Henry Milligan

Sweden–USA Duals (201 lbs), Stockholm, Sweden, January 1983:

Sweden–USA Duals (201 lbs), Gothenburg, Sweden, January 1983:

USA–Yugoslavia Duals (201 lbs), Shreveport, Louisiana, January 1984:

Yugoslavia–USA Duals (201 lbs), Rijeka, Yugoslavia, February 1983:

Yugoslavia–USA Duals (201 lbs), Borovo, Yugoslavia, February 1983:

Milligan has appeared in ten national television commercials and a feature film with Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange, titled Night and the City (1992 film). He is the president of the Elsmere, Delaware Boxing Club, a civic member of the Mary Campbell Center for Disabled Adults and the Delaware Foundation for Retarded Children. In 1993, Milligan was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame.Milligan is now the head coach of the Varsity wrestling team at Wilmington Christian School in Hockessin, Delaware.

Milligan turned pro in 1985 and began his career with a promising string of 11 victories, but then lost a couple of bouts, retiring in 1986. He launched two comebacks in which he fought in local bouts, and fought for the WBO Cruiserweight Championship of the World in December, 1993 in Aspen, Colorado, losing on a cut in the eighth round, and retired permanently in 1998.

He entered the 1984 U.S. Olympic trials seeded first in the 201 pound class, despite weighing only 184 pounds, but lost in the semi-finals to 17-year-old Mike Tyson on June 9, 1984. Milligan was leading on points when Tyson stopped him in the second round.

National Olympic Trials (201 lbs), Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas, June 1984:

Despite having no prior background in boxing, Milligan had an outstanding amateur career, and in 1983 he won the National AAU Heavyweight Championship. Being a white, Ivy League educated boxer attracted a lot of attention to him, and he was featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles nationwide, including People Magazine and Sports Illustrated. He also defeated Henry Tillman, the 1984 Olympic Heavyweight Gold Medalist, in the 1983 National finals in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

National Sports Festival (201 lbs), U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 1983:

AAU Region #2 Championships (201 lbs), Radisson Hotel, Wilmington, Delaware, October 1983:

United States National Championships (201 lbs), Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 1983:

Pennsylvania Golden Gloves (201 lbs), Zembo Mosque, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, March 1982:

National Golden Gloves (201 lbs), Kansas City, Missouri, March 1982:

Local match-up (201 lbs), Resorts International Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1982:

Mid-Atlantic ABF Championships (201 lbs), Brandywine Club, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, October 1982:

AAU Region #2 Championships (201 lbs), Hazlet, New Jersey, November 1982:

United States National Championships (201 lbs), Indianapolis, Indiana, December 1982:

Milligan was a 1981 graduate of Princeton University. He was a defensive back in football, a third baseman in baseball and a wrestler who often wrestled in the highest weight class, despite being only about 5-11, 185 (he would frequently wrestle and defeat 250-pounders, and once wrestled and defeated a 325-pounder in the NCAAs). Milligan earned ten varsity letters, an all-time University record. He was an All American in wrestling and was Princeton's 1981 Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which is the University's highest undergraduate honor. He later earned an M.B.A. degree from New York University.

Local match-up (201 lbs), October 1981 (debut):

Henry "Hammerin' Hank" Milligan (born September 16, 1958 in Camden, NJ) is a retired professional boxer from the United States. His highest achievement came in amateur boxing, when he was ranked #9 heavyweight in the world by the AIBA in February 1984 (being the only American to get into the dozen,) prior to his knockout loss in the hands of young Michael Tyson, then a relatively unknown to the world boxer from Catskill, New York.