I was a great fighter, until a boxing injury virtually ended my career. I coukld do it all...Who was this old champ ?
THEGREATA' Freddie Steele it is=Steele had about 165 fights, losing just 5 times...In his first TEN years, Freddie Steele lost only twice... In 1936 Steele stopped Fred Apostoli, and in 1938 in a second bout with the top fighting Apostoli ,Steele had his breast bone fractured and lost on a tko.. This very painful injury along with so many tough bouts, soon caused Freddie Steele to retire..But at his peak, a match for any middleweight in history...No doubt...
I think Steele falls short of all-time great status because of his late career losses to Fred Apostoli and Al Hostak. However it's clear that the injury hindered him at the time. I recently watched Apostoli's title winning effort against Marcel Thil as well as his TKO of Freddie Steele and he was extremely strong but Steele at his best would have been more competitive with him I feel. Looked like he couldn't hold Apostoli off after the injury. Against Hostak he just had nothing.
By the time Freddie Steele fought the tough Apostoli in 1938, Freddie Steele vwas fighting for twelve years and had way over 120 fights..The breast bone fracture against Apostoli, was the beginning of the end for Steele, resulting in his loss to the murderous punching Al Hostak later on... But as the films against Dundee, Gus Lesnevich etc show, Freddie Steele at his peak would be tough for anyone, Ray Robinson included...b.b.
