Al Hostak - Championship Reigns

Championship Reigns

Hostak's bout with Steele was made for July 26, 1938, at Seattle's Civic Stadium. It would be the biggest bout in terms of attendance and significance in Seattle's boxing history, as over 35,000 fans would turnout to watch Seattle's Hostak and Tacoma's Steele battle for the middleweight title.

After a feeling out process at the beginning of the bout, Hostak began jabbing at Steele, until he began to parry Hostak's jab. Hostak then feinted with his jab to entice Steele, to drop his right hand, before landing a left hook that knocked Steele down. Though Steele bounced up quickly from the initial knockdown, he would be sent down four times in total, before he was counted out by referee Jack Dempsey at 1:43 of the 1st round.

Hostak would fight again in September 1938, stopping Young Stuhley in three rounds, before making his first title defense against Brooklyn's Solly Krieger on November 1, 1938 in Seattle. Hostak would break both of his hands early in the bout, as Krieger fought inside against Hostak, pounding him to the body, as Hostak found difficulty dealing with a boxer who he could not hurt. In the 14th round, Krieger sealed a majority decision victory, when he knocked down a tired Hostak for the 1st time in his career.

After his hands had healed, Hostak returned with a third-round knockout of Johnny Erjavec in Seattle, before facing Krieger in a rematch in Seattle on June 27, 1939. In the seven and a half months between their two bouts, Krieger had boxed as a light heavyweight, with reports in the press indicating that he was having a very difficult time making the 160-pound weight limit. Krieger proved to be a shadow of his former self in the rematch, as Hostak knocked him down four times, on way to a 4th round TKO. With the victory, Hostak became the first boxer to regain the middleweight title since Stanley Ketchel in 1908.

After an October 1939 non-title knockout over Charley Coates, Hostak signed for his first bout ever outside of the state of Washington, facing German-Jewish refugee Erich Seelig in Cleveland on December 11, 1939. Seelig though was no match for Hostak, who knocked him out in 1:21 of the 1st round. In January 1940, Hostak would take a non-title match in Chicago against middleweight contender Tony Zale at Chicago Stadium. Hostak would knock Zale down in the 1st round, howeverr Hostak would break his hand in the 5th round, as Zale swept the last five rounds, to take a unanimous decision.

Hostak and Zale were then rematched by Nate Druxman for Hostak's middleweight title on July 19, 1940 at Civic Stadium in Seattle. Hostak again would break his hands in the bout, as Zale wore down Hostak with a devastating body attack. With both of his eyes swollen, Hostak was dropped for a nine count in the 12th round, and was down again in the 13th round, before the bout was stopped.