Eugène Huat (8 February 1907 – 15 December 1980) was a
French boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
who was champion of France and Europe at
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 ...
, and fought four times for world titles at
bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from Ba ...
.
Career
After making his professional debut in 1926, Huat had some notable wins in his first three years as a pro, beating
Maurice Huguenin in January 1927 and November 1928,
Rene Chalange in April 1927 and February 1929,
Praxille Gydé in November 1927,
Kid Oliva in December 1928, and
Ernie Jarvis in January 1929.
In June 1929 he beat
Émile Pladner
Émile Pladner (2 September 1906 – 15 March 1980) was a French people, French Boxing, boxer who was flyweight champion of France, Europe, and the world, and bantamweight champion of France and Europe.
Career
Born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dô ...
on points at the
Cirque de Paris to win the French and European flyweight titles. Towards the end of the year he travelled to the United States to take part in a tournament to content the vacant
NYSAC
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...
world flyweight title; Huat beat
Corporal Izzy Schwartz
Isadore "Corporal Izzy" Schwartz (July 23, 1900 – July 8, 1988) was an American boxer, who became recognized as the New York Boxing Commission's World Flyweight Champion from 1927 to 1929. His manager was Phil Bernstein. He was inducted into the ...
, before losing to
Eladio "Black Bill" Valdés in the semi-final.
While in the US, Huat moved up to bantamweight, losing his first fight at the weight to
Archie Bell. Huat beat
Nicolas Petit-Biquet in April 1930, and Pladner in May, and in October faced
Panama Al Brown
Alfonso Teofilo Brown (July 5, 1902 – April 11, 1951), better known as Panama Al Brown, was a Panamanian professional boxer. He made history by becoming boxing's first Latin American world champion, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
in Paris for the
IBU world bantamweight title, losing on points.
[Roberts, James B. (2006) ''The Boxing Register'', McBooks Press, , p. 79] In July 1931, Huat challenged for
Pete Sanstol
Pete Sanstol (March 28, 1905 – March 13, 1982) was a Norwegian professional boxer who took the Canadian version of the World Bantamweight Championship in Montreal in 1931 against Archie Bell. He contended twice unsuccessfully for the NBA World ...
's Canadian Boxing Federation & Montreal Athletic Commission-recognised world bantamweight title in Montreal, again losing on points. While still in Montreal, he lost to
Newsboy Brown
David Montrose (August 17, 1905 – February 18, 1977), better known as Newsboy Brown, was an American boxer who held the World Flyweight Title for eight months in 1928.
Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Brown as the #7 ranked flyweigh ...
in September 1931, but won a return fight a month later. Three weeks after the second fight, Huat challenged Brown again, with the
National Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
world title at stake. Huat again lost on points.
Back in France, Huon put together six straight wins, including victories over
Francois Biron,
Lucian Popescu, and
Len Beynon
Len Beynon (24 April 1912 – 17 August 1992) was a professional boxer from Wales. Born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Beynon was notable for becoming Welsh champion at both featherweight and bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in ...
, before losses to
Kid Francis
Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to:
Common meanings
* Colloquial term for a child or other young person
** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age
* Engage in joking
* Young goats
* The goat meat of young goats
* Kidskin, lea ...
and Panama Al Brown.
Later in 1932, Huat travelled again to North America for a largely unsuccessful series of fights.
Huat won the French bantamweight title in August 1933 with a points win over
Eugene Lorenzoni, losing it in his first defence to
Joseph Decico in March 1934, also losing a rematch three months later.
Despite poor results in the preceding two years, Huat got a fourth world title shot in August 1934 when he challenged for
Sixto Escobar
Sixto Escobar (March 23, 1913 – November 17, 1979) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer. Competing in the bantamweight division, he became Puerto Rico's first world champion.
Escobar was born in Barceloneta and raised in San Juan. There he r ...
's Montreal Athletic Commission title in Montreal. Escobar took a unanimous points verdict.
In January 1935 Huat challenged Pladner for the French title, Pladner stopping him in the seventh round. Over the next three years, Huat continued to fight quality opponents, with wins over
Gaston Maton,
Young Perez Victor Perez or Víctor Pérez may refer to:
*Victor Perez (Tunisian boxer) (1911–1945), Tunisian boxer
**''Victor Young Perez'', 2013 French biographical film about Victor Perez
*Víctor Pérez (Puerto Rican boxer) (born 1971)
*Víctor Pérez ...
, and
Georges Bataille
Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...
, but also suffered losses to Perez,
Peter Kane, and
Little Pancho.
Huat was out of the ring for almost three years from June 1938 before making a return in May 1941. He continued to fight until 1942, his penultimate fight a defeat at the hands of
Valentin Angelmann.
He finished with a record of 80 wins, 44 defeats, and 9 draws.
After retiring from the ring, Huat went into management, working with boxers such as
Pierre Montane
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
,
Tony Toniolo,
Pierre Langlois, and
Jean Jouas.
[Eugene Huat Hard Taskmaster]
, ''Sporting Globe
''The Sporting Globe'' was a newspaper published in Melbourne from 1922 until 1996. The first issue was published on 22 July 1922, and for the first four weeks it was published only on Saturday evenings; from 16 August 1922 it introduced a Wednesd ...
'', 26 January 1949, p. 12. Retrieved 6 February 2018 via trove.nla.gov.au
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huat, Eugene
1907 births
1980 deaths
French male boxers
Flyweight boxers
Bantamweight boxers