On June 18, 1929, German heavyweight Max Schmeling was in New York City to battle Paolino Uzcudan, the "Basque Woodchopper," June 27 at Yankee Stadium. This was for the Milk Fund Charity boxing show. At this time Max was threatening that this would be his last fight until his contract with Arthur Bulow expired, said his "manager of choice" Joe Jacobs. Schmeling and Bulow apparently were no longer friends. The New York Times. (Click here to see a photo of Max and Paulino weighing-in for this fight. Click here to view Max on the cover of Time magazine's June 1929 issue.) Max would pummel Paolino before a crowd that included Babe Ruth, Adolf Zukor, William Fox, E. F. Hutton, Mayor Walker, the Gimbels, Father Duffy, Irving Berlin, and Florenz Ziegfeld. Max was then suspended July 29 for failing to fight Phil Scott in Ebbets Field because that contract had been made by his deposed manager, Art Bullow. Also on this very same bill was Pete's fellow Norwegian, heavyweight boxer Otto Von Porat, who was scheduled to fight Meyer "K.O." Christner. French boxing legend Georges Carpentier was in New York City as well.

And another of Pete's friends was also in town. Rene DeVos, Belgian middleweight, had just returned to New York a couple of weeks earlier, after spending five months in Antwerp. Rene usually spent his summers on Long Beach, N.Y, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. He was scheduled to fight Ray Still June 23. Rene was considered the leading contender for the middleweight world title. (The New York Times, July 19, 1929, p. 15.) He was no longer being managed by Lew Burston - who had discovered him three years earlier in Europe, and who was still managing Pete at this time. Rene's manager was A. Drexel Biddle who, along with the legendary boxing  promoter Tex Rickard, was one of the two judges at the July 4, 1919, heavyweight title fight between Jack Dempsey and Jess Willard.

Meanwhile that June, Seattle, Washington, was broadcasting its very first television pictures.

A brand-new summer season was dawning the evening of June 18, 1929. And the Queensboro Stadium at Long Island City, New York, was presenting the annual National Sports Alliance Relief Fund benefit boxing fights. (This may have been the very first one. The funds raised were used to help out indigent, aged or incapacitated athletes of all sports.) "Nearly every boxer in the Metropolitan district wanted to get on the inaugural benefit card but there was no room for all...." reported The World newspaper June 16, 1929, p. 5S.) The main event on this June 18 fight card featured Panama's Al Brown versus Spain's Vidal Gregorio. Brown's manager, David Lumiansky, had used his "powerful connections" to have the winner of this match declared the world champion. (The Ring, August 1985 issue, p. 27.)

In early 1923 he moved to New York City where he had no contacts, no manager and no luck. So he took a job as a bus boy in a Harlem restaurant close to Billy Grupp's Gym at 97th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Tom Fahy saw his potential and became his manager. Brown's American debut was held August 22, 1923, against Johnny Breslin in the Metropolitan Velodrome - resulting in a draw. A few months later he defeated Bernie Hyams and then Willie Darcy at the Commonwealth Sporting Club. Then, for the next two and a half years, Al Brown could be found fighting all over the New York area.

In October 1926 Brown went to France where he became one of the biggest names in boxing for years to come. He became so popular there, in fact, that later when a judge had the temerity to cast a dissenting vote for Brown's opponent at the conclusion of one bout in that country, resulting in a split-decision, a riot broke out among the disgusted fans.

After fighting primarily in Europe, but for one or two trips back to the States, Brown returned to New York City in May 1929. By this time he was being managed by "Hatless" Dave Lumiansky of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who also managed Chick Suggs. He became Brown's manager shortly after Al's June 1928 bout with Billy Shaw. Lumiansky was born to Russian emigrant parents in Pittsburgh on December 29, 1887. He later graduated from the University of Boston.

Brown's usual fighting style was based upon intellect, magnificient footwork, and scoring with a sharp left jab followed by an amazingly quick yet dangerous, long right punch -- his favorite and highly effective combination.

(Most of the above information is courtesy of The Ring, August 1985 issue, pp. 26-27; and May 1994 issue, p. 67; and Eduardo Arroyo's 1982 French-language book "Panama" Al Brown 1902-1951.)

The New York Times reported on the day of the June 18 fight between Brown and Gregorio:

A battle which is expected to have its sequel in the production of a world's bantamweight champion... is... scheduled for tonight. It is this contest which is expected to end with an acceptable claimant of the vacated bantamweight title established. Brown has earned recognition by the National Boxing Association and through ring conquests here and in Europe has mowed down all opposition.

The Brown-Gregorio bout lacks the Boxing Board's official backing as a title match, but it is indicated that the winner may be looked upon with favor. Kid Chocolate is to engage Terry Roth, and still another ten is to be between Peter Meyers and Tony Vaccarelli.

"Just let me get that championship in my hands, that's all I ask," says Brown, who has been the bugaboo of the bantams for lo, these many years. "I've been having a hard time getting any of the boys to play with me, but if I have the title I shouldn't have much trouble in getting matches. They'll all want a crack at the title, and believe you me, I am the boy who can and will defend it."....

In Gregorio, Al will meet a real hitter. The Spaniard knocked out such a tough one as Joe Scalfaro kicking [sic] in a couple of rounds in the Garden ring recently, and gave Kid Chocolate a very busy session in Philadelphia afterward....

To-night's wiunner [sic] will have to be a party to any match in the future that looks as if it will supply a real successor to the title.

The World, June 18, 1929, at p. 12.

In as masterful an exhibition of boxing as he ever furnished, Brown won the decision over Gregorio and established himself beyond peradventure as a man worthy the mantle of champion of his class. Referee Lou Magnolia and Judges Harold Barnes and George Patrick collaborated in the award. The decision was unanimous....

Brown was the master and saw to it that the action was maintained at long range. A tantalizing, snappy left jab accomplished this objective with surprising ease for with his left jabs Brown beat an annoying, discouraging tattoo against the face of Gregorio and with left hooks and right crosses Brown annoyed Vidal no little....

In the eleventh Brown caught his foe off balance with a push-punch right which upset Gregorio and the crowd booed while Referee Magnolia warned Brown.

The New York Times, June 19, 1929.

The World reported on June 19 that even the New York State Athletic Commission was hesitant to declare Brown the "bantamweight world champion," but instead gave him "the novel title of 'defending champion.'" In his June 21 column entitled "Pardon My Glove," Ned Brown quoted one Mike Karem as saying, "It was not for the world's title."

Three days before the fight The New York Times had said, "At its [NYSAC] meeting yesterday... [d]ecision was reserved on the question of designating a main bout Tuesday night at the National Sports Alliance Relief Fund benefit show. Al Brown is to battle Vidal Gregorio virtually for the bantamweight title." Virtually? Kid Chocolate, born Eligio Sardinias in Cuba, and also known as the "Havana Kid," had wanted his bout to be the main event.

Joe Morris, manager of British Bantamweight World Champion Teddy Baldock, "declared Baldock had just as much right to consider himself bantamweight champion as Brown." (The World, June 28, 1929, p. 9.) Baldock had been challenging Brown for the title, but they couldn't agree on terms at this time. He had won the British World Title May 5, 1927, when he defeated Archie Bell in the Royal Albert Hall.

Although there was much dispute at the time as to what exactly Brown had won on the evening of June 18, today every boxing authority and historian universally agree that he had won the unqualified, undisputed and official bantamweight championship throughout the world -- when the evidence we have uncovered suggests it just ain't true. Or at least there is reason to wonder. (2002 Edit: BoxRec -- the most accurate,  authoritative, and comprehensive source of boxers' Fight Records ever -- is one of the very few that correctly records this Brown-Gregorio bout for what it truly was: the NYSAC title only.)

Some (including the 1980 Ring Record Book) even assert that this fight was the culmination of an official bantamweight elimination tournament, when there is no mention in the contemporary papers to support that claim either. Brown had been in Europe for eight months; this was his first fight in the U.S. since September 13, 1928! How could he have been in a North American elimination tournament? To the contrary, earlier the NYSAC had decided that the winner of the May 22 Fidel LaBarba-Kid Chocolate bout would be the NYSAC's logical successor to the bantam title. According to contemporary newspaper accounts, the bout was "for what is unofficially considered the world's bantamweight championship. Though the New York boxing commission has not officially designated the bout a title affair, it has 'strongly advised' the pair to weigh in at 118 pounds, the bantam limit." The bout was sceduled for 15 rounds but both fighters entered the ring over 118 pounds. So, it was reduced to 10 rounds.

Fidel LaBarba and Kid Chocolate having failed to heed the suggestion of the Boxing Commission and make the bantamweight limit for their fight in the New York Coliseum last Wednesday night, the Solons [slang for "boxing commissioners"] decided to give ear to the plea of Al Brown that he be given an opportunity to prove he is the best 118-pound fighter here, there and everywhere. Hence they announced they would start the ball a-rolling by matching him with Vidal Gregorio, Pete Sanstol or Kid Chocolate, the fight to be held in the Queensboro Stadium on June 11. On that night the Blowdeo will be for the benefit of the National Sports Alliance Relief Fund.

It will have to be either Gregorio or Sanstol for Brown. Al is definitely off the Havana Kid's list of eligibles.

The World, May 25, 1929, p. 11.

Chocolate won an "unpopular decision" over LaBarba: Judge George Kelly had voted a draw, while Referee Lou Magnolia and Judge Charles F. Mathison gave the fight to Chocolate. But many in the crowd thought that LaBarba had won the bout by a "rousing last round" and booed the decision. Nevertheless, Chocolate sustained injuries during the bout that forced him to cancel a scheduled May 27 ten-round bout with Vidal Gregorio at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

That left three men remaining to battle for the bantam title. Brown apparently refused to fight Sanstol for only three days later Gregorio had been definitely selected as Brown's opponent. But on June 6 Gregorio was defeated handily by Kid Chocolate in Philadelphia. So, one would think, that left only Pete Sanstol and Al Brown as the top two contenders. At this time Pete had only one loss, on a foul two years earlier, after 59 professional fights. (To be fair, however, for all we know Pete may have backed out of the running, too. He had never gone 15 rounds before, and maybe he thought he wasn't ready yet. We just don't know. Perhaps one day when his Norwegian-language memoirs are translated we may find the answer.)

Then both Brown and Gregorio offered to fight for no compensation whatsoever, which "staggered" the NYSAC. "The Boxing Commissioners couldn't believe their ears. When they recovered they announced that the winner would be recognized by them as the 'defending' bantam champion." The World, May 29, p. 13. Quid pro quo? And defending what? The NYSAC title? The world title?

There may have been another reason the NYSAC decided the winner would be the "defending" champion. They may have been led to believe that Brown was recognized by the National Boxing Association as the bantam king. When he and Brown arrived back to New York from Europe in mid-May, Brown's manager informed the press:

"Half-baked titles are important in Europe but they mean little or nothing here," said Lumiansky. "Brown strengthened his N.B.A. championship abroad by defeating Bernasconi, the International Boxing Union champion, in Madrid. That victory gave him two legs on the world's title, and a match with the winner of the La Barba-Chocolate fray should result in a generally recognized 118-pound king. The situation appears to be close to a definite settlement for the first time in three years."

The World, May 16, p. 13.

By then, however, it was too late. Lumiansky had sold his lie, many people bought it, and it has become gospel today. People thought Brown had united the NYSAC and the NBA titles, along with the IBU's, when that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Apparently the NBA would not recognize him as champ until later; and the NYSAC declared, at most, that he virtually had won the championship. Also, it is highly odd that when The New York Times mentioned his next two fights following his defeat of Gregorio (those against Burrone and Cormier), Brown was described merely as a bantamweight, not as the world bantam champ -- which was unlike the Times; it always mentioned if a fighter was the current or had been the former world champion.

We wonder if Lumiansky had lied about Brown winning the IBU title, too. According to p. 46 of the 1934 Everlast Boxing Record, in an article listing all the world bantam champs since 1887, it stated, "Up to the end of 1931 there was no undisputed and fully acknowledged bantam champion, but there were a half dozen fighters claiming supremancy." It goes on to say that Brown did not win the title until June 18, 1932, when he defeated Eugene Huat in Paris! Was this when he actually won the IBU title -- so that, in conjunction with his NYSAC title, he finally won the undisputed title? However, the odd thing is that this fight was only a ten-rounder, whereas world title fights were 12 to 15 rounds at this time. Nevertheless, four months after the Everlast Boxing Record says Brown won the undisputed title (and three years to the day after boxing historians today say he won it), he went to fight in Europe -- mostly in French-speaking areas -- and never came back to defend that title on North American soil.

Finally, when he fought Battalino July 26, the papers clarified that he was the champion as recognized by the NYSAC only, and apparently nowhere else. "Bat Battalino of Hartford, New England featherweight champion, won a ten-round decision over Al Brown of Panama, recognized in New York State as world's bantamweight champion, at Bulkley Stadium to-night. The bantam title was not at stake." The World, July 27, 1929, p. 9.

Two days before Brown fought Larsen in Denmark, another world bantam champion had a fight. "Bushy Graham of Utica, N.Y., recognized by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission as bantamweight champion, won the decision over Vidal Gregorio of Spain in a torrid ten-round battle tonight." (The New York Times, August 27, 1929, p. 23.) So we now have at least three bantam champs with Brown, Baldock and Graham. How many more were out there?

On August 9 The World said, "Panama Al Brown, recognized in New York State as the bantamweight champion, will defend his title Sept. 17 against Teddy Baldoc, British bantamweight titleholder, in a fifteen-round match at the Coliseum...."

The day after Babe Ruth's 36th birthday, February 8, 1930, The New York Times reported, "Panama Al Brown, who is recognized by the State Athletic Commission as the 'defending champion' in the bantamweight races, gets his first taste of championship fire tonight in the ring of the Olympic B.C. where he is to battle Johnny Erickson of Harlem in a struggle billed over the championship route of fifteen rounds." That's it? That's all the pre-fight publicity surrounding a fight for the undisputed, universal, official bantam title? Compare this to the coverage of other official title fights, from flyweight to heavyweight, by the Times and The World -- where column after column and photo after photo are published before and after the fights. Post-fight round-by-round accounts usually were provided. Here is what The New York Times published after the fight, as written by James P. Davidson, "Al Brown of Panama, recognized by the New York State Athletic Commission as bantamweight champion, won his first fight as title holder in this city last night at the Olympic Boxing Club." A crowd of 4,000 attended. Is this all the press coverage and crowd response an official, undisputed world title fight could muster?

The April 1930 issue of The Ring mockingly referred to this Brown-Erickson fight as a "championship" bout (their quotation marks) at p. 46, in the "New York Gossip" column. And Eddie Borden's The Ring column, "A Corner in the Fistic Ring," still considered the bantamweight title vacant, but with Brown the leading contender.

It is becoming obvious that Brown was not recognized at the time as the undisputed, official world bantam champ as we have been led to believe today.

One last example, for now, from The New York Times, "Panama Al Brown, recognized in some sections of the United States as the bantamweight champion, pounded out a fifteen-round decision over Gene Huat of France today." (October 5, 1930, p. S7.) This was essentially the entire coverage that newspaper devoted to yet another "world title" defense by Brown.

Are we completely missing the boat here? We do not wish to disparage the name of a great champion with incorrect information or conclusions. We do not pretend to be boxing historians and concede we are relying solely on contemporary newspaper accounts, not the official records of sanctioning boxing authorities, to which we do not have access at the moment. Those with access to the official records of the NYSAC, the NBA, the Montreal Athletic Commission and what remains from the International Boxing Union files in Paris should visit them again, and clarify the situation.

Eventually, apparently, Brown would earn acceptance by other authorities, including the NBA, although the date each boxing commission recognized him as the champion is unknown to us at present. (Can anyone help?). By the mid-1990s he still possessed the record of the longest-reigning bantam champ in history, all beginning with that June 18 win over Vidal Gregorio.

(March 2002 Edit: To our knowledge, we were the very first to publicly question the long-held belief that Al Brown won the undisputed bantam title that June 18. We had performed our own research of contemporary New York City newspapers, old The Ring issues, and The Everlast Boxing Record before posting this page in early 1999 and raising this issue. We have learned that only recently, in early 2002, some boxing historians have been performing their own research surrounding this matter. Perhaps someday soon the truth, whatever it is, will become known to us all.)

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The fight which had opened for this "world championship" match featured someone else of note. According to The New York Times: "In the opening bout of six rounds Pete Sanstol, rugged Norwegian bantamweight, had an easy time winning the decision over Sammy Farber of the east side."

These benefit boxing contests raised $50,000 for the National Sports Alliance Relief Fund, quite a sum in those days.

The World reported on June 21 that the former Flyweight World Champion, Emile "Spider" Pladner of France, was in a coma in a Paris hospital after bantamweight Gene Hunt (fellow Frenchman Eugene Huat?) had knocked him down 18 times before the referee stopped the bout in the 15th round. Pladner would fully recover, and later challenged Brown in a title match, but lost.

Eleven days after his win over Sammy Farber, Pete defeated Johnny Erickson.

By late June 1929 Pete apparently was still willing to challenge Brown for his new crown. Then it all came crashing down, as the United States' stock market would four months later. Pete began to feel ill. Seriously ill. He was diagnosed with inflamed tonsils. He was knocked out of the ring and unable to fight for months while recuperating from the complications. It crushed any chance at Brown's fresh bantam title, and Pete must have been in his best form ever.

He didn't stay idle, however. He didn't do much resting either.

Pete went back home to Norway to be with his family and friends while he "recuperated" both from his inflamed tonsils and from the wear and tear of nine years in the ring, three as a professional. He was a celebrity in Norway. Pete never failed to spend time with his fans, delighting them with tales of the adventures he had experienced so far. He also attended to business matters, particularly his small interest in his father's sardine factory. He even managed to get in one professional fight. On August 13, 1929, he defeated the ex-champion of Europe, François "Titti" Morrachini, in Oslo. Pete's popularity in Norway soared after this fight. The following month he was featured on the cover of Oslo Illustrerte and his life and career chronicled by half a dozen pages inside.

Before heading back to America to take another plunge at the Bantamweight World Title, Pete went to Paris to train. There may have been another reason he returned to Paris. In one of his scrapbooks Pete saved a cryptic message from a certain "Mademoiselle Garry" in handwriting that is a little difficult to read. It apparently says, "To my darling little Pete, ...hoping you will remember me sometimes, ____ Honey. No?" But Ms. Garry could have been from Montreal rather than Paris. We know nothing more about her. Elsewhere in his scrapbooks there is another handwritten note from some admiring female. It says, "Pete, it is Honey Mother and I want to see you. I am at the door to Catherine Street [next to the Montreal Forum]. Congratulations." At the top of this note is scribbled, "OK, OK." His reply?

Pete must have been frequently approached by women that today we call groupies. He was handsome, charming, famous, intelligent and talented. In his scrapbooks Pete also pasted a reminder to himself to, among other things, "Don't become intimate." One wonders if he had to keep reminding himself of this admonition. (Pete would later confide to a close friend in Alaska over 20 years later, as we shall see, that during these days he often traveled with one French lady in particular who "often robbed me of my strength.")

In September 1929 Fidel LaBarba came to Paris to fight Kid Francis. Fidel needed a sparring partner. That's when he met Pete Sanstol. (Or maybe they had already met in New York a few months earlier. Fidel must have heard of Pete by then.) Pete sparred, did roadwork and trained with Fidel for three weeks, by the end of which the two had become chums. Fidel found Pete's seriousness and his vein of Scandinavian humor appealing. (The Los Angeles Times, April 9, 1933.) Fidel, one-time Olympic title-holder and former Flyweight World Champion, had resigned the title to attend Stanford College. He also got married in the Spring of 1928. But, after one year of school, he had decided to return and seek the bantamweight title. According to sportswriter Edward J. Neil's April 30 article for the Associated Press, Fidel was quoted as saying, "I want to win the bantamweight title, and defend it once or twice. Then I'm going back to college, back to Stanford, and finish my education. Later I shall learn the brokerage business. [He would lose $250,000 overnight when the market crashed that October.] College life was great. I did well in my studies, smoked a pipe, had lots of knickers, and 'made' the fraternity I wanted. But I learned other things as I went along. I had enough money to live comfortably, a car and everything, but I realized that I might just as well get all I can while still young and in my prime. So I came back to the ring, ten pounds heavier, stronger and more capable. Once I've won that bantam title I shall go back to school and never fight again."

LaBarba was managed by George Blake, one of the most respected men in the business. "I made up my mind then," said Pete, "that if I could get Blake to manage me and teach me, I could become a world's champion. I asked him about it. He said that as long as LaBarba was fighting he would not take other boxers under his direction." Pete knew that Blake handled only clean, honest and hard-working boxers; so Pete vowed to continue to live his life as cleanly as possible, with LaBarba as his model, in the hope that eventually Blake would manage him. (The Knockout magazine, April 1, 1933 issue.)

(Tommy Loughran was declared The Ring magazine's "Fighter of the Year" for 1931. Fidel LaBarba came in fourth overall in balloting. LaBarba was described by The Ring as a "clean-cut, gentlemanly type, wonderful character, modest to the point of shyness and genuine class all the way through." August 1931 issue, p. 50.)
 

Pete returned to New York by November and eventually moved to Montreal, Canada, which was developing into the world center of bantamweight boxing. The fans, press, promoters, and city officials were all crazy about it. The sport was highly endorsed and encouraged there. Pete would make Montreal his home and earn many life-long friends there with his winning style.

Once back in America Pete needed a new manager because his contract with Lew Burston had lapsed or expired, or was terminated for some other reason. When he was fighting in New York earlier that year Pete had met Montrealer Raoul Godbout, manager of Canadian Featherweight Champion Leo "Kid" Roy. Pete looked him up. He told Raoul that he was intent on becoming the Bantamweight World Champion and would Raoul be interested in managing him. Raoul immediately "took the Norseman under his wing." (The Knockout magazine April 1, 1933, issue).

Pete had three fights in the New York area during the Fall of 1929, and defeated all opponents: Willie Gannon of Cherry Hill, Charles "Dodo" Jackson, and Sammy Farber once again. "Pete Sanstol, unbeaten Norwegian bantam, celebrated his reappearance at the Broadway Arena, last night, by defeating Sammy Farber of East New York in six fast rounds. Sanstol fought his customary rushing fight and proved too fast for Farber." (The World, December 4, 1929, p. 13.) Click here to view Farber preparing for this fight with Pete; the photo is courtesy of Allen Jay Bodner's book When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport (1997).

"Pete Sanstol, popular Norwegian bantamweight, completely outclassed Dodo Jack [sic], Negro boxer, of Brooklyn, in a six-round bout at the Jamaica Arena, last night. Sanstol dropped his opponent for counts of nine in the second and third rounds." (The World, December 10.)

Apparently Pete was forced to rest up some more because he didn't have another fight for the next four months. He moved from Brooklyn to Ste. Agathe des Monts, a small village in the Laurentian Mountains of northern Quebec.

There Pete tried to concentrate on healing fully. He spent much of this period skating and skiing -- which he had always loved to do since he was a child. In Norway in the days of his childhood your father didn't toss you a baseball or football when you were a kid. He handed you a pair of skis and you were soon flying through the air.

Often while skiing, with the cool, refreshing air filling his lungs, Pete would dream. And it was always the same dream. It just would not go away. He would imagine victory. He could see it clearly. He could smell it. He could taste it. He heard the crowd cheering madly!

He had done it once before. He had been a top contender for the world's title. Hey?! With some more rigorous training he just might be able to do it again. He could even become the Number One Contender if he was lucky. No! He would be the Champion of the World or NOTHING AT ALL! That was The Dream! Only then would he be able to feel that warm, tingly, satisfying sensation that comes from unqualified success. That would be his ambition.

The weeks of skating and skiing had helped him stay in relatively decent shape. He trained even harder.

According to The Ring, April 1930 issue, p. 51:

Pete Sanstol, the sensational Norwegian bantam, was introduced at the recent amateur title meet, which takes on a significant aspect as Aleck Moore was very much present in company with Armand Vincent, popular and enterprising young sports promoter, and Lou Wyman, of Slitkin-Slotkin fame. It looks as though Aleck plans to show Petey on his cards which is commendable as Sanstol has class written all over him and is of the ever aggressive, cyclonic type so popular with the ratepayers. Sanstol was a big favorite here last year and since then he has been turning in such performances in the States that he is ranked close to the top among the world's best bantams.

The 1931 Everlast Boxing Record described Pete as follows:

Just what has Sanstol accomplished in the boxing game? Well, to take the word of Tom McArdle, a famous matchmaker of Madison Square Garden, Pete is looked upon as the long-sought fighting terror among bantams to restore that division to the place it once held when it boasted such warriors as Jimmy Barry, Terry McGovern, Kid Williams, Pete Herman, etc., just to mention a few....

Pete's fight against Scalfaro, who boasts the first knockdown scored over Kid Chocolate in this country, was the highlight of entertainment during the indoor season at Madison Square Garden. It was nip and tuck for the entire ten rounds, with the fans shouting themselves into hysterics.

Interviewed after the fight, Sanstol explained why he is the most sought-after bantam in the eastern United States and Canada.

"I like to fight fellows like Scalfaro. He is always tearing in with his dangerous wallop and one must fight fast and furious unless he wants to be knocked out. Chasing after a boy who will not fight is not only tiring but discouraging. I like to fight. And if my opponent meets me that way the duration of the round passes only too quickly, the fans get a run for their money, and I am happy."

If other fighters would follow that line of reasoning the game will be better, for the more Sanstols it will bring to the game.

Valhalla, the fighting heaven of the gods. That undoubtedly is Pete's aim. It is safe to assume that Sanstol has found his Valhalla in the squared circle.

Among his other fights during this period Pete knocked out Harry Hill in five rounds, Phil Tobias as well as Frisco Grande in six rounds, and Benny Tell in seven. He won on points against Frankie "Kid" Anselm and Bobby Leitham. (Click here to read about the Harry Hill and Bobby Leitham fights.) Pete became the darling of the Montreal and Brooklyn fans and press.

With these victories Pete had eliminated all competition for the bantam title. The Ring magazine ranked him second only to California's Newsboy Brown as the leading contender for the bantam crown in 1930. (See the 1980 edition of The Ring Record Book.) Most other authorities rated Pete as the leading contender.

He had done it! Pete Sanstol had become the Number One Contender for the world championship! That's when he went gunning after the big man himself, Al Brown -- the 5-foot 11-inch "Elongated Panamanian."