Franz Dorfer

Franz Dorfer (20 May 1950 – 8 January 2012) was an Austrian professional boxer who competed in the middleweight division. As an amateur he won the bronze medal at the 1975 European Championships and competed at the 1976 Olympics, where he was eliminated in the first bout, by Iranian boxer Mohamed Azarhazin.^[1] After the Olympics he turned professional and competed in 36 bouts between 1977 and 1986, winning 23 of them.^[3]

Dorfer was born to a family of farmers, and was trained as a cheesemaker in his youth. Later, in early 1970 he completed his military service in Sankt Pölten, and studied to become a gendarmerie in Mödling in 1971.

In 1972 he became a member of the boxing club BC Schwarz Weiß in Vienna. Only one year later he won his first of four consecutive Austrian championship titles in light-middleweight. At the 1975 European championships he earned the bronze medal after he won against Kalevi Kosunen and Bulgarian Ilya Ilyev, but lost in the semi-finals against Wiesław Rudkowski, Up to 2012 this is the last medal won by any Austrian boxer at The European championships. Dorfer competed the following year at the Olympics and lost in the first round. He turned professional in 1977 and had 36 bouts (23 wins – 11 losses – 2 draws) till 1986, when he eventually retired . Two of his 19 knockout wins came against Edip Secovic (or Edip Sekowitsch) who later became WAA world champion.

Dorfer was married and fathered two daughters. He died in 2012 after battling a long illness.^[4]