Former two-time EBU heavyweight champion and world title challenger Steffen Tangstad has passed away at the age of 65, the Norwegian media has reported.

Tangstad had for a long time been suffering from a nerve disease and lost power in both arms and legs – and in 2019 he had his left leg amputated.

Steffen Tangstad became Norwegian champion six times as an amateur and then turned pro.

As professional boxing became prohibited in Norway in 1981, Steffen travelled to America and – with Chicago as a base – he built up a 16-0-2 record, mainly against soft touches but the record includes a draw against James “Buster” Douglas.

But it was in Denmark and with promoter Mogens Palle that Steffen got his big break and he won the European heavyweight title on a fantastic night at the KB-Hall in Copenhagen in the fall of 1984 with a points win over Frenchman Lucian Rodriguez. Tangstad then lost the title to Swede Anders Eklund after a bad performance but bounced back with a close win over John Westgarth in 1986 and became European champ a second time and that led to a showdown against world champ Michael Spinks, who stopped the challenger in the fourth round.

Tangstad was by then 24-2-2 and never officially retired and was in fact named official challenger for the EBU title almost two years after the Spinks fight, but he settled for a career as commentator. He later also became a promoter and manager but eventually left boxing.