Freddie Steele

What I've seen of Steele, he could probably hang with any of them. His speed, power and accuracy were what impressed me the most. The guy could really smack. It's odd that his KO% isnt higher, but, maybe its the "highlight reel" stuff that I've seen and its a little flattering?

 

Ras al Guhl thinks he was crap, rates him at no 65 all time.

 

Steele was a prototype boxer puncher whose prime ended abruptly from the injury and the death of his trainer. At his best, he's an ATG caliber guy head to head. The thought of him on some of the "modern nutrition" from the 80's on would be terrifying.

 

Top 10 all time...

Defeated the best of his era in a really good era, ducked nobody. Immaculate record....deadly boxer puncher in his prime with a tremendous left hook. Had elite hand speed athleticism and good footwork.

Great Fightee

 

Steele matured into his power he had alot of fights as a younger guy but when the power arrived it arrived in spades

 

Steele is so much fun for me to watch...at his best he was so lethal. Those poor 30's middleweights never knew what hit 'em.

 

Pity he ducked Mon Legionnaire.

 

Steele looks like a handful for any Middleweight in history. Started at an insanely young age, if his record is represented correctly on boxrec.

His fearless assaults tend to leave big openings and this might be his downfall against solid counter-punchers, who can hold their nerve - like Tiger, for example.

Either way, I think Steele in his pomp, against anyone, would result in a tear-up.

 

I wrote this years ago - and some of the writing makes me cringe over 10 years later - but I did because I felt he was hardly ever talked about. When he pops up, I'm really excited just to see new people become familiar with him.


https://www.boxing247.com/weblog/archives/112920

I wish someone made a book about him (maybe I should try, ha). Some people say that because his knockout percentage is low, that he didn't have a lot of power. But from reading other books, and seeing the lay of the land an early period boxing, I think a lot of promoters, and even the fighters themselves, wanted to "give the crowd a show." In other words, I think Steele could have knocked out a lot more people if he was trying to. My evidence for that line of thinking is that his power showed up in some of his bigger fights, and against some guys who had good chins.

- Baby Joe Gans KO 3
- Vince Dundee KO 3, ,knocked down 11 times, and was his only knockout loss of his career
- Gus Lesnevich TKO 2, though Lesnevich was young
- Ken Overlin, KO 4, only lost twice by KO

There's other's he knocked out that didn't have as big of name but were only knocked out a few times in their career in long careers, and of course one of those was to Steele.

Not really arguing with anyone here, just always feel compelled to mention that his power - in my estimation - was better than boxrec will show you.

 

I'm not sure his early bouts in Bellingham were professional fights. Although there's no mention of them being "amateur" in Bellingham Herald (I've looked up same-day and next-day reports for all 6 bouts), but, shortly before his first bout in Tacoma, one local newspaper noted:

1927-12-31 The Tacoma Daily Ledger (page 7)
Firpo--right name Guido Bardelli--took the floor first, working with Freddie Steele, youthful amateur

1928-01-12 The Tacoma Daily Ledger (page 7)
Freddie Steele, Tacoma 115-pounder, who has showed a lot of class in the amateur ranks and in his gym workouts, will meet Hermosa Villa, Seattle Filipino, in the four-round opening event.

1928-01-13 The Tacoma Daily Ledger (page 7)
Freddie Steele, Tacoma bantam, making his first proappearance, won a decision over Hermosa Villa, Seattle Filipino, in the opener. Steele showed nice boxing form for a youngster, using a nice left, straight and hooking, and having Villa tumbling halfway out of the ring, when he cleverly sidestepped his lunges.

 

I agree, by the "eye test" he hits very hard indeed.

 

I wrote about this in my article. There wasn't really much in the way of an amateur scene in 1920's Washington State, so the owners of the gyms found other young guys to fight from other gyms. Because they were recorded in local papers is why they show up on his boxrec record, and probably rightfully so, though I have no idea if he got paid for these contests.