Freddie Miller (boxer)

On July 23, 1931, Miller had his first title shot for the National Boxing Association (NBA) World featherweight title, against Battling Battalino. Miller would go on to lose the match by a ten-round unanimous decision in Cincinnati, Ohio.[1]

Miller went on to face Battalino on January 27, 1932, in Cincinnati for the NBA World Featherweight Title before a small crowd of 2,000 in what was one of the most peculiar fights of his career. The defending champion, Battalino, came in three pounds overweight and did not put up a good fight. Battalino went down in the third round from what the referee, Lou Bauman, and many in the crowd, considered a harmless right to the chin. Some in the crowd suspected a "fix". When Battalino arose, Miller put him down again. The referee stopped the fight and declared Miller the winner. The National Boxing Association and the New York State Athletic Commission, however, overruled the referee and declared the bout a "no contest." Having declared the bout a no contest, the title become vacant. Battalino was fined $5,000, and would later be stripped of his title by the NYSAC, taking effect on March 1, 1932.[1][2] To end any confusion about his championship status, Battalino voluntarily relinquished the title by March and moved up a weightclass to fight at the lightweight limit.[3]

While still holding the NBA world featherweight title, Miller met Baby Arizmendi, reigning California State World Featherweight champion on January 28, 1933. Miller won the ten-round match by decision at Los Angeles's Olympic Auditorium, retaining the NBA world featherweight title, and gaining the California State world featherweight title.[4]

On March 21, 1933, Miller defeated Filipino Speedy Dado, California bantamweight champion, for the NBA world featherweight title in a ten-round points decision at Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles. Miller won seven of the ten rounds, and had Dado on the floor for a six count from a strong right to the head in the second round. Dado took only rounds three and seven.[5]

Defending the NBA world featherweight title on July 11, 1933, Miller defeated Abie Israel in a fourth-round knockout before 7000 fans at the Civic Ice Arena in Seattle.[1]

In an NBA world featherweight championship on January 1, 1934, Miller defeated Jackie Sharkey at Cincinnati's Music Hall Arena in a ten-round unanimous decision. Miller took his victory by a wide margin; he put Sharkey to the canvas for a count of seven with a right and left to the jaw in the second, and again for a count of seven using a left to the jaw in the tenth. Sharkey appeared to win on points only in two rounds, the fourth and the seventh.[6][7]

In an NBA world featherweight title, Paul Dazzo was knocked out by Miller, 1:20 into the sixth round, at the Jefferson County Armory in Louisville, Kentucky on May 4, 1934. On the eve of the Kentucky Derby, the bout was the first world title held in the Blue Grass state since 1934. Taking an edge from the start, Dazzo was credited with the second, third, fourth, and fifth, with Dazzo holding even in the first.[8][1]

Miller went on a boxing tour of England, Wales, Scotland, Spain, France, Belgium, and Ireland, boxing in all but Scotland and Wales, including the capitals of Brussels, Belgium and Dublin, Ireland. He fought Jose Girones twice in Barcelona, Spain on December 1, 1934, and on February 17, 1935, taking the first by a disqualification. In their second meeting, an NBA world featherweight title fight, he knocked out Jose in the first of fifteen rounds.[9]

Miller fought the legendary reigning world bantamweight champion Panama Al Brown on December 24, 1934, in Paris, winning in a non-title ten round points decision.[1]

In Liverpool, England, on June 12, 1935, Miller defeated Ned Tarleton, European and British featherweight champion, for the NBA world featherweight title in a fifteen-round points decision. In an easy victory, Miller floored Tarleton for a count of six in the first round, and in the official scoring won all but two rounds.[1][10]

On July 12, 1935, the Cincinnati featherweight champ defeated Stan Jehu in Dublin, Ireland in a fourth-round decision.[1]

In his first NBA world featherweight title defense since returning from Europe, Miller met Vernon Cormier at Boston Garden on October 22, 1935, before a modest depression crowd of 4,300. Cormier was credited with all but the tenth and thirteenth rounds which were taken by Cormier. There were no knockdowns in the fight, nor was either boxer staggered, and each studied technique in the long match.[11]

In an NBA world featherweight championship on February 18, 1936, in Seattle, Miller defeated Johnny Pena in a twelfth round unanimous decision. In a decisive victory, ringside reporters credited Miller with every round in the match. He landed the only knockdown of the bout, sending Pena to the canvas for a count of nine in the eleventh. Pena had taken a previous decision over Miller in Oakland.[12]

In one of his last defenses of the NBA world featherweight title, Miller defeated Petey Sarron, future featherweight champion, in a fifteen-round points decision in Coral Cables, Florida, on March 2, 1936. In a controversial decision, two of the six rounds given to Miller were due to Sarron fouls, which included calls for low blows in the ninth, eleventh, and twelfth rounds. In a close bout, the referee gave three rounds to Sarron, six to Miller, and called three even. If not for the low blow calls, Sarron would have taken five rounds.[13]

On May 11, 1936, he finally lost to Sarron for the NBA world featherweight title in a fifteen-round mixed decision at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. One judge ruled the bout a draw, but the other judge and referee ruled for Miller. It was Sarron's twelfth title fight since taking the title in January 1933 from Tommy Paul.[1]