Pierre Charles (boxer)

Pierre Charles
Data
Birth Name	Pierre Charles
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Belgian
birthday	March 20, 1903
place of birth	Army Agimont
Date of death	August 8, 1966
style	Left-hand boom
Combat Statistics
Struggles	101
Victories	69
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	23
draw	9

Pierre Charles (born March 20, 1903 in Heer-Agimont , † August 8, 1966 ) was a Belgian boxer . He was the European professional boxer champion.

Career

Pierre Charles started boxing when he was nineteen in 1922. Its manager became Gus Wilson . He fought his first fight on April 11, 1922 in Charleroi against his compatriot Hainaut and lost it on points. In the next year and a half he played 13 more fights in Belgium and the Netherlands , most of which he won. As early as October 3, 1923, he dared to approach the former world champion Larry Gains in Paris and was punished for this with a knockout defeat in the first round.

On April 4, 1926, he boxed in Berlin against Ludwig Haymann , then one of the best German heavyweights. Pierre Charles had improved in the meantime and fought against Haymann in a draw. Five weeks later he competed in Berlin against the German champion Hans Breitensträter and lost by knockout in the 4th round. On November 9, 1926, he won the Belgian heavyweight championship in Antwerp by winning points over Jack Humbeeck.

On December 20, 1926, Pierre Charles fought in London against Gipsy Daniels , an English top boxer, who would only become famous a few years later when he knocked Max Schmeling in the first round. o. suggested. Pierre Charles won the fight against Daniels over 15 rounds on points. At the beginning of 1928, Pierre Charles went to the United States and fought a number of fights there. He won more fights there than he lost, but suffered defeats from his better-known opponents. So he lost u. a. against the British Phil Scott , the Norwegian Olympic champion from 1924, Otto von Porath , and the American George Godfrey .

After his return to Europe, Pierre Charles was given the chance on February 3, 1929 to fight the German master Ludwig Haymann in Dortmund for the vacant European championship title, which the Spaniard Paulino Uzcudun had resigned. Pierre Charles took this chance and won this fight after 15 rounds on points. He was thus European heavyweight champion. On September 7th, he defended this title in Berlin against Franz Diener with a technical knockout victory in the 11th round. Pierre Charles also fought frequently against German opponents in the next few years. His next was Hein Müller from Cologne , who won the European title on August 30, 1931 in Berlin by winning points over 15 rounds.

In an attempt to move up in the world rankings, Pierre Charles accepted the Italian giant Primo Carnera as an opponent. This fight took place in Paris on February 29, 1932 and was won by Carnera on points. On May 28, 1932, Pierre Charles won back the European heavyweight title in the Palais des Ports in Brussels with a point win by Hein Müller. On February 11, 1933, he beat another strong German boxer, Walter Neusel , on points in Brussels .

On March 6, 1933, Pierre Charles boxed against the American Young Stribling in Paris . Young Stribling was the boxer against whom Max Schmeling successfully defended his world title won by Jack Sharkey in 1931 . In the fight against Pierre Charles, Young Stribling fought very poorly and was disqualified in the 8th round.

On May 13, 1933, Pierre Charles lost the European title in Madrid to the Spaniard Paulino Uzcudun by losing points after 15 rounds, before winning it for the third time on June 21, 1935 in a fight against German champion Vincenz Hower by winning points. On October 2, 1935, he fought in Brussels against the American George Godfrey for the IBU world title. The IBU was a rival association to the world boxing association founded by European associations in 1913. However, the champions of this association were never recognized in the USA and, from that point of view, were only of minor importance. Pierre Charles lost this fight on points and he also lost his European championship title to the German Arno Kölblin on March 17, 1937 in Berlin .

This fight was the last in his career, after which Pierre Charles resigned. He was without a doubt one of the dominant European heavyweights in the 1930s. Whether he was the best cannot be said, since he never boxed against Max Schmeling. That was because Schmeling always concentrated on becoming world champion again after losing his world title in 1932 and was not interested in the European title.

swell

• Box Sport trade journal from 1950 to 1955

Web links

• Pierre Charles in the BoxRec database