When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport

by Allen Bodner

Book Overview

This is a splendid oral history of a time between World War I and World War II when Jewish athletes were the dominant ethnic group in professional boxing in the United States. The author draws on his own personal experience in New York City's fight arenas, and incorporates interviews with more than thirty former boxers, trainers, managers, promoters, and boxing judges to report on this overlooked aspect of sports history. Bodner explores the stories...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 027595353X
• ISBN13: 9780275953539
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Well worth the read

I read this book awhile ago; and while I was impressed by the scope of the author's treatment, I was a little disappointed by his lack of perspective and his exaggeration of the extent of Jews participation in boxing in the 20s and thereafter. In fact I contacted Mr. Bodner and he acknowledged that he had no authority for the assertion that "nearly one-third of all professional boxers [in the 1920s] were Jewish.". Anyone who has scoured the voluminous records of that period would realize (1) that at no time then, before or after, did Jews dominate the sport of boxing (with the possible exception of 1915 to 1920, when the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light-heavyweight titles were for the most part held by Leonard, Lewis, McCoy and Levinsky, respectively), and (2) that its very hard to believe that Jews ever represented more than 10, possibly 15% of professional boxers in the USA. Maybe in the New York area, which is the area of his concentration, their numbers approached 1/3, but limiting his coverage to the New York area is another shortcoming of the book. This isn't to say that Jews were not a substantial, even impressive, presence in boxing from 1915 to the early 1940s, only that their overall participation wasn't nearly as great as Mr. Bodner maintains. This actually makes the achievement of those Jewish boxers who did hold titles more impressive in that their relative percentage is much closer to that of all Jews in boxing. There are more and more references to the above-subject matter on the internet, and exaggerating the overall participation of Jews in boxing does tend to denigrate the quality of that participation. Some people continue to have a hard time accepting that Jews were ever as capable at physical pursuits as other ethnic groups, especially in a sport as rough as boxing. Still, all in all, I think Mr. Bodner's book is a welcome contribution to the subject, and I highly recommend the read.

The only good fighter is a hungry fighter

This book is the story of a particular time in American and boxing history. During the twenties and thirties poor Jewish boys who had no other way up the economic ladder went into the ring. Bodner says that during that time over thirty- percent of the professional fighters were Jews. And so were many of the trainers and managers. And so it was not anti- Semitism or ' showing that we are just as tough as the Goyim' that put these people in the ring. A good share of the fighters got out in time, before they were ' punch - drunk' and went on to make respectable lives for themselves. They married had families of their own, and did not send their children into the ring. In this they were much like Jewish mobsters, a one- generation phenomenom. An exception to this rule was a Jewish fighter who lived down by the Hudson River in old shack in Troy, New York, the late Joe Bedell. He had once been a leading contender, and my father used to visit him when he had no one else in the world. His story was a different one, of a man who had known two minutes of glory in the ring, and had for whatever reason just dropped out of life. I in my childhood knew this world of the Jewish fighter quite well. One of the pictures my father had in the Junk shop, and which my brother, Jake Freedman, who was also a Jewish fighter at one time, loved was of a bloody- faced Abe Attell fighting for the featherweight title, I believe against Joe Gans. As opposed to what Bodner says in this fine book there was I think a large element for many Jewish youngsters of proving how tough they were, and disproving the old taunt that Jews ' can't fight' In regard to reenforcement of this theme a previous fine book which chronicles the story of Jewish sports figures including Jewish boxers is Harold Ribalow's 'The Jew in American Sports'. This outstanding book gives a nostalgic picture of another world and another time. Its main theme is summarized in a saying of the late great Reuben Kelly Freedman who was a bit of an amateur Jewish fighter himself ," The only good fighter is a hungry fighter'

It should be titled: "When Boxing was a White Sport!"

A good read! But it lacks info about how Blacks were not fully allowed to be part of the sport and how it was more fixed than real during this time period. Overall still a fun book to read.

Nostalgia Ain't What It used To Be

It's nice to have a book based on authentic research and to have the exact things people said reproduced exactly on the page. When someone says their Mother paid a dime to the iceman to carry up a cube of ice and put it in the icebox, you know that guy was there. When he talks about having to change the drip pan in the mornings else the floor gets wet, there is no doubt about the truth when that same guy talks about fights getting bought (bought=old speak for fixed) or someone taking a dive. That guy was there. Much of the material covers the old New York that I knew and loved as a kid, particularly the Golden Gloves sponsored by the New York Daily News and the great gyms and trainers. But of course I knew the scene from the "other side", that is, the Irish point of view. Jewish kids wandered into the gyms and got into the fight game for the fun and money. The the Irish kids like myself were sent to the gyms for fisticuff lessons. "Stay out of trouble, Mickey and be a gentleman, but if some bully picks on you, just knock his block off." Yep, insulting the Irish was a sure way of getting hurt. With the Jews, it was different. They didn't care about the insults. They just wanted to get the watch or the prize money and get out of the game before they got punch drunk. The chapter on the Main Event is slow and tedious, somewhat repetitious, and needs to be shortened or something. And its hard to believe that 75% of the prostitutes in New York City were Jewish, that 35% of the criminals were Jewish, or that 60% of the lawyers were Jewish. The Jews had their share of prostitutes and criminals and shysters, but not that many. Otherwise, this is a wonderful book for nostalgia, especially the chapters that deal with the Jewish fighters relationship to his Mom and Pop. A trememdous oral history of a now by-gone era - Bravo!

Labor of Love

Allen Bodner has tracked down and interviewed just about all of the surviving boxers from the Golden Age of Jewish participation in professional boxing, the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Jews then were near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, entree to many of the professions denied them by "Jewish quotas" and other forms of officially sanctioned forms of discrimination. The tough, talented men sought out by Mr. Bodner grabbed their share of the American Dream with their fists. As times changed many later went on to successful careers outside the ring but if there is one common denominator to these men-other than their religion-it is that all still defined themselves by the warrior's heart that impelled them into the ring in the first place. Mr. Bodner has proven to be a skillful interviewer and chronicler. He hasn't limited himself to these oral histories, important though they are, but has gone through old newspaper accounts of fights held decades ago and also consulted numerous other source materials (the book contains an excellent bibliography) to profile other, deceased, Jewish fighters. "When Boxing Was A Jewish Sport" is so good that my only complaint is that two personal favorites didn't make Mr. Bodner's cut for inclusion-Benny Bass and Harry Blitman, both Philadelphians. Benny "Little Fish" Bass was dubbed by no less an authority than Jack Dempsey as one of the contenders for the mythical title of best pound for pound fighter of his era; he lost his share of the lightweight title to the legendary Tony Canzoneri. Harry Blitman only lost four times in his career, once to Bass. He beat Canzoneri in a non-title bout.