Billy Soose (August 2, 1915 – September 5, 1998) was an American boxer who won the world middleweight championship in 1941.

Biography

Soose was undefeated in his collegiate boxing career at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

and was a three-time

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves of America is an organization that promotes annual competitions of amateur boxing in the United States, in which winners are awarded a belt and a ring, and the title of national champion. The organization currently owns 30 fr ...

winner before turning professional in 1938. By the end of his first year in the paid ranks he had beaten the former world champion

Eddie Babe Risko Henry Pylkowski, known in his boxing career as Babe Risko, and Eddie Risko, (July 14, 1911 – March 8, 1957) was a Lithuanian-Polish-American boxer who became Middleweight boxing champion of the world in portions of 1935–36. While boxing ...

although he lost a unanimous decision to

Charley Burley Charley Burley (September 6, 1917 – October 16, 1992) was an American boxer who fought as a welterweight and middleweight from 1936 to 1950. Archie Moore, the light-heavyweight champion who was defeated by Burley in a 1944 middleweight bout, wa ...

. In 1940 Soose defeated two future middleweight champions,

Ken Overlin Ken Overlin (August 15, 1910 – July 24, 1969), was an American-born middleweight boxer who fought professionally from 1931 to 1944, compiling a record of 131 wins (23 by knockout), 18 losses, and 9 draws. He took the World middleweight champi ...

and

Tony Zale Anthony Florian Zaleski (May 29, 1913 – March 20, 1997), known professionally as Tony Zale, was an American boxer. Zale was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, a steel town, which gave him his nickname, "Man of Steel", reinforced by his reputat ...

. He began 1941 by defeating future heavyweight and light heavyweight title challenger

Tami Mauriello Stefano "Tami" Mauriello (May 24, 1923 – December 3, 1999) was an American professional boxer and actor of Italian descent who was world ranked in two divisions during the 1940s. He thrice challenged for world titles, fighting Gus Lesnevich (t ...

. In May of that year he challenged Overlin for the middleweight title at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

and won by a controversial, but unanimous points decision. He made no defences and in November it was reported that he had relinquished the championship in order to pursue the light-heavyweight title. After losing a bout to light-heavyweight contender Jimmy Bivins in January 1942 Soose joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and retired from professional boxing at the age of twenty-six. Soose was featured on the cover of the June 1941

Ring magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

and is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame. He is also the subject of a book, ''Billy Soose - The Champion Time Forgot''. He was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

in 2009. Soose was found dead at his home at Tafton, Pennsylvania in 1998.

Professional boxing record

External links

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References

1915 births 1998 deaths People from Farrell, Pennsylvania Boxers from Pennsylvania Middleweight boxers World boxing champions American male boxers 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-boxing-bio-stub