Pete Sanstol (March 28, 1905 – March 13, 1982) was a Norwegian-American professional boxer who took the Canadian version of the World Bantamweight Championship (sanctioned by the Montreal Athletic Commission) at a bout in Montreal in 1931 against Archie Bell."Bell-Sanstol Bout for World's Title; Montreal Athletic Commission Rules Fight at Forum for Bantam Honors— N.B.A. Asked to Recognize Winner", The Gazette (Montreal), May 14, 1931, p.18; for a brief time, the Montreal Commission was seeking recognition for its own classification of world championships at different weights, having asked for a ruling from the existing National Boxing Association and the New York State Athletic Commission, which had been sanctioning world titles since 1921. Sanstol 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.
Early life and amateur career 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.The Ring magazine, December 1953 issuePete Sanstol (Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia)Norwegian Hall of Fame (Great Norwegians Homepage)
Professional boxing career 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, then 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.
Bout with Andre Dedieu in Paris Winning all his bouts in Germany, Sanstol moved on to Paris where he fought at least through February 1927. On January 24, 1927, he met the well known Andre Dedieu at the Central Sporting Club in Paris, winning in a third-round technical knockout. Some observers in Paris compared him to French boxing champion, Georges Carpentier. Discovered in Paris by American manager Lew Burston (1896–1969), Sanstol was brought to New York around mid-1927, where he graduated from the club preliminaries to become the most sought after bantam in the eastern United States and Canada.Everlast Boxing Record (Everlast Sports Publishing Company, John J. Romano, editor. 1931)
Bouts with Joey Scalfano 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."Rosenbloom Slaps Down Bain", The Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania, pg. 14, 23 October 1930Scalfaro's left eye was closed in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, pg. 26, 23 October 1930 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.
Taking the Canadian version of the World Bantamweight Championship 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."Pete Sanstol Beats Bell in Ten Rounds", The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, pg. 18, 21 May 1931
First defense of the Canadian World Bantamweight 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."Pete Sanstol to Meet Art Giroux", Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, pg. 16, June 17, 1931 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)."Rates Sharkey Most Prominent of Challengers", Fitchburg Sentinel, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, pg. 8, August 22, 1931
Second defense of the Canadian World Bantamweight Title 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."Norwegian Scores a Close Victory in Thrilling Bout", The Ottawa Journal, Ottawa, Canada, pg. 17, 30 July 1931
Attempt at the NBA World Bantamweight Championship, Al Brown
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."Outpoints Steve Sanstol After Rugged Battle", The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, pg. 15, August 26, 1931
Draw with NBA Flyweight Champion Spider Pladner 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."NBA Reveals Champions and Near Champs", The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, pg. 15, January 10, 1932
Short retirement and bout with Midget Wolgast 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.Wolgast took every round in "Wolgast Trims Pete Sanstol", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, pg. 25, August 16, 1933
Victory over Young Perez
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. In 1929, Perez had also taken the French Flyweight Title. A Tunisian Jew, Perez would die tragically in 1945 on a march from Auschwitz, where he had been interned, after being denounced to the Nazis in Paris in 1943.
Wins in Sweden and Germany He retired from boxing in late 1933, fighting only one bout in 1934, and then resumed his boxing in Sweden in 1935. He won a ten-round points decision in Berlin against Hans Schiller, former German Featherweight Champion, on May 10, 1935. In Sweden he met Werner Reithdorf on April 26, 1935, winning in an eighth-round TKO in Gothenburg, and Joey Carr on March 1, 1935, also in Gothenburg, where he won in a first-round knockout.
Last NBA World Bantamweight Title bout, Sixto Escobar
With both boxers very near 118, Sanstol had his last NBA World Bantamweight Championship match with Sixto Escobar, on August 7, 1935 at the Forum in Montreal. Sanstol lost the bout in a twelve-round unanimous decision, that was not particularly close, though quite satisfying to the crowd. In the seventh, Escobar closed Sanstol's left eye, in effect winning the bout, or reducing his need to show the same level of aggression. Ringside observers gave Escobar eight rounds, with four rounds even."Escobar Trims Sanstol", Ottawa Journal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, pg. 16, August 8, 1935
Win over Panama Al Brown 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.Montreal Athletic Commission (Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia)
United States 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.Pete Sanstol (Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia)
Fighting style