Solly Krieger

Solly Krieger (March 28, 1909 – September 24, 1964) was an American middleweight boxer who fought from 1928 to 1941. He held the NBA World Middleweight Championship in 1938–39. Krieger, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Krieger was a Golden Gloves champion in his amateur career. In 1928, turning professional, he was mentored by the legendary Hymie Caplan, who had also coached Syd Terris, Ruby Goldstein, and Al Singer.

Very early in his career he was known as a cautious boxer with strong defensive skills. After surgery for an injured left elbow, the result of a handball accident, he lost his ability to jab with his left hand, and found the need to develop more powerful blows. As a result, he became a more free wheeling heavy hitter with a very strong left hook. As he was relatively short armed but powerful for a middleweight, he preferred to box on the inside and from clinches where his reach was not a disadvantage. Many newspapers considered the fight one of the greatest middleweight bouts of all time. To determine which boxer would reign as the number one middleweight, Krieger and Apostoli fought on April 4, 1937, at the Hippodrome in New York. Suffering from a deep cut in his lower lip, Krieger had to discontinue the fight, resulting in a TKO in the fifth round. Doctor William Walker made the determination to end the bout at the end of the fifth but had considered ending the fight in the prior round. Krieger had previously lost to Apostoli on February 17, 1937, on points in an exciting ten round bout at the Hippodrome. Both bouts were a setback for Krieger, but not an end to his quest for the title.

Krieger had a setback against ranked opponent and reigning NBA World Middleweight Title holder Freddie Steele, on June 14, 1938, in a ten-round loss by unanimous decision in Seattle, Washington. Continuing to fight in California, he came back with impressive wins against Swede Bergland, Ace of Spades, and Dale Spar, gaining the positive press he needed to push a title match. After the fight, Hostak was sent to a local emergency room to be treated for his paralysis. According to the Southeast Missourian, Hostak was "temporarily blinded" from swelling caused by Krieger's repeated blows to his face and eyes.

After his win over Hostak, Krieger's coach Hymie Caplan made an understandable decision to forgo any challenger a title shot for a six-month period. Krieger fought over the 160 pound middleweight limit for nearly all of this period, and had a difficult time getting back down to 160 for the Hostak rematch. He still fought regularly after he captured the title from Hostak, facing Billy Conn twice in tough losses, as well as Carmen Bath, Red Farmer, Marty Simmons, Ben Brown, and Alan Matthews. In the Matthews bout on April 5, 1939, Krieger effectively used infighting, with close body blows and hooks to defeat an opponent who was less a threat than Hostak or Steele. According to the Spokesman Review, both the knockdowns he obtained in the bout with Matthews were from hooks which required him to get in fairly close to his opponent. Notably, Matthews had only a two-inch height advantage over Krieger. Inside blows would be more difficult to execute with an opponent having greater defensive skills and a longer reach.

Harsh loss to Billy Conn before title rematch In his final fight with Billy Conn on May 12, 1939, Krieger lost again in twelve rounds by unanimous decision in front of a sizable audience in Madison Square Garden. Though outweighing Krieger by only four pounds in the bout, Conn was significantly nine years younger and five inches taller, giving him an important advantage in reach, and probably in endurance as well. As evidence of Conn's superior strength and conditioning, he would take the Light Heavyweight Title on July 13, 1939, only two months after his bout with Krieger. The Milwaukee Journal noted that Krieger was unable to fight effectively inside, possibly due to his shorter reach. The Journal wrote "Conn handled his rival as though he were little more than an animated punching bag for 11 of the 12 rounds. Using a left hand to the face which rarely missed its mark, Conn dominated the proceedings almost completely at long range." It also noted that even in the eleventh when Krieger was able to connect with shots to the midsection, "Conn kept out of range and came up for the twelfth...as fresh as when he started." In a recap of the fight, the Luddington Daily News, wrote "Solly tried so hard it almost hurt to watch him. He lunged at his nimble rival round after round, swinging for dear life, but all he got for his most heroic efforts was a painful beating..."

Any injuries sustained in this loss may have given Krieger a disadvantage in the title fight he lost to Hostak only a month and a half later. In fact, the Milwaukee Journal, writing in anticipation of Krieger's rematch with Hostak, noted "The champion (Krieger) was on the short end of 10 to 7 odds," and noted that "the beating Krieger took awhile back from Billy Conn didn't do him any good." One source gave nine rounds to Conn in the fight, and noted "There wasn't a knockdown, though it was strange that Solly kept his feet under the barrage of left-rights that poured into his granite jaw in the late rounds." After taking what might have been one of the most brutal losses of his career, Krieger gained nearly twelve pounds in the six weeks before his title fight.

Losing the Middleweight Championship In a rematch in Civic Stadium in Seattle, Hostak regained the championship on June 27, 1939, in front of a larger hometown crowd estimated at over 15,000. It was Krieger's first title fight after beating Hostak seven months earlier. The Milwaukee Journal wrote that in the fourth round, "Krieger, his eyes glazed and staring, slumped to the canvas in midring and sat there in a stupor for several seconds before his handlers trundled him to his corner." After the defeat, Krieger attributed his loss to the difficult task he had losing twenty pounds in a month to make weight, and the terrific right hand of Hostak.

Boxing in the heavyweight division After his loss of the title, Kreiger moved up to Light Heavyweight. He fought thirteen fights in the heavyweight division gaining victories in 1940 against Texas Joe Dundee, Mario Liani, Herbi Katz, Jarl Johnson, and Wally Sears. He fought his last fight as a Heavyweight, against Lee Savold, a serious world heavyweight contender, in July 1941, his fifth loss in his final six fights.

Personal life Krieger was married to Sally Keisler, and had two children, Lawrence and Karen.

Professional boxing record

Retirement and life after boxing Krieger retired from boxing in 1941. Not long after his last fight, he ran for City Councilman for the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn where he lived, but lost the election. He took financial losses from gambling, before investing in a tavern which did not succeed. He later worked for the restaurant Pumpernick's in Miami Beach as a parking attendant. He died in Las Vegas on September 24, 1964.

Achievements