Benny Leonard
Benny Leonard was an American professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1932. He held the world lightweight title from 1917 to 1925, making him the longest-reigning champion in the division’s history. He is widely regarded not only as one of the greatest lightweights ever, but also as one of the sport's all-time greats.
In 1944, Leonard was awarded the Edward J. Neil Trophy by the Boxing Writers Association of New York. The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Decade for the 1920s. Leonard was inducted into The Ring magazine Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the World Boxing Hall of Fame, the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1997, The Sporting News named Leonard the "Best Boxer of the Last 75 Years". Leonard 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". In 2005, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked Leonard as the #1 lightweight, and #8 best pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Statistical website BoxRec rates Leonard as the 2nd best lightweight ever, while The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #2. Boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 6th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.
Early life
Benjamin Leiner was born and raised as a youth in the Jewish ghetto, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, near Eighth Street and Second Avenue, where he learned to fight the sons of other immigrants. His religious Jewish parents Minny and Gershon Leiner, who immigrated from Russia, disapproved of his fighting but understood his frequent need to defend himself in the poor neighborhoods in which he grew up. His father struggled to support a wife and eight children by working twelve-hour days in a garment sweatshop at twenty dollars a week. His annual take-home pay rarely eclipsed $1400.Leiner began his professional career in 1911 at age 15. He took the Americanized name Benny Leonard to prevent his parents from discovering he had taken up professional boxing to earn extra money for them and himself.
Professional career
Leonard was known for his speed, lightning reflexes, excellent boxing technique, and ability to think fast on his feet. Equally important, he taught himself to be a powerful hitter, who scored 70 Knock Outs from his 89 wins. He was defeated only six times in his career and was held to a draw on few occasions. As was common in the era in which he fought, he engaged in many no-decision matches and is believed to have fought in around 96 bouts. He most distinguished himself by decisively winning over 90% of his career matches in his prime between 1921 and 1932, and winning all of his matches decided by judges and based on points.Lightweight contender
Leonard debuted his boxing career on a Saturday in November 1911, losing in three rounds at the Fondon Athletic Club in New York. The fight was stopped because he was bleeding through the nose. He won 12 of his next 18 bouts which included three 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 world lightweight champion in a May 1915 fight, which the newspapers awarded to Welsh.On August 14, 1914, Leonard knocked out talented contender Tommy Houck in the seventh of ten rounds at Elmsford, New York. Apparently Leonard had learned Houck's strategy after a previous loss to him one year earlier on September 27, 1913, in a ten-round newspaper decision in Atlantic Garden, New York.
Leonard's next big test came when he took on featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane in Atlantic City in April 1915. In a close bout, 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 wrote, "but even when he was having the best of the going he shut up like a clam and clinched for all he was worth."
Leonard defeated Portuguese boxer Joe Azevedo on November 19, 1915, in Azevedo's hometown of Saratoga Springs, New York, outpointing him in all rounds but the first which was even. Azevedo needed to clinch frequently to avoid Leonard's attack. The New York Times clearly gave the decision to Leonard.
On December 17, 1915, Leonard knocked out Joe Mandot in the seventh round of a ten-round bout in Harlem. There was brilliant scientific boxing for the first six rounds, and a few sources reported that Mandot held a slight lead until the knockout. In the end, Leonard scored a decisive victory against a leading contender for the lightweight title. On his second attempt to rise in the seventh, Leonard administered a stinging right to Mandot that put him down for the count. As was his habit, Benny was effective in combinations with both gloves, wearing down Mandot with fast jolts throughout the strategically fought bout, until he could deliver the crossing right in the seventh that put Mandot down for the first time. After his second fall to the canvas, Mandot attempted to drag himself up using the ropes but was unable, and the ten count was completed with him in a seated position. His manager later commented that Mandot was sick before the fight.
In their first meeting on February 28, 1916, Leonard defeated Rocky Kansas in ten rounds in Buffalo, New York. In a complete victory, the Buffalo Courier claimed Kansas "landed only one clean blow" to Leonard's face, and that Leonard's trademark dark, center-parted hair remained smooth, and unmussed throughout the bout. Leonard was said to have "caught punches in the air", blocked Rocky's returns, dealt frequent stunning lefts, and shot his powerful right. He also dodged several of Kansas's punches with rapid and beautifully executed shifts of his torso demonstrating his superior speed and reflexes By the close of the tenth, Kansas was groggy.
First lightweight championship attempt, March, 1916
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.Leonard met Jimmy Murphy On February 21, 1916, and won decisively in a sixth-round knockout in Philadelphia. Leonard outpointed Murphy throughout the six round contest landing more and better blows. In the sixth, Leonard landed his powerful right to Murphy's jaw, and though he rose after a brief count, Leonard again attacked with a rapid series of rights and lefts to the jaw that put Murphy down for the count and rendered him unconscious for several minutes. After the bout, Leonard's fans rushed him and carried him on their shoulders to his dressing room. The accomplished Murphy had recently outpointed reigning lightweight champion Freddie Welsh and had met Ad Wolgast, Johnny Dundee, and Pal Moore.
On March 13, 1916, Leonard defeated Sam Robideau in a six-round newspaper decision in Philadelphia. According to The Washington Post, Leonard had Robideau "almost out for the count". In the first three rounds, Robideau tried to take the lead, but Leonard waited him out and let him tire against his defense, still getting a few effective counter punches. In the fourth, he tried Robideau more, forcing him to defend against his rapid attack. In the fifth, several lefts to the jaw of Robideau weakened him, but Leonard allowed him to recover. In the sixth, Robideau tried to take the lead, and even hold at times, but Leonard broke from his holds and after a couple of shots to the jaw, and a powerful right, put Robideau on the canvas for a count of nine. When Robideau arose, he could only manage to clinch Leonard by the waist and wait for the bell. Robideau had an admirable record against many of the best lightweights of his era, including several opponents of Leonard.
Harlem native Frankie Connifrey, the 'Fighting Fireman" lost decisively to Leonard in a sixth-round technical knockout on September 14, 1916. Leonard had the edge in the first five rounds using his characteristic ringcraft to outmaneuver and outbox Conifrey who still returned a few punches of his own. In the sixth, a shower of rights and lefts by Leonard had Conifrey "out on his feet". The referee stopped the fight when one of Connifrey's seconds jumped into the ring, and a small riot ensued when around 300 of Conifrey's fans threw chairs and bottles into the ring.
In a twelfth-round technical knockout in Kansas City on October 18, 1916, Leonard convincingly defeated Ever Hammer. In the final round, Hammer's manager stopped the fight at the count of three after his boxer was knocked to the mat. Of the eleven full rounds fought by the two competitors, Leonard had eight, Hammer only two, and one was even. Hammer was considered the top contender for the lightweight title in the Midwest.
With his string of victories, Leonard had earned enough by 1916 to move his formerly struggling family from their Lower East Side ghetto to a better neighborhood in Harlem, a goal he had had since beginning his boxing career.
On January 22, 1917, Leonard beat Eddie Wallace in a six-round newspaper decision before a substantial crowd of 6,000 in Philadelphia. The Washington Post gave Leonard all six rounds. Leonard worked in machine-like form, crashing stunning punches to the head of Wallace, who had little in the way of an effective defense. Wallace was close to being knocked out by the end of round six.
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 labeled a draw. The Des Moines Register considered Reagan having gone ten rounds without being knocked out by the extraordinary Leonard 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."