Early life and career
Frank Klaus was born on December 30, 1887, to German-American parents in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He worked as a young man at the Westinghouse Machine Shop, and also mined coal with his father. He started boxing training early and after winning an amateur tournament at East Pittsburgh's Wilmerding Athletic Club was recognized to have boxing promise by local boxing mentor George Engel. He started his amateur career as early as 1904, and in February 1905 had three round wins on points in Pittsburgh against Frank Walton, and James Harris."Klaus Burial Slated Thursday", ''Pittsburgh Press'', Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pg. 18, 9 February 1948 On October 18, 1911, Klaus defeated the great contender Leo Houck in a newspaper win by both the ''Philadelphia Item'' and the ''Philadelphia Record''. In his career, the Pennsylvania born middleweight fought some of the greatest welter, middle, and light heavyweights of his era, including Jack Dillon, Battling Levinsky, Mike Gibbons, Harry Greb, and Al McCoy.Claiming and defending the World Middleweight Title
Klaus claimed the World Middleweight Title a few years after it became vacant upon the death of Stanley Ketchel in October 1910. Several contenders competed for the title. Accounts vary as to when Klaus was officially champion, but Klaus himself first claimed the title after defeating Sailor Ed Petrosky in a 20-round points decision in San Francisco on February 22, 1912. His victories over Jack Dillon, and later fellow claimantDefeating Billy Papke for the Middleweight Title
In a title fight that led to world title recognition, Klaus defeated American Billy Papke at the Cirque du Paris on March 5, 1913, in a fifteenth-round disqualification. The referee stopped the fight in the fifteenth as a result of Papke continually ignoring his requests to fight cleanly. Klaus was winning by a significant margin. Papke had been warned throughout the fight for flagrant violations of boxing rules. Klaus received a gold belt for the victory. In another important win that cemented his claim to the title, Klaus defeated contender Eddie McGoorty on May 24, 1913, in a six-round bout in Pittsburgh. The ''Pittsburgh Gazette'' gave Klaus five of the six rounds. On July 1, 1913, Klaus had an important win where he was awarded a third-round TKO against Jimmy Gardner in Boston. Gardner had contended for the World Welterweight Championship earlier in his career. Gardner put up a great defense until the end of the second round, when Klaus threw some hard punches over the defenses of Gardner. After Klaus continued to connect with hard blows, a second of Gardner's jumped into the ring in the middle of the third round to end the fight. Klaus had faced Gardner on at least three previous occasions.Losing the World Middleweight Title to George Chip
During a title fight on 11 October 1913, George Chip baffled the crowd when he knocked out Klaus with a strong right hook to the jaw. The knockout came near the end of the sixth and final round. Prior to the knockout, in the first five rounds, Chip never threatened to take the lead. The fight occurred at the oldRetirement from boxing and death
Klaus retired from boxing at age 26 shortly after his second loss to George Chip. Klaus died mid-day, February 8, 1948, at his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. after a severe early morning heart attack. He was survived by his widow, two sons and three daughters.Professional boxing record
All information in this section is derived fromOfficial record
All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw columnUnofficial record
Record with the inclusion of newspaper decision in the win/loss/draw column.Boxing achievements
, - , -Honors
Klaus was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008.See also
*References
External links