Émile Pladner: The Flyweight Boxing Legend’s Journey
Émile “Spider” Pladner was a French flyweight boxer from Clermont-Ferrand who held the French and European flyweight championships and briefly won the National Boxing Association (NBA) and International Boxing Union (IBU) world titles.
Boxing career and major results
Before turning professional, Pladner won the European amateur flyweight championship in 1925. He then worked as a sculptor in Paris and began his professional career in January 1926. He went on to win French and European professional titles at flyweight.
On March 2, 1929, Pladner challenged Frankie Genaro in Paris for the NBA and IBU world flyweight titles. Pladner knocked Genaro out in the first round, in a bout remembered for lasting just 58 seconds. The win made Pladner a recognized world champion under those organizations; it did not settle the divided world-title picture, as other bodies recognized separate champions.
Genaro regained the NBA and IBU titles in their April 18 rematch, when Pladner was disqualified in the fifth round. Their two fights made Pladner’s world-title reign brief, but his first-round knockout of Genaro remains the defining result of his career.
Pladner continued boxing for years after the Genaro bouts and retired in 1936. His career included French and European championships in more than one weight class, alongside his short reign as an NBA and IBU world flyweight champion.
Sources
Sources: BoxRec: Émile “Spider” Pladner; BoxRec: NBA World Flyweight Title Fights; French Boxing Federation: Pladner tire sa révérence; The New Yorker, March 23, 1929.
Career records and reporting: boxrec.com.
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
