His legendary boxing comments will be missed. Sigi Bergmann was considered a master of his trade. At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, he was still a commentator for ORF. Bergmann commented on 20 Olympic Games and around 4,000 boxing matches on ORF, including all of Muhammad Ali’s major fights. The boxing expert died on Tuesday night at the age of 84.
For ORF General Director Roland Weißmann, “with Sigi Bergmann one of the most influential figures in sports journalism in Austria passed away. Like no one before him, he established cross-genre sports reporting and thus also set international standards. Our thoughts are with his family.”
ORF commentator Oliver Polzer also mourns the loss of Sigi Bergmann. “RIP great role model. Forever in our thoughts,” Polzer wrote on Instagram.
But not only the ORF, also SPÖ sports spokesman Maximilian Köllner was affected by the death of the well-known and popular sports reporter Sigi Bergmann: “For generations of sports fans, Sigi Bergmann was a fixture and a defining personality in Austrian sports reporting. Not only his talent for pithy sayings was legendary, but also his profound expertise in boxing, where he commented on numerous competitions with an incomparable passion.
The Carinthian governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) also commented on the death of Sigi Bergmann: “The voice of the legendary boxing commentator has faded. We will miss his dry, humorous commentary and analysis.”
Austria’s boxer Marcos Nader also mourns: “Austria’s boxing history has lost one of its greatest supporters. Sigi I will miss you, you were a great advisor, supporter and friend! I dedicate my next fight to you too! My heartfelt condolences to the Bergmann family.”
