How would you see this one playing out? These guys were only ten years apart but Steele's career wound down just as LaMotta's was starting. Were they both in prime shape, does Steele have the ability to outfinesse and outscore Jake over 15 rounds? Does he have the power to thwart Jake's attack? Would LaMotta be able to corral Freddie sufficient to do the more frequent scoring? It's a neat contrast in styles between two great middleweights.
Man, I really like Steele in his lightness of foot, creativity and, yes, power. I've never sat down to analyse this one but I'm guessing it would be LaMotta pressing the action and Steele moving around trying to land his bombs on him. LaMotta might grind him down; not sure how tough Steele was. But even if he won, Jake would look a mess.
I honestly just think Steele is in that tier above LaMotta. Elite vs very good. I can't really see what Jake does here. That second Apostolli bout shows that LaMotta can't just bully him or out tough him (since a fading Steele still went 9 savage rounds with a prime Apostolli whilst having a broken breastbone. Apostolli is also ridiculously underrated even on here, he looks as good if not better than LaMotta on film imo, both had very similar styles), whereas the first showed a Steele in good stead can deal with this pressure stalking style. Then there's just the fact that a prime Steele just looks faster, nimbler and more reflexive on film alongside being pretty crafty. I see him landing his right hand counter on Jake regularly and shutting down his jab imo. Honestly Steele is one of the best fighters ever from the 1900s - 1930s surviving film imo. His qualities translate well to any era. This content is protected
Steele only lost twice in his first 134 x fights, both when he was still a teenager. He faced, and beat, some excellent fighters during that time. His record, allied with footage, leads me to belive he was a special, special fighter. This content is protected
