Marcel Thil

Marcel Thil
Statistics
Real name	Marcel Thil
Rated at	Middleweight
Nationality	French
Born	25 May 1904 Saint-Dizier, France
Died	14 August 1968 (aged 64)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	148
Wins	113
Wins by KO	54
Losses	22
Draws	13
No contests	0

Marcel Thil (25 May 1904 – 14 August 1968) was a French boxer and middleweight world champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec rates Thil as the best French boxer ever across all weight divisions.^[1]

Early life

Thil was born in Saint-Dizier, a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. He started boxing at a very young age and turned professional at the age of 16. Thil was a journeyman boxer for a number of years but as he gained experience and matured to full adult strength, he developed power in both hands and began to win regularly by knockout (KO).

Career

Thil won the French middleweight boxing championship in 1928 and captured the Europe title the following year. After losing his European championship in 1930, Thil won his next 15 fights and then defeated Gorilla Jones by a controversial 11th-round disqualification to capture the National Boxing Association (NBA) world middleweight championship and the vacant International Boxing Union (IBU) world middleweight championship on June 11, 1932 in Paris, France. With his championship victory, Thil became the toast of Paris. He was a major celebrity and a good friend of celebrated actor Jean Gabin.

Thil successfully defended the title on July 4, 1932 with a 15-round unanimous decision against Len Harvey, but he then went more than a year without defending the title. Thil was stripped by the NBA for failing to make a title defense by August 15, 1933, but he remained the IBU champion.^[2]

In addition to defending the IBU middleweight championship, Thil moved up a weight class to win the European light-heavyweight title in 1934. He would successfully defend the title once.

After successfully defending the IBU middleweight championship 11 times, Thil fought Fred Apostoli in a non-title bout on September 23, 1937 in New York City. It was a non-title affair because the New York State Athletic Commission, which recognized Freddie Steele as world middleweight champion, said they would sanction the fight only if Thil agreed that his title would not be at issue. Apostoli won by a 10th-round technical knockout (TKO). The fight was stopped due to a severe cut over the right eye of Thil, who was ahead on points at the time of the stoppage. Shortly after the loss, the 33-year-old Thil retired from boxing.^[3]

Later life and death

Thil remained active in boxing circles as an adviser and cornerman and was named honorary president of the Dieppe Boxing Club. He made a living with a company in Reims until retiring to a home in Cannes on the French Riviera.

Thil died at his home in Cannes on August 14, 1968 at the age of 64. Over the last couple years of his life, he was involved in two car accidents, from which he never fully recovered. Thil is buried in the Grand Jas Cemetery.^[4]

Honors

Marcel Thil was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame at Canastota, New York in 2005. In France, a street was named in his honor in his birthplace of Saint-Dizier, and both a street and a sports stadium carry his name in the city of Reims.

References

1. All-Time Pound-for-Pound Rankings (France). BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-18.
2. 1932-07-04 Marcel Thil w pts 15 Len Harvey, White City Stadium, Shepherds Bush, London, England - NBA/IBU. Barry Hugman's History of World Championship Boxing. Retrieved on 2014-09-27.
3. Fred Apostoli: Boxing Bellhop. The Boxing Register. Retrieved on 2014-09-27.
4. Death Takes Marcel Thil. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on 2014-09-27.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Marcel Thil from BoxRec
• International Boxing Hall of Fame