1. Alfredo "Fred" Apostoli was a rugged, accomplished body punching middleweight, who was recognized as the world champion when he defeated Marcel Thil on September 23,1937.
13 Facts About Fred Apostoli
1. 2.
Fred Apostoli was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1978, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1988, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.
3.
Freddie Apostoli was born in San Francisco and lived in North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf as a young child.
4.
Fred Apostoli's father worked as both a fisherman and laborer in the San Francisco area but had grown up in a farming community near Gibbstown, NJ in the late 19th century.
5.
The Fred Apostoli family immigrated to NYC in the 1880s from the city San Benedetto del Tronto in the Ascoli Piceno Province in the Marche region of Italy.
6.
Fred Apostoli attended grade school and high school in North Beach and was a lifelong friend of classmate Joe Dimaggio.
7.
Fred Apostoli's father was one of the workers killed in 1928 while working on a construction detail trying to access the damaged portion of a dam which had failed in Los Angeles County.
8.
Fred Apostoli, who won the Pacific Coast Junior Welterweight championship, Golden Gloves Middleweight championship, and the National AAU middleweight championship in 1934, turned pro later that year.
9.
Fred Apostoli quickly moved up the ladder and fought future middleweight champion Freddie Steele within his first seven months as a professional.
10.
In 1938, Fred Apostoli fought Steele in a non-title rematch and avenged his earlier defeat with a 9th-round KO.
11.
On November 18,1938, Fred Apostoli won by TKO in the 8th round against Young Corbett III and was officially recognized by the NYSAC as absolute middleweight world champion.
12.
Fred Apostoli rehabilitated from injuries sustained in the Battle of Midway at Letterman Army Hospital located in the Presidio of San Francisco.
13.
Fred Apostoli retired from the ring in 1948 and served as a member of the Olympic Club in San Francisco.