Brian Nielsen

Brian Nielsen began boxing at the age of twenty in an attempt to lose weight and at first was not taken very seriously as a fighter. In fact his first amateur fight had to take place away from his home club as they thought his crude style and roly-poly physique would attract bad publicity for the club. He won his debut by knockout and went to became five times amateur champion of Denmark, win 104 of his 111 amateur bouts and win bronze medals at both European Championships and Olympic Games.

As a professional he equalled Rocky Marciano’s heavyweight division record of 49 successive wins, a streak that included the winning of the lightly regarded International Boxing Organization heavyweight championship and victories over former world heavyweight champions Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon and Tony Tubbs. In his 50th fight he was knocked out in the final round by American Dicky Ryan and was hospitalized due to severe dehydration. Rebounding from this setback he went on another run of victories which included revenge over Ryan and the annexation of another minor title, the International Boxing Council heavyweight crown. He lost in seven rounds to Mike Tyson in 2001 before his home crowd in Copenhagen. After two victories he retired, leaving the ring with a record of sixty-two wins and two defeats.

Probably the most popular fighter in the history of Danish boxing, he would walk to the ring to the accompaniment of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.