Freddie Steele Appreciation Thread

Thanks to Burts posts and glowing reports on Steele, he is now the fighter i want to know more about. Pity there isnt much footage of him. He musta been some pup

 

Great punching power as you mentioned. I think his relatively modest kayo percentage is deceptive because Steele fought so many excellent fighters, many of whom were incredibly durable and noted for their surival abilities.

Its often forgotten that Steele was even more famous for his spectacular footwork than for his punching power.

I definitely favor a healthy Steele over Hostak, who I rate higher than most on this foroum. I also would favor him over Zale, Basora, and he'd stand an excellent chance against Cerdan imo.

I think a thread pitting Steele with Georgie Abrams would be interesting. Reports suggest that many thought hardluck Abrams deserved a win over Robinson, and evidently a very big majority of observers thought Abrams handily outboxed Cerdan.

Abrams awkward wizardry against Steele's power and technical acumen.

 

I think Teddy Yarosz would be a great matchup for Steele. He was an excellent boxer, had an strong jaw and was extremely hard to hit. Plus he was no novice at shutting down big bangers.

 

Steele was not only the first man to stop Dundee , he was the only one ,in a total of 148 fights.
Dundee was in hospital a week after that bout , with concussion, and a broken jaw.
Steele was undoubtedly a big banger, but he throws just about everything long, and I think he looks a bit sloppy against Dundee.

He looks better against Lesnevich imo..
Steele is very mobile and rangy , at 155.5lbs, he was conceding 5lbs to Dundee . Freddie was usually conceding weight to his opponents.

Great puncher whose career went into decline after his injury.
Arguably top 10?

 

not without or before Jock McAvoy.

I love Steele, but have never understood the ommision of Mac when talking Steele, this is "the fight of that middleweight decade, the 1930s", and it should've happened... a reveiw of the timeline and opponents show this, and Mac also fought up, where Freddie didn't.

the two best middles of the mid late 1930s, why didn't they meet?

 

Same reason Risko would not rematch Jock with the title on the line,though McAvoy would probably have had to cut a leg off to make 160lbs by late 1935.

 

hardly a full blown light-heavyweight though was he?
he made 160 in 1939 for his defense against Sadd.

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Al kid McCoy vs Jock McAvoy

 

A few observations : Life AND boxing was far crueler in the old days as witnessed by the brave referee allowing the fight to continue after Vince Dundee was floored ELEVEN times before stopping the contest...
Was there ever a braver performance than Vince Dundee gave that night after truly being out on his feet after the first knockdown ?
Freddie Steele was almost unbeatable in his first 10 years in the ring.
The era of the 1930s produced great MWs like Freddie Steele, Al Hostak, Tony Zale, Jock McAvoy, Marcel Thil, Billy Conn, Teddy Yarosz, Solly Krieger, Georgie Abrams, Fred Apostoli, Ken Overlin etc ,ALL who would be MW champion today and according to a Nat Fleischer who saw them all
would be vast underdogs to a Harry Greb from a decade earlier...Lest we forget...

 

He wernt no KP but he was reel good man ill tell ya wut.

 

He lacked KP's brilliant success in coping with cagey boxers.

 

FM, I saw the Marcel Cerdan ? Georgie Abrams bout at MSG in Dec, 1946. It was a close decision but I, my dad and the fans thought Cerdan won because of his aggresiveness alone...I can't recall any booing from the fans after Cerdan got the decision...Abrams was a tough MW to beat in his prime...

 

It all started downhill after David thrashed Goliath...I was at ringside during that fray. :hi:

 

Thanks Burt. There is a lot of misinformation about this and Marcel's fight with Anton Raadik.

The pro-Abrams crowd wanted Georgie to be given a draw because of his brave showing. But the majority of sportswriters said that Cerdan won a clear-cut decision and anything less than a win for him would have been a robbery.