Eugène Criqui

Eugène Criqui
Statistics
Real name Eugène Criqui
Rated at Featherweight
Nationality French
Born August 15, 1893
Paris, France
Died July 7, 1977(1977-07-07) (aged 83)
Noisy-le-Grand, France
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 130
Wins 98
Wins by KO 53
Losses 17
Draws 14
No contests 0

Eugène Criqui (August 15, 1893 – July 7, 1977) was a French boxer who held the world featherweight title in 1923.

Criqui was born in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris. He was a professional pipe-fitter before he turned professional in 1910. He won the French flyweight title in 1912. His boxing career was interrupted when he served in the French military in World War I. While doing guard duty at Verdun, his jaw was shattered by a sniper's bullet. A surgeon reconstructed the jaw using wire, silver, and a goat leg.[1]

After the war he resumed boxing. He won the French featherweight title in 1921 and the next year won the European Boxing Union featherweight championship. On June 2, 1923, he beat Johnny Kilbane by a sixth-round knockout in New York City to win the world featherweight title. Part of the contract for this fight required that he give Johnny Dundee a shot at the title within sixty days. When he fought Dundee fifty-four days later (on July 26, 1923), Dundee knocked him down four times and beat him by a fifteen-round decision. In his next fight, Criqui injured his hand and did not fight many more fights before he retired in 1928.[2]

He died blind in a nursing home in 1977.[2] He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005, making him the second inductee from France after Marcel Cerdan.

References

  1. ^ Stradley, Don (June 2005), "Marcel Thil & Eugène Criqui: Two Forgotten Frenchmen Immortalized at Last", The Ring 84, no. 5: 74–75 
  2. ^ a b Stradley, Don (June 2005), The Ring: 75 

External links

Preceded by
Johnny Kilbane
World Featherweight Champion
June 2, 1923 – July 26, 1923
Succeeded by
Johnny Dundee