Норвежский боксер Пете Санстол: Жизнь и карьера

Norwegian boxer

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 Bantamweight Title, and was a class of 2000 World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee. Lew Burston, Raoul Godbout, George Blake, and Bobby Diamond were his managers. His trainers were Jake Kravitz and Manny Seeman.

Peder Olai Sanstøl was the youngest of five children born to Jonas Jonasen Sanstøl (1864–1942) and Elen Dortea Nilsdatter Lindland (1860–1946) in Moi, Lunde municipality, in Rogaland county in Norway. He moved to Stavanger with his parents as a child. Sanstol learned to box in the club Kristiana AK, after his family moved to Oslo. Boxing as an amateur, he came in fourth in the flyweight class championship in 1923 and won gold in the bantam class championship in 1925.

Pete Sanstol embarked on a professional career in 1926. After winning his professional debut against the British boxing veteran Bert Gallard in Oslo, Sanstol was invited by Max Schmeling's manager to train in Berlin. After Sanstol left Norway in the mid 1920s, he only occasionally returned. On July 13, 1926 Sanstol defeated Harry Stein, than the Flyweight Champion of Germany, in Berlin at Luna Park in a four round newspaper decision. The source, BOX SPORT reported that Sanstol won the decision decisively.

On October 22, 1930, Sanstol fought a tough ten round draw against Joey Scalfano at Madison Square Garden that was "nip and tuck for the entire ten rounds", and a great crowd pleaser. Sanstol later described it as one of his toughest fights. There were no knockdowns in the bout and the fighting was fast paced and frenzied. Scalfaro's left eye was completed closed for the last two rounds and his blows often missed their mark. Sanstol had previously lost to Scalfaro on August 6, 1930 at Madison Square Garden in a ten round points decision. Scalfaro was known as the only boxer to score a knock down of the Black Cuban champion Kid Chocolate in North America.

By late 1930, Sanstol had moved his headquarters from the Norwegian American community of Bay Ridge, in Brooklyn, NY, to Montreal, Canada where he came under the management of Raoul Godbout (1894–1975). On May 20, 1931, in his most important bout, Sanstol won the World Bantamweight Title in a ten round unanimous decision against the great New York Jewish contender Archie Bell in Montreal. The title was recognized by the Montreal Athletic Commission and the Canadian Boxing Federation, so it had some limits in its scope. The fast bout had no knockdowns. For a championship bout, it received very limited coverage in American newspapers. Sanstol weighted 115 1/2, giving up only two pounds to Bell. Bell would later contend for but not take the British version of the World Bantamweight Title and contend twice for the California version of the World Featherweight Title.

Sanstol twice successfully defended his bantamweight title. On June 17, 1931, Sanstol defeated Art Giroux, also of Montreal, in the Canadian version of a World Bantamweight Title. Leading in the betting odds by 7 to 5, Sanstol won the fifteen round bout at the Forum in Montreal in a fifteen round Unanimous Decision. Giroux was the Canadian Bantamweight Champion at the time. After the win, Sanstol was rated second in the world in the bantamweight division, behind only Panama Al Brown, according to the quarterly standings of the National Boxing Association (NBA).

On July 29, 1931, again at the Forum in Montreal, Sanstol defeated Eugène Huat in a ten round Unanimous Decision in his second defense of the Canadian version of the World Bantamweight Title. Huat was the French Bantamweight Champion at the time. In a fairly close bout, Huat knocked Sanstol off his feet in the eighth round. In the eighth round, Huat scored often with lightning fast jabs that went through Sanstol's defense, though Huat appeared to have lost the first few rounds, with Sanstol not clearly taking the lead til the seventh. In the ninth the boxing seemed close, but in the tenth, perhaps with greater stamina, Sanstol took the offensive and battered Huat with telling blows. Sanstol's performance in the final round may have strongly influenced the judge's decisions. The final decision for Sanstol was not entirely popular with the crowd.

On August 25, 1931, Sanstol met Panama Al Brown for the widely recognized NBA and NYSAC World Bantamweight Title before a crowd of 23,000 at the Forum in Montreal. The bout was considered the largest gross take on a bout in the history of boxing in Montreal according to the New York Times, and was easily one of the largest audiences for any of Sanstol's fights. Sanstol lost the bout in a close fifteen round split decision. In the close bout, the Canadian Press gave Brown seven rounds, Stanstol five, with three rounds even. Sanstol fought much of the bout in a crouch, to compensate for a six inch disadvantage in height and reach. Aiming down on Sanstol, Brown scored frequently with blows to the head, opening a cut over one of Sanstol's eyes, which eventually reduced his vision. Sanstol fought on doggedly despite his. Fighting during the depression, Sanstol took about $3,427 for his loss, not a great amount for a world championship bout, considering Jack Dempsey had received over $150,000 for some of his World Heavyweight Championship wins.

On July 20, 1932 Sanstol fought a ten round draw with 1929 NBA World Flyweight Champion Emille "Spider" Pladner, a French born boxer, at the Forum in Montreal, Canada. An important bout between contenders, the January 1932 ratings, listed Sanstol as the third best bantamweight in the world, with Pladner listed as fourth. Pladner had also held the 1931 Canadian World Bantamweight Title.

After losing the bout with Brown, Sanstol took a year off between August 1931 and June 1932, before resuming another campaign for the championship. On August 15, 1933, Sanstol fought an important bout against Midget Wolgast, NYSAC World Flyweight Champion at the time, losing in a ten round non title points decision in a bout where the brows of his face and his eyes were battered. According to one source, Wolgast won every round.

On September 1, 1934, Sanstol defeated World Champion Victor "Young" Perez at Bislet Stadium in Oslo in a ten round points decision. In October 1931, Perez had taken the NBA World Flyweight Championship in a second round knockout at the Palais de Sports in Paris, France, making him one of the youngest world boxing champions in history.

Sanstol had one more career bout of consequence, on September 13, 1935, defeating Al Brown in Oslo in a ten round non title decision a month after the Escobar fight, not long before his retirement.

Sanstol joined the US Army Air Corp on April 3, 1942. He served a total of three years and two months. During his service, he fought two army benefit fights on May 1, and July 16, 1942 in Miami, Florida, winning both in a four round and then ten round decision. While in the Air Corp, he also refereed a bout on May 8, 1943 in Montreal. He completed his service on June 12, 1945. He became a U. S. citizen, a privilege he had long awaited, in 1943 during his service with the Army.

Sanstol was known for his aggression, energy, speed, amazing stamina and uncanny defense. He was also known for his ability to give the crowd a thrilling show. About the only attribute he lacked was the so called "power punch", although a quarter of his 98 victories were by way of knockout. Throughout his early career, Sanstol used these skills to build an impressive record. In time, his fighting style gradually evolved from that of a careless youth, to that of a wizened veteran. After his first bout with Panama Al Brown, Sanstol learned to pace himself better and to use every punch sparingly, not wasting a single drop of energy. Part of this evolution may have resulted from a chronically bad foot or ankle he first sustained during one of these title bouts. It would haunt and hobble him for the remainder of his professional career. Long time Montreal Herald Sports Editor Elmer W. Ferguson (1885–1972) once described Sanstol's evolved fighting style as follows:

After his boxing career ended, Sanstol worked various jobs in Norway, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and Alaska, including restaurant owner, newspaper writer, recreation center director, hotel clerk, and translator. In 1957, he completed his autobiography entitled Gjennom Ringen. He married Bessie Andrews Marshal in Seattle on August 24, 1956. Shortly after the wedding, Sanstol and his wife moved to live in Norway, where he was still remembered for his boxing. He was in demand, often telling stories of his boxing days, and speaking to groups. In 1960, Pete moved back to the West Coast of the United States with his wife, taking a job in Long Beach, California, as a translator for a shipping company. In 1962, Sanstol and his wife moved to nearby San Pedro. By October 15, 1981, Sanstol was living in a Convalescent Home in Torrance, California suffering from a diagnosed form of dementia.