VIDEO: Fred Apostoli vs. Freddie Steele

Thanks for that info.:good

Should clear some things up.

 

Cheers guys.

 

In fact, it's a wonder that he ever made good at all in the first place.
How true!
Whenever I think of Apostoli I wonder-
What if the guy had Pop Foster/Cus Damato management??

 

Fred Apostoli was an amateur champion, won the national AAU and the Golden Gloves middleweight titles just before he turned professional.
That's why he was matched so quickly against such good fighters. I think he debuted against a 100-fight professional !

Yeah, that's somewhat extreme early matchmaking, but he won most of his fights and gave the far more experienced Steele a good fight in his 7th pro bout.

Many modern fighters with good amateur credentials are ruined through the other extreme end of matchmaking and fed a long line of utter bums, so-called "professionals" who aren't even at the standard of reasonable amateurs, just out-of-shape nobodies looking to get paid.

 

Some insight on just how great Amrstrong was in his prime.

 

Ceferino Garcia must have fought the fight of his life to beat Fred Apostoli.

It was more a case of Garcia benefitting from Conn wrecking Aposoli.

 

Bump.

 

Correct. From what I've read, it appears he suffered what's called a costochondral separation, in which the cartilage that connects the ribs & sternum tears & separates. Here's a newspaper clipping on the Apostoli fight's initial postponement from the AP, as published in the Santa Ana Journal, which confirms the existence of the injury prior to that fight.

"The scheduled 12-round non-title fight between Freddie Steele, middleweight champion, and Fred Apostoli, San Francisco, Nov. 12 has been postponed indefinitely because of injuries to Steele. Steele appeared before the New York State Athletic Commission yesterday and was examined by Dr. George Edson, who reported he found definite evidence of injured cartillages on Steele’s sixth, seventh and eighth ribs. Dr. Edson recommended a three weeks’ rest for the champion."

Unfortunately for Steele, the injury would reoccur during the fight itself & during training for subsequent fights, resulting in his premature retirement.

 

I always wondered how many divisions a growing Steele could reign in if he were to be brought into the modern era.

 

Steele's early career upbringing reminds me of Sean O'Grady's - he had a gagillion (mostly winning) fights @the clubfighter level before ever being elevated to world class opposition. Like w/ O'Grady, all those fights @ a young age may have contributed to an early decline as well.