Born May 25, 1904 in Saint-Dizier, France. Thil turned professional in 1920. His early record was dotted with almost as many losses as wins. However, Thil was determined and by 1928 developed a newfound punching power that soon brought him a succession of knockout victories.
On October 12, 1928, he won the French middleweight title with a first round knockout over Marcel Thuru. The next year he won the European middleweight title. He dropped the European crown to Mario Bosisio in Milan via 15-round decision. Thil was hardly discouraged and rebounded to defeat future middleweight champion Vince Dundee over 12 rounds. On June 11, 1932, Thil was matched with Gorilla Jones for the International Boxing Union (IBU) world middleweight championship. The Frenchman won on a foul in the 11th round and next successfully defended the belt against Len Harvey, Kid Tunero, Ignacio Ara, Gustave Roth, Carmelo Candel, Vilda Jacks and Lou Brouillard. While IBU world champion, Thil also won the European middleweight and light heavyweight championships.
On September 23, 1937 Thil boxed Fred Apostoli under championship conditions (although no titles were on the line) on the Carnival of Champions card and was stopped via 10th round TKO. Thil would never box again. On February 17, 1938, he announced his retirement from the ring with a 113-22-13 (54 KOs) record. Thil died in Cannes on August 14, 1968.
Born: May 25, 1904
Died: Aug. 14, 1968
Bouts: 148
Won: 112
Lost: 22
Drew: 14
KOs: 148
Induction: 2005
Marcel Thil
