Does Freddie Steele Ranks as a Top 5 (or 10-15-20?) Middleweight of All-Time?

Top 5 without question.

 

Gorgeous footwork.

 

I think so. His technique is beautiful.

 

Top 5 in my book. A 2 handed puncher, who also was a smooth boxer. He beat the best of the era's middleweights, not just beating them, but dominating them. An ATG for sure.

 

he didn't face McAvoy, whom always gets overlooked and forgotten.

cross record checking shows Risko as a common opponent and McAvoy, while states side, was forced to fight light-heavyweights where Steele wasn't...

McAvoy wasn't treated well in America and was considered a L-HW, and as a result of the Risko blowout wasn't getting anywhere near a middleweight title tilt.

Not saying Steele isn't a great, He IS.

but not without McAvoy in his company, whom always gets left out and forgotten when mentioning, Steele, Apostili, Garcia, Hostak and others too leading up to Zale.

Steele and McAvoy must have been proposed, as Mac was vying for the Middleweight Title and all the above names were constantly in discussions about it... they certainly were talked about, a dam shame this meet never came off.

Steele is Great, but so is England's Jock McAvoy.

amazes me how he always gets forgotten and left out, yet all these other names and more get regularly tossed about.

 

McAvoy was rated in 1934 and 1938.I don't know if he made the top ten apart from those years? McAvoy was beaten by opponents that his European rival Marcel Thil beat, McAvoy never held a title outside the British National and Commonwealth titles. Thil beat him for the Euro Lhvy crown and Thil has a deeper resume. McAvoy had 7lbs on Risko,in3 of his 5 fights in the US McAvoy had a weight advantage, I don't see where he was treated badly? Risko and Steele had 3 fights, 2 were inside the middle weight limit and one with Steele at 162 and Risko at161 lbs . Steele won them all, the fact that he was bigger than 3 of his five stateside opponents doesn't mean Jock was side tracked does it?
Thil was the world 160lbs champ from 32 to36 and he beat McAvoy in 1935, McAvoy was only ranked in 34 and 38, in38 he was fighting domestic and Euro level opponents.
McAvoy's best win on the world stage is Risko ,who was conceding 7lbs. At home ,an early win over Len Harvey who beat him in several return fights.
Jock really didn't do enough to press his claims for a middleweight title shot.

Steele beat:

Apostoli
Risko x 3
Jones x2
Barth
Dundee
Lesnevich
Overlin
Kreiger

That's a better resume than Jock's

You can't blame the US for him coming in at168.75lbs.If he had been nearer the 160pounds limit perhaps his claims for a middleweight title shot would have gained more credence?

 

mcavoy was rated from 34 till 39, if I remember rightly and in 38 and 39 at middle and l-hw simultaneously , again if I remember rightly, I'll check the ratings.

not blaming the States for anything, just saying they were happy to match him in L-HW fights, but not at middleweight and especially not for a title tilt.

a great fight with the much bigger J H Lewis and l-hw cum hw Al McCoy are just as credible, and count worthy as the mw bouts Steele or any other middles mixed in.

they should have paired off, it was discussed just like the other Top Middles and that all I'm pointing out here, not a blaming game, just facts of the time.

mcavoy lost out, through boxing politics and ownership, as is usually the case in boxing. we can simply say "that's it, that's all, that's boxing!"

or we can speculate or investigate into things deeper with respect to the politics of it, and discover (or not), if he was passed over, or deliberately left out, or not.

that's research.

 

I think Steele is an under rated and sometimes forgotten fighter. I pick him over Ketchel or LaMotta, though most top ten lists from historians or posters here do not see it that way, perhaps because they have not seen a lot of film on him.

Steele's overall record of losing only five fights out of a career total of 162 is outstanding. He was stopped only 3 times all three of them happened at the very end of his career. His list of opponents is a virtual who’s who of his era. Steele ducked no man!

Steele suffered a broken breastbone in 1938 and was never the same after that.

The middle weight division is historically loaded with talent. Steele is not not in my top ten at middleweight, but he's in my top 20

 

Steele Ducked NO MAN...

absolutely 100% true, I agree.

most top fighters aren't afraid to fight any of their peers, but for the Backers, Owners, Promoters, Managers and those in power, the opposite is common place.

 

I could only find two years in which he was rated, 34 and 38.McAvoy was just 4lbs lighter than Lewis.

 

Freddie Steele was a truly great middleweight fighting in an era of great MWs as Apostoli, Hostak, Ken Overlin, Billy conn, Jock McAvoy, Tony Zale, Solly Kreiger [a rough SOB], Georgie Abrams, etc...What an era of great 160 pounders I say...But I'm going out on a limb by saying my main man today GGG would fit in very nicely, thank you with the bangers above...I know
"who of note did GGG fight as yet". will be brought up to shoot my opinion down. Fine I say. But what GGG brings to the table transcends era's. He is THAT deadly a banger with a helluva chin that has kept him off the canvas in about 335 Amateur and pro fights...And oh, can he hit !!!...

 

Hi mcvey, no he was rated for those 6 years consecutively at MW and/or L-HW and at both in 38 & 39.

go to BoxRec's Ring Magazine 'yearend' ratings page for quick viewing.

perhaps the greatest bunch of middleweights in history that 20 year period from the mid 30s to the mid 50s.

 

Yes you are right but I was talking about at middleweigh, that was at lhvy.Jock was only rated at160lbs in 34 and
38.McAvoy would have given anyone near his weight a real fight ,but you cant blame others for him fighting at lhvy.