[Rocco Del Sesto]

Andre Lenglet - HW France

Career Record: W37(KO 22) / L16(KO 0) / D6

TITLES:
Federation Francaise de Boxe French Heavyweight

Unknown information has been left blank.
DOB has been estimated.

Manager Bertys Perry. Found this info in some 1972 newspapers.

On Thu, Nov 25, 1937, Andre Lenglet stopped Al McCoy at 2:57 of the 2nd round when after Lenglet dropped McCoy three times in the 2nd round, Referee Tommy Sullivan stopped the fight declaring Lenglet TKO winner. This fight helped elevate Lenglet to 8th rank heavyweight contender announced Dec 19th, 1937 in the National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings. The February 1938 Ring Magazine in their Monthly ratings ending the month period to Dec 12, 1937 placed Lenglet at their Number 10 heavyweight contender behind champion Joe Louis. It would be the highest ranking for Lenglet in Ring and the NBA Ratings. The 1937 Annual Ring Ratings in that same Feb 1938 had Lenglet in the first group of 5 contenders after the top 12 listed by Ring for the whole of 1937.

Mon, Oct 30, 1933 Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland, Hull Daily Mail, England and The Daily Telegraph, London were three newspapers at least with a small paragraph noting that Maurice Grisell, the then French Heavyweight champion for the last three years, lost his title when he was beaten on points by 20 year old Andre Lenglet in 12 rounds. If this age is correct it would put is birth date sometime in 1913.

Tue, Nov 14, 1933 Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland - Andre Lenglet successfully defended his French Heavyweight title against Marcel Moret, dropping Moret twice for counts of nine. Lenglet then knocked out Moret in 4th round.

Various papers on Nov 22, 1933 were running articles on Georges Carpentier, famous French heavyweight fighter to make a comeback after more than 7 years out of the ring. It was being billed he would face current French heavyweight champion, Andre Lenglet. A day later then this comeback talk was killed by Carpentier who said he was only training for a boxing bout in a new film. Roumers though continued in the press of a comeback.

Mon, Aug 24, 1936, The Buffalo News - A commentary piece by Bob Stedler talkes about Andre Lenglet. Commentary mentions that Lenglet was never an amateur fighter. He was an engineer in a war factory when he took a notion to fight entering a tournament in Paris and won 17 bouts and the tournament title. This same commentary appeared in a number of other newspapers.

BoxRec now lists a fight for Lenglet on Oct 9, 1941 loosing a 10 round decision to a Jose Ricol in Paris. Comment with this listing in BoxRec, "Sad comback for Lenglet after being injuredin the ongoing war."

Sun, Feb 01, 1942 The Corbin Sunday Times, Corbin Ky, - A short piece that was talking of the tough times boxing apparently having in France during the war. It mentions Andre Lenglet, and him apparenlty trying to make a comeback despite that he lost in battle all the toes on one foot which prevented him from keeping his balance.

Thu, Jan 25, 1945 Sun-Journal, Lewiston, Maine - After it broke in the news of Andre Lenglet being sentanced to prison for collaborating with the Germans, this piece was written giving some fairly detailed account of Lenglet's career after he came to the State in 1936. Interesting information states that He was under the management of Art Soule at the time. After they'd come to New York, Lenglet and Soule were crossing a New York street in a snow storm when a taxi cab struck Soule. Soule pushed Lenglet ouf ot he path of the taxi but, Soule died in the hospital from his injuries. Itafte that Bertys Perry took over Lenglet's management.

Numerous newspapers ran articles in January-February on accounts of what happened to Lenglet in Paris during the war. Some articles in papers on Tue, Jan 16, 1945 posted he was convicted of charges on Jan 15th.

Thu, Feb 08, 1945 Rumford Falls Times, Rumford Maine - Reports that Adnre Lenglet was convicted being a collaborationist in Paris during the war. During a trial it was established that after the German occupation of Paris, Lenglet's car went missing. To get it back a proposal was supposadly made that he join the Petainist Legion. Evidence was presented that he accepted doing this and Lenglet was sentanced to five years at hard labor. The article mentions how Lenglet had come to the States in the late 30's to box, then in 1938 he was ordered back to France to fulfill military service and subsequently was wounded in 1940 fighting. He was then discharged from service.

Sat, Dec 29, 1945 Western Daily Press, Bristol, England - "Death of Former French Champion", announces that Andre Lenglet died in a Paris hospital "yesterday". So placing his date of death as Dec 28, 1945. Several other papers found on line ran the same obituary information on this date.

Thu, Apr 18, 1946 Republican and Herald, Pottsville, PA - In this and some other newspapers a short piece that mentions Andre Lenglet, "died in Paris recently, according to Lew Burston, who was returning from abroad".

Sat, Feb 8, 1991 Manchester Evening News, Manchester England - A nice fairly lengthly article "French hope lost out to the big fight" on Andre Lenglet delves into some nice career hilites. It mentions that he worked in a car factory and had never put on a boxing glove until at age 20 he saw a poster advertising a competition for heavyweight novices. He quickly signed on and ended the number one contestant as the commentary in the Buffalo News back in 1936 mentions. By age 25, Lenglet had developed into a pretty capable fighter. But he never had the opportunity to fullfil his career ad within month of World War 2 starting, Andre immediately volunteer for service. He was wounded in combat. This article says he never fought again in the ring, but BoxRec notes that last fight in October 1941.