[Luf]

Anyone got any info on this?

Fro the early 30's Thil was the consensus number 1 in the division and around the mid 30's Steele rose to the top of the contenders list picking up some titles on the way.

This seems like a natural fight to make but it never came off, does anyone know why?

assuming it did come off in 36, who would have won?

In the end Apostoli stopped the pair of them to settle matters but for a couple of years beforehand it's tough identifying the top dog of the division. Thil was beating Brouillard and Tunero whilst Steele was beating Risko and Battaglia.

Any info/insight would be appreciated :good

 

[Yiddle]

don't know why this fight never happened.I have to admit i am not overly confident when talking on these two but my money would be on Steele though. For me he is the slightly better boxer is quicker on his feet and quite possibly had the quicker hands and definitely the heavier punch

Steele had i think already beaten on points Apostoli a few years before their second fight, in the loss to apostoli i am not sure but Steele may of suffered some sort of bone injury (breastbone ?) which may of affected him for the rest of his career

just taking a stab here but thought i would try

 

[Chatty]

Could be simply geographical differences - as far as I'm aware Steele never left the US and Thil didn't leave Europe till his last fight which he got knocked out in.

 

[Luf]

Could be simply geographical differences - as far as I'm aware Steele never left the US and Thil didn't leave Europe till his last fight which he got knocked out in.

yeah it could be. thil was still able to secure big fights with jones, brouillard, tunero and apostoli though.

who was regarded as the superior fighter back then? my heart says steele because he's considered a MW atg and thil is largely unknown but I'm not so sure.

 

[Sittin Sonny]

Fro the early 30's Thil was the consensus number 1 in the division...

I'm not sure I would call Thil "the consensus number 1" - he was rated #1 by The Ring, but it seems he was often downplayed or ignored by the American press and sanctioning commissions, who focused more on local titleholders like Yarosz. I would imagine their European counterparts were probably equally dismissive of the American titleholders.

This seems like a natural fight to make but it never came off, does anyone know why?

It doesn't seem that either fighter was particularly interested in traveling overseas, and there were plenty of big fights available to either of them on their home turf. For example, Steele's fight with Battaglia received a lot of attention because of Battaglia's vaunted power. Besides, this is a fairly small window we're looking at here - only about 2 years.

Having said that, Steele's manager (and lifelong mentor) Dave Miller did mention sometime in '37 that they were considering an offer to fight Thil in Paris. Shortly after that, Miller died and Thil lost to Apostoli (and never fought again), so whatever likelihood there was of that fight happening went out the window.

assuming it did come off in 36, who would have won?

If it happened in France, Thil might've been able to steal a DQ win. But if they fight on fair terms, I think Steele would've had too much firepower for him - especially in '36, when Thil was less active and appeared to be on the decline.

Thil was beating Brouillard and Tunero whilst Steele was beating Risko and Battaglia.

But Steele's wins were much more convincing and impressive - he dominated Risko and bombed out Battaglia, whereas Thil squeaked by on a close decision and two controversial DQs against Brouillard.

 

[Vic]

I don´t know, but Steele looks a lot better on film. Thil looks, huh, very awkward from what I can remember....

 

[LittleRed]

Thil via dq. The mans balls were like magnets.

 

[Luf]

Wow old thread!

I think I'd have to favour Steele in this matchup. Shame the top two never unified the fractured division.

 

[scribbs]

Some info - Miller wanted $25,000 or 37.5% of gate to fight in Paris. Apparently Thil was beaten up when he came to US by 2 mohawk indians & vowed not to fight away from home but was offered a good amount to fight Apostoli in the US

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Y-FIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hoIMAAAAIBAJ&dq=marcel thil&pg=1120,5231973

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...dq=marcel thil freddie steele&pg=7402,2193128

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8qlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CiIEAAAAIBAJ&dq=marcel thil&pg=3919,2133596

 

[Luf]

Cheers for the links mate!good reading that:good