I have always rated Steele highly, despite having seen only limited footage of him. What I did see though, was a quality fighter with a modern style - certainly more modern than some others of the period. I think he was a good champion but that first round Ko defeat to Hostak was a devastating loss. I would have loved to have seen him against the likes of Cerdan, Graziano and Zale.
We shouldn't forget this man. Steele fought 8 champions, including Ken Overlin, Gorilla Jones, Babe Risko, Ceferino Garcia and Gus Lesnevich. Overlin was stopped once before in his third fight (out of 160) before Steele got him. He knocked Vince Dundee down 11 times in 3 rounds and put him in the hospital. Dundee was effectively finished. Later in life, Steele commented on how he was nauseated when he heard the bone crack in Dundee's jaw. The Hostak fight did indeed finish him... but his success was really grounded in his relationship with his 300 pound manager -Dave Miller. Miller, who was a father figure to Steele, died of a heart attack right before the Overlin fight and Steele never got over it. It was probably just a matter of time. This content is protected Arcel actually co-trained Steele during those rare occasions when Freddie was on the east coast and commented that "no one really remmebers because he avoided the east coast like a plague." Mickey Walker once said that Steele was the "greatest short puncher" he ever saw. And whoever saw Errol Flynn in the movie "Gentleman Jim" about Corbett of course, was watching Freddie Steele in the boxing scenes. Steele was Flynn's stand-in.
