1. Al Hostak twice held the National Boxing Association Middleweight title between 1938 and 1940.
28 Facts About Al Hostak
1. 2.
Al Hostak was known as a hard puncher and had a record of 64 wins, 9 losses, and 11 draws.
3.
In 2003, Al Hostak made The Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
4.
Al Hostak was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Slovak immigrants who eventually moved to Seattle, Washington when Al Hostak was two, settling in South Seattle's Georgetown District.
5.
Al Hostak would begin his boxing career as a 16-year-old in 1932, fighting many of his bouts in nearby White Center.
6.
Al Hostak would go unbeaten for his first 27 bouts in the Seattle area, all four and six-rounders, before losing a decision to Jimmy Best.
7.
Al Hostak would continue to fight preliminary matches through the end of 1936, while he worked as a sparring partner for 1936 middleweight title holder Freddie Steele of Tacoma, Washington.
8.
Al Hostak gained national recognition when he knocked out Risko in the 7th round in Seattle.
9.
Al Hostak fought again in September 1938, stopping Young Stuhley in three rounds.
10.
Al Hostak made his first title defense against Brooklyn's Solly Krieger on November 1,1938, losing a fifteen round decision before a crowd of 10,000, in Seattle.
11.
Krieger was a shadow of his former self in the rematch, forcing himself to lose weight too quickly, and Al Hostak knocked him down four times.
12.
Al Hostak forced Krieger to take the lead, but when he took a defensive crouch, Al Hostak opened him up with blows to the midsection.
13.
Al Hostak became the first boxer to regain the middleweight title since Stanley Ketchel in 1908.
14.
Once again Al Hostak injured his hands in the bout, while Zale wore him down with a devastating body attack.
15.
Al Hostak returned to Chicago to face Zale in a third fight on May 28,1941.
16.
Al Hostak knocked down Zale early, but he was up before a count could be administered.
17.
Overlin easily outboxed a befuddled Al Hostak, who threw very few punches before losing a lopsided decision.
18.
Al Hostak joined the Army in 1942, and trained as a paratrooper, serving in the 101st Airborne.
19.
Al Hostak had two bouts in 1944 while stationed in Houston, Texas, scoring a pair of knockouts.
20.
Al Hostak made his post-war return in June 1946, with four more knockouts against modest opposition.
21.
Al Hostak took on middleweight contender Steve Belloise in Houston in January 1947.
22.
Al Hostak sent Belloise to the mat in the 1st, but was knocked out in the 4th.
23.
Al Hostak put Belloise down for a seven count in the second, and had an edge in eight of the ten rounds with only one to Belloise and one even.
24.
Al Hostak then lost a split decision in Portland, Oregon, to Jack Snapp, followed by a draw to Paul Perkins.
25.
In December 1948, Al Hostak decisioned Perkins in a rematch, before finishing his career on his 33rd birthday by stopping Snapp in nine rounds in Seattle.
26.
Al Hostak even taught school-age kids how to defend themselves in fights.
27.
Al Hostak died on August 13,2006, in Kirkland, Washington, of complications from a stroke that he suffered ten days earlier, and was interred at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Seattle.
28.
Al Hostak was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997.