Benny Leonard

Benny Leonard
Statistics
Real name	Benjamin Leiner
Nickname(s)	Ghetto Wizard The Great
Rated at	Lightweight
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Nationality	American
Born	April 7, 1896 New York, New York, United States
Died	April 18, 1947 (aged 51) New York, New York, St. Nicholas Arena
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	219
Wins	183
Wins by KO	70
Losses	24
Draws	8
No contests	4

Benny Leonard (born Benjamin Leiner; Hebrew name דוב בער בן אברהם גרשון [Dov Ber ben Avraham Gershon]; April 7, 1896 – April 18, 1947) was an American professional lightweight boxer. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ranked 8th on The Ring magazine's list of the "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years" and placed 7th in ESPN's "50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time".^[1][2] In 2005, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked Leonard as the #1 lightweight, and #8 best pound-for-pound fighter of all-time.^[3] Statistical website BoxRec rates Leonard as the 2nd best lightweight ever, while The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #2.^[4] Boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 6th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.^[5] Leonard is a member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame, the World Boxing Hall of Fame, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame.^[6][7][8]

Early life

Benny Leonard was born and raised in the Jewish ghetto, which was then located in the lower east side of Manhattan, New York City, on whose streets he learned to fight. He was the son of Minny and Gershon Leiner, who immigrated from Eastern Europe.^[9]

Professional career

Leonard was known for his speed, excellent boxing technique and ability to think fast on his feet. He also was a hard hitter, who scored 70 KOs out of his 183 wins. Leonard was defeated 24 times and was held to a draw on 8 occasions. As was common in the era in which he fought, Leonard engaged in several no-decision matches and is believed to have fought 219 bouts.

Lightweight contender

Leonard debuted on a Saturday in November 1911—the exact date is unknown—losing in three rounds at the Fondon Athletic Club in New York when the fight was stopped because he was bleeding through the nose. He won 12 of his next 18 bouts (three were no-decisions), establishing a reputation as a good local fighter before meeting Canadian Frankie Fleming in May 1912. Leonard was knocked out for only the second time in his career. He lost a rematch with Fleming 16 months later. (Not surprisingly, Fleming got the first shot at Freddie Welsh, failing to unseat the lightweight champion in a May 1915 fight the newspapers awarded to Welsh.) Leonard's next big test came when he took on featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane in Atlantic City in April 1915. Kilbane won six of ten rounds to win the decision. "Leonard might have beaten the champion if he had a little more confidence," the Chicago Tribune said, "but even when he was having the best of the going he shut up like a clam and clinched for all he was worth."

World lightweight champion

Welsh vs Leonard 1917

Leonard then reeled off a string of 15 straight victories (interrupted by two draws), which earned him the chance to meet Freddie Welsh for the lightweight championship on March 3, 1916. Although newspaper reporters at Madison Square Garden believed that Leonard had won, Welsh retained his title in a bout that was officially recorded as a no decision. The two fighters met again four months later in Brooklyn, and this time Welsh won decisively, staggering Leonard and nearly putting him down with a right to the jaw in the sixth.

On February 28, 1917, he fought onetime Bantamweight Champion Jimmy Reagan at the Manhattan Casino in Manhattan, New York, in a ten-round match, that the New York Times considered a draw bout. The Des Moines Register considered the fact that Reagan had gone ten rounds without being knocked out by the extraordinary champion a remarkable accomplishment. According to the Ogden Standard, "Dozens of times Jimmy seemed on the point of going down, but always he kept afoot. The Standard also wrote of Leonard, that "there wasn't a punch that he didn't aim at Reagan, and there wasn't one that was forceful enough to keep the Californian at bay."^[10][11][12]

Winning 17 of 19 bouts after his second loss to Freddie Welsh, the 21-year-old Leonard fought Welsh for the third time in the Manhattan Casino on May 28, 1917. The challenger floored the champion three times in the ninth round before referee Billy McPartland stopped the bout, making Leonard the lightweight champion of the world. He officially defended the title seven times over the next eight years.

Moving up a weight class from the World Lightweight Championship which he already held, Leonard challenged welterweight Champion Jack Britton for his title on June 26, 1922. He lost the fight when he was disqualified for hitting Britton when he was down in the thirteenth round.

Retirement and comeback

Leonard announced his retirement from boxing on January 15, 1925, as the reigning World Lightweight Champion because his mother wanted him to. He lost most of his considerable fortune in the stock market crash of 1929, and embarked on an ill-advised comeback in 1931. Although described as pudgy and slow, the balding Leonard won 23 fights, albeit against nondescript opposition, before meeting a championship caliber fighter. On October 7, 1932, his career ended when he was TKOed in 6 rounds by future champion Jimmy McLarnin.

Notable bouts

Life after boxing

Leonard holding back Harry Houdini, mock punched by heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey

After his boxing career was over, Leonard was a front man for National Hockey League owner Bill Dwyer of the New York Americans, who had secretly purchased the Pittsburgh Pirates of that league. Leonard was supposed to appear as if he owned the team. The team suffered both at the gate and on the ice. The team moved to Philadelphia for 1930–31 and then folded.

Later, Leonard became a boxing referee. After refereeing the first six bouts of the April 18, 1947, card at the St. Nicholas Arena in New York, Leonard was stricken with a massive heart attack during the first round of the next bout, toppled to the canvas, and died in the ring. He was 51.^[14] Benny Leonard was interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, New York.

Film career

Leonard starred in the film serial The Evil Eye (1920) and a series of boxing related film shorts titled Flying Fists (1924–1925).

See also

• Lineal championship
• List of lineal boxing world champions
• List of select Jewish boxers

References

1. "The 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years". BoxRec.com. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
2. Kieran Mulvaney. "50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
3. Dan Cuoco (November 2005). "All-Time Lightweight Rankings". IBRO.com. International Boxing Research Organization. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
4. "All-Time Lightweight Rankings". BoxRec. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
5. Bert Sugar (2005). Boxing's Greatest Fighters. Lyons Press. pp. 17–19. ISBN 978-1-59228-632-4.
6. Michael DeLisa (ed.). "Benny Leonard". Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
7. "Inductees/Honorees". National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
8. "Elected Members". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
9. John A. Garraty; Mark C. Carnes, eds. (1999). American national biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-520635-7.
10. "To Stage Athletic Show", Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, pg. 31, 13 January 1918
11. "Jimmy Reagan". BoxRec. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
12. "Fight Fans are Gathering From All Corners", The Ogden Standard, Ogden, Utah, p.3, 25 December 1917
13. "Benny Leonard's Professional Boxing Record". BoxRec.com. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
14. "Benny the Brain". Sport. Time. April 28, 1947. Retrieved 2011-01-20. (subscription required (help)).

External links

• Professional boxing record for Benny Leonard from BoxRec
• Benny Leonard at Find a Grave
• Benny Leonard at the Internet Movie Database