From Small-Town Beginnings to Olympic Dreams: The Journey of Duane Bobick

Name: Duane Bobick
Born: 24 August 1950
Career: 1973-1979
Record: 52 fights 48 wins (42 by KO/TKO), 4 losses (all by KO/TKO)
Division: Heavyweight
Stance: Orthodox
Titles: Minnesota State Champion
Major Contests
Scored wins over: Ted Gullick, Billy Daniels, Mike Weaver**, Raul Gorosito, Pat Duncan, Randy Neumann, Larry Middleton, Scott LeDoux (twice)*, Bunny Johnson, Chuck Wepner*, Pedro Agosto, Mike Schutte
Lost to: Ken Norton**, Kallie Knoetze, John Tate **,George Chaplin.
**Past/ future holder of a version of a world title
* Unsuccessful challenger for a version of a world title
Amateur Achievements
– 3-time US Navy,2-time US All-Services and 2-time World Military champion
-Pan American Games Golld medallist at +81kg in 1971 beating Teofilio Stevenson in the semi-finals. In 1983 the heavyweight division became the 91kg division and no American boxer has won a gold medal at either the +81kg or 91kg gold medal at the Pan Am Games
-National AAU Champion 1971
-National Golden Gloves Champion 1972
-Olympic Games 1972 lost to Teofilio Stevenson in the quarter final
-Scored wins over Larry Holmes, John Dino Dennis, Mike Weaver (W KO 1), lost to Ron Lyle twice.
Record: 93 wins (60 by KO/TKO) 10 losses

Duane Bobick’s Story

Bobick was born in Bowlus a small town in rural Minnesota and has Polish antecedents and was one of a family of twelve children, 11 boys and one girl. He was an outstanding athlete at High School but did not take up boxing seriously until after he enlisted in the US Navy. It was not a case of instant success for Bobick. In 1967 as a 16 year-old he reached the semi-final of the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves and in 1968 he competed at the National Golden Gloves at heavyweight and National AAU Tournament at 178lbs but did not medal. As he grew into a heavyweight the titles began to come. There was a setback when he lost twice to Ron Lyle once on a knockout that reportedly saw Bobick unconscious in the ring for almost five minutes. and on points in elimination match for a place on the US team to face Russia but other than that he cut a swath through the ranks of US amateurs. He won the National Golden Gloves and National AAU titles and the US Navy, US Inter-services and World Military titles . He knocked out future heavyweight champion Mike Weaver in one round and took a 5-0 points win over Teofilio Stevenson on his way to winning a gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games. In August 1972 he beat Larry Holmes on a third round disqualification in a box-off for the US heavyweight spot at the 1972 Olympics. Bobick dropped Holmes with a right in the first and dominated the fight. An exhausted and outboxed Holmes was constantly warned for holding before being disqualified in the third. Having beaten Stevenson in the Pan American Games and reportedly gone unbeaten in his last 60 bouts Bobick was favourite to win the gold medal at the Munich Games. He beat the dangerous Russian Yury Nesterov 5-0 but was floored twice and stopped in the third round in the quarter-finals by Stevenson so came home without a medal.

The description “Great White Hope” has thankfully gone out of fashion now but it was just one of many labels hanging around Bobick’s neck when he turned pro. With no Olympic medal he started in a relatively modest way with his first fight far away from the spotlight as he faced 9-8 Tommy Burns in Minneapolis on 10 April 1973. It was somewhat optimistically scheduled for ten rounds but did not even last one as Bobick floored Burns four times and stopped.

He fought in nine different States in 1973 and scored fourteen more wins all ending inside the distance. He accumulated ten more wins in 1974 eight of them by KO/TKO. Included in his victims was future WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver who Bobick stopped in seven rounds. Weaver’s record at the time was 5-6. In 1975 after knocking out Roy Wallace for win No 26 Bobick signed up with Joe Frazier as his manager and had Eddie Futch working alongside Murphy Griffith as his trainer. Bobick added more wins including victories over useful opposition such as Pat Duncan and Randy Neumann and 30 of Bobick’s 33 wins had come by KO/KO. The Neumann fight was the main event on a show in Madison Square Garden.

The year 1976 was a huge break through year for Bobick. There was talk of a fight against Muhammad Ali but nothing came of it and in February, again at Madison Square Garden, he scored a shut-out against Larry Middleton who had beaten Joe Bugner and Danny McAlinden and drawn with former WBA heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis. In April he outpointed Scott LeDoux in a clash for bragging rights in Minnesota and they drew a crowd of almost 14,000 and a record gate for boxing in Minnesota. In May Bobick travelled back to Munich for the first time since the Olympics and stopped Bunny Johnson in eight rounds. With wins over Chuck Wepner and unbeaten Fred Houpe Bobick’s record was now 38-0 with 32 wins by KO/TKO and a title shot and a $1.2 million purse for a fight with Muhammad Ali for the title was only one fight away.

That fight was an eliminator against Ken Norton on 11 May 1977 and was a watershed in Bobick’s career. Bobick tried to establish his jab but Norton was throwing booming rights. One of those rights to the head had Bobick shaken and as he staggered forward Norton landed an uppercut that landed on Bobick’s throat. Although chocking he somehow stood up under a bombardment of rights until another right sent him crashing to the canvas. He staggered to his feet but was still in a daze. Ridiculously the referee stepped in and had a look at him and then signalled for the fight to continue but before Norton could fire another punch the referee thankfully changed his mind and leapt between them waiving his arms to end the fight. It was all over in 58 seconds.

It was a terrible time for Bobick as he suffered a family tragedy less than a month after the Norton fight when his younger brother Rodney died at the age of 25 in a car accident. Rodney had turned profession and built a 37-7 record including wins over Mike Weaver and former WBA light heavyweight champion Vicente Rondon. An earlier tragedy for the Bobick family had seen 19-year-old Donald die in 1975.

Bobick had taken a severe if short beating against Norton but was back in the ring again in July flooring and stopping LeDoux then closed the year with a third round kayo of Pedro Agosto.

In February 1978 Bobick headed down to South Africa to face hard punching Kallie Knoetze. After a couple of close rounds Knoetze missed with a left but then landed a devastating right that sent Bobick down face-first on the canvas. Bobick made it to his feet at seven but referee Stanley Christodoulou rightly waived the fight over as an unsteady Bobick turned away from him. Bobick stayed in South Africa and beat Mike Schutte on an eighth round retirement and even played a leading role in a film made down there

He returned to the USA and in a crazy schedule scored seven inside the distance wins in four months. The wins had come against modest level opposition in unfashionable locations and Bobick needed a notable win to get back into the title position. The offered fight was against unbeaten John Tate who had won a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics and had won his 17 professional fights 13 by KO/TKO. The fight was held in Indianapolis on 17 February 1979 and once again Bobick was wide open to rights to the head and after a series of rights he went down one knee. The referee decided not to apply a count so Tate attacked driving Bobick across the ring and he fell into the ropes and with the ropes holding Bobick up. He was given a count and then Tate landed right after right with Bobick propped in a corner unable to defend himself or go down until the referee belatedly stopped the fight. Bobick had one more fight in July 1979 when he was stopped on cuts against George Chaplin and he retired with a 48-4 record.

He did not return to Minnesota but stayed in Atlantic City refereeing judging bouts for the New Jersey Commission but outside the ring with his marriage (his second) breaking up he became depressed was drinking heavily. He went through the money he had earned from boxing but with the help of his brothers moved back to Minnesota in 1984. He remarried and his new wife Debi help him deal with his drinking problem and they have two daughters. Bobick had taken a job working at a paper mill. In 1997 both of his arms were pulled into the machinery and crushed between two huge rollers. It needed many complex operations to save his arms but he was unable to work anymore. He took to coaching and public speaking looking to help and encourage others. He received the Governor’s Volunteer Award and Acts of Kindness Award for school, hospital and church work. In 2006 was elected as a city councilman and in 2014 he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, in 1997 after his arm injury, he was diagnosed as suffering from Chronic traumatic encephalopathy(CTE) a brain injury “likely” caused by repeated head injuries a condition that will only get worse over time and from 2014 Bobick has been in a home for special care and attention.