Eugène Criqui (15 August 1893 – 7 July 1977) was a French boxer who held the World Featherweight title in 1923. After his death, he was added to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Eugène was the 2015 Inductee for the

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame was founded in 2001 and began inducting boxers into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Since then annual induction dinners have been held across Australia. Inductees are nominated and then voted upon by a panel of ...

International category.

Boxing career

Early career and military service

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 Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

title in 1912. His boxing career was interrupted when he served in the French military in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. While doing guard duty at

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

, his jaw was shattered by a sniper's bullet. A surgeon reconstructed the jaw using wire, silver, and a goat leg.

World featherweight champion

After the war he resumed boxing. He won the French featherweight title in 1921 and the next year won the

European Boxing Union The European Boxing Union (EBU), formerly known as the International Boxing Union (IBU), is a pan-European governing body that sanctions championship bouts in professional boxing. The EBU governs the most-prestigious continental title in Europe, th ...

featherweight championship. On 2 June 1923 he beat

Johnny Kilbane John Patrick Kilbane (April 9, 1889 – May 31, 1957) was an American featherweight boxer in the early part of the 20th century. He held the World Featherweight title from 1912 to 1923, the longest period in the division's history, having defen ...

by a sixth-round knockout in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to win the world featherweight title. Part of the contract for this fight required that he give

Johnny Dundee Johnny Dundee (November 19, 1893 – April 22, 1965) was an American featherweight and the first world junior lightweight champion boxer who fought from 1910 until 1932. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Inte ...

a shot at the title within sixty days. When he fought Dundee fifty-four days later (on 26 July 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.

Death

He died blind in a nursing home in 1977. He was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 2005, making him the second inductee from France after

Marcel Cerdan Marcellin "Marcel" Cerdan (; 22 July 1916 – 28 October 1949) was a French professional boxer and world middleweight champion who was considered by many boxing experts and fans to be France's greatest boxer, and beyond to be one of the best to h ...

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
International Boxing Hall of Fame Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Criqui, Eugene Featherweight boxers 1893 births 1977 deaths International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees French male boxers Boxers from Paris French military personnel of World War I