Marcel Thil

Marcel Thil
Data
Birth Name	Marcel Thil
Weight class	Middleweight, light heavyweight
nationality	French
birthday	May 25, 1904
place of birth	Saint-Dizier
Date of death	August 14, 1968
Place of death	Cannes
style	Left-hand boom
Combat Statistics
Struggles	148
Victories	113
Knockout victories	54
Defeats	22nd
draw	13
Profile in the BoxRec database

Marcel Thil (born May 25, 1904 in Saint-Dizier , † August 14, 1968 in Cannes ) was a French boxer . He was world champion in middleweight and European champion in middle and light heavyweight professional boxers.

Career

Marcel Thil became a professional boxer in 1920 at the age of 16. At that time he was still a "boxing apprentice". He developed both physically and boxing over the next few years, and after about six years had reached a stage that could be said to be one of the good French professional boxers. In those years he fought exclusively in his closer home, z. B. Cherbourg , Reims , Caen , Lorient and Calais and suffered most of his defeats in those years. He fought his first fight ever on July 9, 1920 in Nancy , in which he defeated Leon Patoux after four rounds on points. He fought his first fight in Paris on February 14, 1926.

On October 12, 1928 he was in Paris by a technical knockout victory in the 1st round over Marcel Thuru French middleweight champion. From then on, he became known in France . On March 27, 1929 in Paris he defeated the Italian Leone Jacovacci after 15 rounds on points and thus won the EBU European middleweight title. With victories over his compatriot Alfred Pegazzano on March 12, 1930 in Paris, over Motzi Spakow from Romania on November 1, 1930 in Bucharest and over the Italian Mario Bosisio on November 23, 1930 in Milan , he successfully defended this title.

On June 11, 1932 Marcel Thil was in Paris by a disqualification victory in the 11th round over the American William Jones, called Gorilla Jones , in front of 70,000 spectators in the Prinzenpark Stadium new world champion of the IBU boxing organization in the middleweight division. The enormous number of spectators of 70,000 in France had only been exceeded in meetings of Georges Carpentier before this fight . At the time of the cancellation, Marcel Thil was already clearly leading on points. Jones was disqualified for his increasingly unclean way of fighting.

Marcel Thil's popularity in France reached a new high after this victory. He was passed around in celebrity circles and had many friends in political and artistic circles. His best friend became Jean Gabin .

On July 4, 1932 Marcel Thil defended his title against the excellent Englishman Len Harvey in the White City Stadium in London . After 15 hard-fought laps, he was awarded a narrow point win. On January 16, 1933, he had to accept a surprising loss of points after 12 rounds in Paris from the Cuban Spaniard Kid Tunero in a non-title fight. Kid Tunero was then given the chance to box again on October 2, 1933 in Paris against Marcel Thil, but this time it was about his IBU World Championship title. In this fight Marcel Thil got the upper hand after 15 rounds and was the point winner.

After successfully defending his title against the Spaniards Ignacio Ara and Martinez de Alfara in the spring of 1934, Marcel Thil fought for three titles on May 3, 1934 in Paris against Gustave Roth from Belgium . For the IBU world championship title in middleweight and for the EBU European championship title in middle and light heavyweight. Marcel Thil won this fight after 15 rounds on points and was in possession of these three titles.

On June 11, 1934, Marcel Thil was back in the ring in Paris. He defended his EBU European Championship light heavyweight title against the German Adolf Witt . Thil won this fight by technical knockout in the 8th round. This was his only title defense against a German boxer.

In 1934 and 1935 he then alternately defended his three titles against his challengers. In those years he defeated Carmelo Candel, Jock McAvon, Vilda Jaks, Ignacio Ara and once again Kid Tunero. In 1936 he had to face two heavy skirmishes against the Canadian Lou Brouillard in Paris . These battles were difficult for him mainly because Brouillard was an extremely rough fellow and Thil was hard on Thil with all permitted and prohibited means. Brouillard was disqualified in both fights because of his unfair way of fighting, once in the 4th round and the second time in the 6th round.

On September 23, 1937, Marcel Thil defended his IBU Middleweight World Championship title on the mediation of his US manager Lew Burston against the US American Fred Apostoli . This fight took place in the Polo Grounds in New York and was hosted by the well-known promoter Mike Jacobs. After an even fight, the referee stopped the fight in the 10th round because of a cut over Marcel Thil's right eye and Apostoli was declared the new world champion.

After this defeat, Marcel Thil resigned, completely surprising for many of his friends, and also dropped his two European championship titles.

After boxing

Marcel Thil remained very popular in France. He continued to devote himself to boxing and for many years was President and Trainer at the Boxing Club Dieppe . He was married to Georgette Taitard, a daughter of his French manager. In 1961 he became a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In later years he was based in Cannes . He also died in Cannes on August 14, 1968 as a result of a serious car accident. He was buried at the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes. In 2005 Marcel Thil was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• Marcel Thil in the BoxRec database
• Photo of the fight between Thil and Tunero
• Website "www.sport-komplett.de",