Charley Retzlaff, alias The Duluth Dynamiter (born October 28, 1904-died June 4, 1970) was a heavyweight

Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Professional career

Retzlaff made his professional debut with a second-round knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

 of Gus Kermits in April 1929. Retzlaff remained undefeated through his first 21 bouts (20 wins and one no-decision), losing for the first time by disqualification against Antonio de la Mata in Chicago in November 1930. Retzlaff would avenge that loss with a first-round knockout in a rematch one month later. 11 more wins followed before Retzlaff suffered his next loss, to 41-23-5 Joe Sekyra in September 1931. More wins would follow, and Retzlaff carried a record of 35-2-2 into a match with fellow Minnesotan Dick Daniels

Dick Daniels

Dick Daniels was a heavyweight professional boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Professional career:Daniels started his professional career with a loss to 105-46-10 veteran Frank Moody, losing by second-round knockout. This debut was followed by 10 consecutive wins, and Daniels had established...

. Retzlaff scored three knockdowns and a first-round knockout en route to winning the vacant Minnesota State Heavyweight Title. This title would be defended in May 1933 and again in September 1935 against Art Lasky

Art Lasky

Arthur Lakofsky , also known as Art Lasky, was a heavyweight professional boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Personal life:Art Lasky was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1909. He called Minneapolis his home...

. In January 1936 Retzlaff lost by first-round knockout to a young prospect named Joe Louis

Joe Louis

Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...

. In his final defense of the Minnesota heavyweight title Retzlaff could manage only a draw against 17-9 Arne Andersson

Arne Andersson

Arne Andersson was a Swedish middle distance runner who became famous for his rivalry with his compatriot Gunder Hägg in the 1940s. Andersson set a 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg in August 1943 with a time of 3:45.0 min...

. Retzlaff would retire afterwards, having compiled a career record of 61-8 with 52 wins by knockout.