When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport

by Allen Bodner

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 of the Jewish boxers both inside and outside the ring, and also examines their lives as they left the ring to pursue their careers which ranged from fire chiefs to boxing judges to hospital presidents.

Boxing was a means many second generation urban immigrants―including Jews―used to get ahead in the early 20th century. The Jewish boxers interviewed reported that they took up fighting to earn money, not to defend their race or negate stereotypes that Jews were weak. These boxers were proud of their heritage and displayed Stars of David on their robes and trunks until religious symbols were banned in the 1940s. During the 1920s nearly one-third of all professional boxers were Jewish, and by 1928, they were the dominant ethnic group in the sport earning 30 World Championship titles between 1910-1940. Bodner's interest in the subject was kindled by his father who was an amateur boxer and professional manager during this period.

207 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 1997

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one can question Bodner's sincerity or zeal. Through his father's friends he has gained entry to some great insider opinions and legends.

Bodner's story has some very engaging moments. But his access is largely confined to a small sub-set of the larger Jewish boxing world. As a result there are shocking omissions. For example, Abe Simon knocked Joe Louis down in the first round of their 1941 fight. Simon, despite a broken hand, went 12 rounds, lasting as long as Louis' last three opponents combined. The judges scored it 7 rounds to 5, before Louis took the giant out. Simon fought him a second time for the title as well. A Jewish museum dedicated a large part of last summer's boxing display to him. Yet Simon gets only one short mention in Bodner!

Bodner's most underdeveloped or slanted opinions are presented as Gospel. Long quotes from interviewed old-timers blur with Bodner's writing, as the editor made no effort to set these apart with italics, indents or different font. You have to carefully follow the quotation marks and hope the editor proof-read the text!

The index too is unreliable at points. (The sole Simon reference is left out, for example). And the pitance of photos are grainy photocopies!

I'd rate this two stars were it not for my great interest in the subject, and the anecdotal gems.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a boxing fan, a New Yorker and having a jewish father this was an important book to me I'd only heard the names of these jewish boxers but it was so long before my time and the anti-thesis of jewish culture it never sank in. but hard to believe as it is jews could fight, they weren't big punchers but were described as clever, crafty like the white basketball players of today. jews boxed back then cause it was an opportunity to make money, they could make more money in one night than their blue collar fathers could make in a month busting their ass for 12 hours. but unlike the flamboyant boxers of today who have bling and drive expensive cars, they gave their money to their parents. the jewish boxers of that era didn't take any crap off no one an anti semetic remark from some bigot he's get his ass kicked. however boxing to the jews of the thirties was just an ends to a mean. in the forties when more jobs came open that was the end of jewish boxers, who used the money they made to send their kids to school, and become doctors and lawyers and engineers the jewish culture is more about education than fighting, but they represented themselves in the ring well. and it gives me pride that if these free Palestine jack asses at universities who go around spitting on and intimindating jewish kids, encountered some of those guys they'd get their jaw broken.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bodner notes that Jewish boxers were the most dominant ethnic group in the 1920s-30s and the third most in the 1930s before sharply dropping off to almost none in the 1950s. He notes that Jews, despite their image as a “brainy” people, had almost nothing when they arrived as first generation immigrants. Their children took up boxing as a way of escaping the squalor ghettos of the Lower East Side, as poverty-stricken Russian Jews displaced German Jews as the largest Jewish community in the United States. During the time period, colleges placed restrictions on the total amount of Jews it would accept to paternalistically limit the amount of anti-Semitism. Boxing was dangerous because of the blows to the head and fighters of the era got out generally when they could unless they were dominant fighters. Jewish men went to college as soon as there was opportunities, and thus in the post-war, their children and the ones who could immediately stopped boxing and moved to other careers, in a quite rapid pace.

Key Themes and Concepts
-Boxing is a magnifying glass into society, as Jewish boxers followed Italian and Irish boxers as the most dominant ethnic groups. At the time of the writing, the most dominant ethnic groups are Black Americans and Latinos, which indicated economic distress in those communities as boxing is a sport very few people with any means participate in. I believe he means economic distress in urban communities, since Black Americans were certainly very poor when they were more rural and Southern, but boxing is more urban.
-Boxing was shameful to many Jews coming from a tradition of education and thus Jewish newspapers gave little coverage to the sport. Therefore much of the book is oral histories.
-It was common for Jewish fighters to change their last names to Irish or Italian ones as a way of gaining legitimacy. However, they still often had Stars of David on their trunks and towels so they were not ashamed of their heritage.

[Dimensions · Rating 4 out of 5]

The incredible statistic alone, that there were 26 Jewish world champions between the 1920s and 1930s, prompted me to find and read this book.

The author addresses the interesting questions; why were/are there very few Jewish heavyweights? what stylistically characterised a Jewish fighter then and now? how did they train? what did they eat?

But the overriding issue of why were Jews so prominent in boxing during this particular era, is provided with a unsatisfactory but probably true answer - at the time Jews were at the bottom of the immigrant ladder, along with the Irish and Italians. They fought their way out of poverty.

It is frustrating that the author completely disregards any Jewish boxing stars post-1950s. They are not even mentioned in the 'glossary' of Jewish fighters at the back. I think recent talent such as Ran Nakash (lost only one professional fight), Yuri Foreman (former middleweight world champion) and Dmitry Salita deserve at least a mention.

[Judy Steinfeldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This explains why Papa and Grandpa were boxers. Our history.