A Time When Jews Dominated Boxing
The 1930s and 40s was a great time for Jewish athletes. In my article Do Jews Control the US? we found out that in those years Jews dominated the game of basketball. Likewise it was in the early decades of the last century that, according to blogger Mark Gelbart (1), Jews dominated boxing.
That's right. Let me repeat it: in the early decades of the last century Jews dominated boxing:
Boxing News, The Greatest Jewish Fighters in The History of Boxing
For reasons unknown, Jews are often stereotyped as being non-athletic. Nonetheless, Jews have helped shape and at times dominated the tough sport of boxing. A number of Jewish boxers rank among the all time best in their weight divisions and quite a few are enshrined in the Boxing Hall of Fame. The founder of Ring Magazine, Nat Fleisher, recognized 7 Jewish boxers on his list of the all time best in the traditional eight weight divisions. You’ll find at least one Jewish boxer on almost any list of the 20th century’s top greatest fighters. There are Jewish boxers who fought over 200 times and one who had over 200 victories.
Most of the top Jewish fighters fought in an era of only 8 or 10 weight divisions and only one world champion. During the first half of the 20th century boxers were the highest paid professional athletes so the sport attracted the type of top athlete who would be playing professional baseball, football or basketball today. During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s several sport historians believe that over one third of the American professional boxers of that period were Jewish.
Ring Magazine, "The Bible of Boxing," started and run: by Jews.
Most of the trainers, managers, and promoters of that era were: Jews.
The Everlast Company, the best known and respected brand in boxing equipment since 1910, was started by a distant relative of mine, Jacob Golomb: a Jew.
In the following video we learn that if any sport can be called a Jewish sport it is boxing:
YouTube, Star in the Ring
Who knew?
ENDNOTES
(1):
useless-knowledge.com, 29 Mar 2005, When Jewish Fighters Dominated Boxing
There was a time when Jewish fighters completely dominated the lighter weight classes in professional boxing...
Out of poverty came a whole generation of Jewish boxers who rose to prominence in their sport...
Pound-for-pound, the greatest Jewish boxer of all time was Benny Leonard who was lightweight champion from 1917 to 1925. He was a very popular fighter among both Jews and Gentiles; he gave proceeds of some fights to charitable causes, and he carried himself with class. His record in the ring was almost impeccable. He lost his very first and very last fights. Between those two he fought over two-hundred times and lost only twice, both early in his career.
