He began boxing when he was a young boy in school and had his first professional fight in 1937 when he knocked out Al Freida in Kansas City in four rounds.
Breese's fame brought him to Hollywood, where he worked alongside James Cagney in City for Conquest (1940) and Robert Ryan in Golden Gloves (also 1940), teaching them boxing moves and by being a stand-in for the fight scenes.
Fighting Eddie Hudson, a courageous campaigner but definitely not in Breese's class during the prime of the ex-Marine, Baby lost a 10-round decision, his second to the Los Angeles boxer.
The San Diego Journal article dated, February 4, 1950 said, "From that time until he retired in 1947, Breese gained a reputation as a competitor.
Breese's business was doing well and he decided to buy land in the University Heights area of San Diego and have a house built.
Doctors speculated that his boxing had caused him permanent injuries, and during a party he was hosting at his house in August 1962, he became ill. An ambulance took him to Mercy Hospital, where he died ten days later.