacated the European belt, it was now vacant and Tangstad again got a chance to win it against unheralded John Westgarth, who was born in Malta but based in England. Westgarth at 6'5 was also quite a bit taller and gave Tangstad a hard fight, but eventually Tangstad emerged as a winner by split decision and was now a 2-time European champion.

 

Tangstad had become a family man and was now thinking of hanging them up when he got the offer to fight the IBF champion Michael Spinks and took it. He states it was the highlight of his life. On 6 September 1986, he and Spinks faced eachother at the Las Vegas Hilton. The fight was televised live on HBO and the crowd of 5,832 produced a gate of 1,109,000. Spinks' purse was 1 million while Tangstad got 50 K and Scandinavian film and tv rights. Steffen started the fight well and the fight was competitive in the first 2 rounds, with him landing several hooks. Two of the judges gave him one of those rounds. In the third round however he was put down with a straight right. Even though Tangstad at 214 pounds had the edge over the 201-pound Spinks in weight, Spinks was much faster and still could hit even at heavyweight. Tangstad on the other hand appeared painfully slow, maybe because he had already given up boxing in his mind before this fight. In the next round, he went down again from a left hook. He got up and was given a standing eight count but then was hit with a looping right and a left hook and went down for the last time. The referee Richard Steele waved it off at 58 seconds of the 4th round. So ended that dream of emulating his hero Ingemar Ingo Johansson. Afterwards, he said: "I did the best I could. He was better than I thought. His speed really surprised me. He had some power too, obviously. But he was just too fast for me. I felt good after the first round but my trainer told me I was falling into a pattern, to be careful of him." Spinks said "He is a strong guy but he couldn't hit me."

 

Tangstad said he wasn't yet done with boxing and that he was still the European champion and would defend his title, as he had changed his mind after the fight. But that wouldn't happen and he quit boxing at the age of 27. After that, he became the boxing commentator on Norwegian tv and was the CEO of the now-defunct "Modern Sports & Events", which broadcasted UFC fights in Norway and Scandinavia. His career record is 24-2-2 with 14 knockouts. He is a popular figure still in Norway and Denmark, where he fought most of his important fights. He still lives in Tønsberg today.

Edited September 2, 2016 by BoztheMadman

[WelshDevilRob]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

Would've liked to see Bruno vs Tangstead. Steffan probably one of the poorest Heavyweight title challengers in history.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

Would've liked to see Bruno vs Tangstead. Steffan probably one of the poorest Heavyweight title challengers in history.

 

Maybe, but hardly THE poorest. ;-) He was mentally not in it anymore when he got the Spinks fight, as I wrote already. He was kinda slow, its true, but a good boxer, rather good. And strong.

[WelshDevilRob]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

Maybe, but hardly THE poorest. ;-) He was mentally not in it anymore when he got the Spinks fight, as I wrote already. He was kinda slow, its true, but a good boxer, rather good. And strong.

 

Not saying he was a bad fighter. He was European level rather than World. I think him vs Charles Martin is a 50/50 fight. He would've fitted right in as a Joe Louis challenger.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

Not saying he was a bad fighter. He was European level rather than World. I think him vs Charles Martin is a 50/50 fight. He would've fitted right in as a Joe Louis challenger.

 

Lol yes, he could beat Martin. :laugh: Steffen is a good guy anyway, he has appeared in many tv programs and is a very popular person here. I think it is kinda weird he lost to Eklund and in that manner, for Eklund wasn't any better than him, which their respective records show. Don't really know what happened there...either an injury, bad shape or that case of "Swedish superiority, Norwegian inferiority complex". ;-)

[robprosser]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

Lol yes, he could beat Martin. :laugh: Steffen is a good guy anyway, he has appeared in many tv programs and is a very popular person here. I think it is kinda weird he lost to Eklund and in that manner, for Eklund wasn't any better than him, which their respective records show. Don't really know what happened there...either an injury, bad shape or that case of "Swedish superiority, Norwegian inferiority complex". ;-)

I always thought that it was simply a case of 2 guys with similar skill sets but one was much bigger than the other. The bigger guy usually wins. As to being the worst ever challenger...hardly there's been so many appalling challengers he's nowhere near the worst. He was European champ which is more than many could achieve.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

I always thought that it was simply a case of 2 guys with similar skill sets but one was much bigger than the other. The bigger guy usually wins. As to being the worst ever challenger...hardly there's been so many appalling challengers he's nowhere near the worst. He was European champ which is more than many could achieve.

 

You are right about Eklund being much bigger, lol...it sounds reasonable to me. Here is that fight btw. Glad I could find it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odLKgYpDU1c

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Steffen Tangstad

 

By the way, before that fight with Tangstad, Ingo Johansson was asked what he thought about Eklund's chances and was scathing:"Tiny (Eklund's nickname) has no talent, he's a true nobody. He fights scared, doesn't move, is slow, he has no talent. It will take an earthquake, a true miracle, for Tiny to win. It's just not gonna happen." Perhaps it was these words that gave Eklund the extra motivation to win? Eklund then grew to despise Johansson and avoided him in public. By the way, the two died a year apart, Johansson in 2009 and Eklund in 2010. Although the age difference was really big, 25 years. Anyway, I thought about saving this for an eventual thread about Eklund, but I just read this and couldn't wait. ;-) It was too interesting.