Freddie Steele vs. Jake LaMotta

I figure Steele could win a decision as long as he realizes that he isn't knocking LaMotta out. The key is to just box LaMotta, and not to get brave with him. Even lesser fighters were able to trouble the somewhat slow-footed Jake by staying away from him.

Remember that Fred Apostoli was able to take the fight to Steele and rough him up, and I don't think LaMotta is necessarily any worse than Apostoli, certainly not less physical. I wonder to what extent Steele's injury hampered him against Apostoli though.

What Steele would have to deal with against LaMotta:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8KiGA4EEU[/ame]

2:30

 

Yes but don't forget that Apostoli was a BIG puncher. LaMotta was nowhere near his class in the power dept

:good

 

The Apostoli/Steele match is one of the most circumstantial in boxing history, few seem to want to focus on that.

Steele was well over a 130 fights into his pro career.

His interest in the sport after the death of someone very close to him had his interest in the sport and desire quickly waning.

Steele began his professional career at the age of 14 years old, similar to the likes of Pipino Cuevas.

Certainly a good win but not without it being an extraordinay situation.

 

People forget just how good freddie steele was in his prime.. in the first ten years of boxing Steele lost 2 bouts in over 110 fights and was virtually unbeatable..his downslide
began when his beloved mgr, died ,and in the second fight with tough fred Apostoli,
Steele suffered a painful breastbone injury, and had to retire from the bout..Great
all around fighter was Freddie Steele.
Steele was a better boxer than LaMotta and a great two handed puncher, and i have Steele winning a decision in 15 rounds..Very few better than Freddie Steele...

 

And herein lies the key issue to ponder. LaMotta brings the same strength and pressure Apostoli did, but not the power. How would that alter the outcome of the fight?

I also think Steele was a somewhat similar fighter to Lloyd Marshall, with comparable power, hand-speed, and technical skill. Very possibly, a fight with LaMotta would play out similar to how Marshall's did.

 

Lets have Steele fight LaMotta with a badly broken breastbone as well, that'll make the Apostoli fight actually comparable with a LaMotta fantasy match.

 

I wasn't aware you had physically examined Steele before his fight with Apostoli. Please enlighten us with your inside medical knowledge. op

 

I thought everyone was well aware of this ailment.

 

Going into the fight, or coming out of it with it?

 

The latter, with it effecting him the rest of his career (along with the death of his manager). I'm not saying Apostoli may not've simply been a bad stylistic matchup for him, mind you, but I do think the injury played a part in the fight without question.

 

Why would such an injury inflicted on a fighter in the course of being ground into a stoppage somehow diminish the win? If anything, the winner's ability to inflict so much damage only reinforces his superiority.

If Steele had entered the fight with that injury, then it would've been a valid excuse; but there's no actual proof of whether he did or not, only talk and speculation after the fact.

 

Out of curiosity, are you aware of what round Steele suffered the injury in? From the Newspaper accounts (next-day) of the bout I've read he started to box on his toes, getting the better of Apostoli before succumbing to his onslaught in the next round. This being around the time in the bout that a controversial low blow courtesy of Apostoli was looked over, allowing him to gain the upper hand even further.

Also, their bout was originally post-poned for 3 months due to rib injuries Steele had been suffering, but I'm not sure whether or not they played a part.

 

There's no way anyone could know for sure at what point in the fight he suffered that injury.

That's not quite what I've read.

"It was Apostoli's fight all the way. This observation tower credited Steele with only two rounds, the fourth and the seventh. He won the latter on a foul when Apostoli dropped a hard one out of bounds. As early as the third round the champion was in distress, and I still don't know what kept him on his feet through the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth rounds."
-Joe Williams, Pittsburgh Press

"Freddie continued, but apparently the low blow, combined with the punishment he had received in the fifth and sixth, left him almost helpless."
-United Press

Also note that the footage of the fight I had uploaded says, "It's Fred from the beginning."

 

Steele may have a legit excuse for the Apostoli loss, although it remains unclear to me when the injury was caused. I imagine it was the beating Apostoli gave him in the middle rounds. The Al Hostak loss on the other hand is meaningless to me, as Steele was clearly shot.

However if we start making excuses for Steele then LaMotta has plenty of excuses with his glass hands, which broke almost every other fight, and constant weight-draining.

I believe that LaMotta would have given Lloyd Marshall some serious problems had the fight been scheduled for 15 rounds. Marshall tended to run out of gas, and it was no surprise that LaMotta had his best success in the late rounds. He may not have been as big a puncher as Apostoli, although Apostoli himself was hardly a one punch knockout artist, but he was certainly more durable. I can't ever see LaMotta being outfought by a welterweight puncher like Ceferino Garcia.

I have Apostoli's title winning effort against Marcel Thil on film and the old man hung in there all the way until getting cut.