Freddie Steele-Tacoma Assassin

[BoztheMadman]

One of the greatest middleweights ever, Freddie Steele was also one of the greatest punchers of this division and had a good chin. Only three times he has been knocked out, all late in his career and once because of an injury. He had a long and illustrious career, winning that coveted world title and defeating fighters like Ken Overlin, Gorilla Jones, Babe Risko, Vince Dundee, Swede Berglund, Fred Apostoli, Gus Lesnevich, Ceferino Garcia. Amazingly, he lost only 5 out of 139 fights, winning 125, 58 by knockout.

 

Born Frederick Earl Burgett in Seattle, Washington, on 18 December 1912, his family later moved to Concrete in the same state. It was there the young Steele would grow fond of a boxer called Tod Morgan, who was to become another future world champion. Steele's family soon thereafter moved to Alaska for a while, before returning to Washington state and settling in Bellingham, where Freddie started his boxing career. The earliest documented bout of his career was a win over Red Kig Benedict on 20 October 1926. It was a 3-round amateur bout. Soon thereafter, on 10 November, the only-13 yearold Steele had his professional debut against Jimmy Britt and won by a 4-round decision on home turf in Bellingham. He again rematched Britt 2 weeks later and this time fought to a draw with him. Their third fight, in March next year, also ended as a draw. On 1 March 1928, he scored his first knockout victory knocking out debutante Billy Edwards in 4 rounds. His first 44 fights were without a loss, including several draws, but on 17 December 1930, just a day before he turned 18, he experienced his first loss as a professional against Tony Portillo. He was too cautious and tried to box instead of slugging, which cost him the decision in the 6-rounder. He beat Portillo in the rematch on 1 January, the same way. He started knocking out fighters and building a reputation. In July 1931, after beating the experienced journeyman Don Fraser on points, Fraser stated "Thank god there's only one Freddie Steele!" 18 May 1932, he would beat his first big name and future world champion, Ceferino Garcia, by KO 2. He again defeated Garcia the same way 20 September that year. On 17 January 1933, he fought for the Northwest Pacific welterweight title against Leonard Bennett, when his jaw was broken in two places, despite defeating his opponent on points. Two months later, on 24 March, he suffered an automobile accident which gave him a concussion and he was hospitalized. But, he truly lived up to his last name when he returned to the ring four months later and knocked out Gilbert Attell with a right uppercut to the chin in 3 rounds.

 

He then knocked out some other semi-noted contenders like Johnny "Bandit" Romero (KO2) and Eddie Murdock (KO4), before getting his first big fight against the former world middleweight champion Gorilla Jones on 22 May 1934. It was a 10-round fight and Steele first staggered Jones with a left hook in the first round, before Jones came back to win the next two rounds, as he became more cautious. Steele won the 4th and the 5th was even, while Steele took the 6th. Jones hurt him with a right hand to take the 7th. After an even 8th, Jones won the last two rounds. The final verdict was a draw. After defeating Babe Marino on points just a few weeks later, he had a bizarre and controversial fight against Sammy Slaughter on 22 June, when Slaughter fell no less than eight times without being hit, all in the first round. The referee started to count after the eight time Slaughter fell, but then changed his mind and ordered both boxers to leave the ring. He refused to referee the fight and no other official could be found, so the verdict was a no-contest. Steele continued fighting and beating some lesser names and then on 1 April 1935 he faced off against the relatively unexperienced, 6-0 future world champion Fred Apostoli. They put on a teriffic battle at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, but Steele's experience and power took over after round 6 and he began punishing Apostoli with a vicious body attack, which made him fall down twice without being hit in the 9th, before the ref halted the fight in the 10th round. On 30 July he defeated another notable fighter, the former world champion Vince Dundee of Baltimore. Steele gave him a terrific pounding and knocked him down eleven times before the fight ended in the 3rd round. Dundee sustained a concussion and a broken jaw. He then rematched Gorilla Jones less than two months later and this time he would be victorious, as he came back after losing the first 3 rounds and found the target with his left hook often, splitting Jones' lip in the 5th. Despite injuring his right hand in the 6th round, he pressed the action and won the rest of the rounds to take a unanimous 10-round decision.

 

He also defeated Swede Berglund by TKO 6 and in March 1936 decisioned Babe Risko, the world middleweight champion, in a non-title bout. Risko was all marked and bleeding from Steele's slashing right hand shots as he left the ring. Almost 10,000 fans were present at the Civic Ice Arena in Seattle. The rematch was scheduled for 11 July, at Civic Stadium in Seattle, but this time with the world title on the line. Finally, after 10 years of fighting, the now-23 yearold Steele would achieve the great triumph as he put Risko down in the first round with a left hook to the jaw and won by a landslide on points after 15 rounds. He fought non-title fights for the rest of that year, some above 160. One such fight was against the young up and comer Gus Lesnevich, who would become the world light heavyweight champion. Even though Freddie came in at 158, Gus weighed 163. But it didn't help him, for he was bludgeoned into submission in 2 rounds, as Steele threw and landed a half dozen left hooks and right crosses before the towel came flying from Lesnevich's corner. Lesnevich was also down twice in the first round and got a bad cut over his right eye. His face was a mask of blood as the towel came in the ring. Thus once again, Steele proved he was a lethal puncher. The promoter of this show, Joe Waterman, would later call this Steele's finest performance and the finest performance he ever saw in his 40-plus years in boxing. He then made his first defense of the world title on new year's day in 1937, against Gorilla Jones, his old nemesis. Steele became the first man to put Jones down in the 7th round and won all but one round out of 10. He again defended his title against Babe Risko on 19 February and won by another decisive unanimous decision. He then knocked out the Italian-Canadian contender Frank Battaglia in 3 rounds after decking him twice first. He followed that performance up with another impressive dismantling of Ken Overlin, another future world champion. Overlin was a clever fighter but it didn't help him against the mighty Steele, as he found his mark in round 4, staggering him first with a left to the chin, then followed that up with another left that sent the challenger flying before finishing him off with two rights.

 

Soon thereafter, however, he would experience a setback. He took on Fred Apostoli again and this time the slightly younger Apostoli but with much less mileage on him prevailed in a bloody brawl to stop Steele in round 9. However, Apostoli low blowed him in round 7. Worst of all, Steele had suffered a broken breastbone, which would hamper him for some time afterward. Steele said: "I was just beginning to get right. It sent a terrific pain all over my lower body. I know Apostoli didn't do it on purpose, but it won the fight for him. After that I was strictly a catcher", he said about the low blow. On 19 February 1938 came his last successful defense against the lower-class contender Carmine Barth, whom he beat by TKO 7. Shortly thereafter, The New York State Athletic Commission chose to withdraw its recognition of Steele as their champion, as he refused to face Apostoli again, at least according to reports. It was after that fight that an x-ray discovered he had broken his breastbone in the Apostoli fight. This diagnosis made him unable to fight for four months, but he then came back and beat the underrated Solly Krieger by UD10. Steele was unable to knock his man out and in the 10th Krieger nailed him with a shot that made Steele spit out his mouthpiece, but he finished the fight trading. Krieger had a badly swollen left eye at the end and Steele finished the fight with a bloody nose and a swelling under his right eye. And then finally, his reign as a champion came to an end. Although NY State Athletic Comission stripped him of their title, he still had the NBA (today WBA) title and defended it against the hard-hitting "Savage Slav", Al Hostak, on 26 July 1938 at Civic Stadium, Seattle. Again, his breastbone injury affected him as it hadn't healed, probably because he had come back to the ring too soon and he was unable to lift his hands high. It made him an open target for Hostak and he was put down four times before the fight ended at 1:43 of the first round. A brutal and unworthy ending to such a fine world championship reign.

 

After that he bade farewell to the ring but returned 3 years later for one final fight against Jimmy Casino. He was no longer his old self and was stopped in 5 rounds, after taking several unanswered shots against the ropes. A sad farewell it was. His boxing career declined with the death of his manager Dave Miller in 1938, as well as the breastbone injury. His brother Eddie took over as a manager after that. Freddie ran a cigar-store after retirement from boxing, earning some 600$ a month, as well as 200$ a month from his ring earnings. He then began a film career, albeit short, at the urging of Mushy Callahan, who was then an adviser to Warner Brothers studio on boxing matters. Steele stood just under 5'11 and had good enough looks to make it in the movies. He first starred as a double for Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim, a movie about James J. Corbett. He also was in Pin-Up Girl and Duffy's Tavern and a few other flicks. Steele returned to his home state after 10 years in California and together with his wife opened a restaurant in Westport, WA, named after him. He suffered a stroke in 1980 and died at a nursing home on 22 August 1984, aged 71. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 1999.

 

Thanks to Boxrec

Edited June 8, 2016 by BoztheMadman