Modern-day boxing can not legitimately declare to be higher than boxing previously. The truth is, by way of the technical talents and talent degree we see right this moment, it’s doubtless worse. However one factor has undoubtedly improved: document preserving. Up to now, a bout might happen and if it wasn’t reported within the native paper for some motive, any proof of the competition would shortly disappear. The converse was additionally true. Boxers and their imaginative managers might pad the document with bouts that by no means occurred in an effort to make the fighter in query seem extra formidable, and thus extra marketable.
However nobody disputes the truth that mild heavyweight champion Battling Levinsky was one of many true “iron males” of boxing, a extremely lively fighter who loved a two decade lengthy profession throughout a time when “extremely lively” meant combating a dozen instances or extra in a yr. In 1914 alone, Levinsky fought 36 instances, and all of these contests have been verified. Examine that to right this moment the place 4 or 5 bouts is a busy yr for many pugilists.
Levinsky’s official document is daunting sufficient. It states that he scored 196 wins, together with newspaper selections, in 287 bouts. That implies that a median yr for the fighter whose actual identify was Barney Lebrowitz concerned nearly 30 matches. However till his dying day, Levinsky maintained that he really participated in additional than 5 hundred contests, and there’s actually no method of figuring out for sure whether or not his declare is bogus. However within the a long time since, boxing historians have combed by means of municipal information and outdated newspapers to try to decide the reality, and consequently the colourful story of what Levinsky achieved on January 1, 1915 is now broadly thought to be simply that, a narrative.
Levinsky had the model to be as lively as he was. A fast, slick, defensive genius, he possessed unbelievable stamina and thus might field and transfer spherical after spherical, sustaining little punishment as his opponent ineffectively chased him everywhere in the ring. His supervisor, “Dumb” Dan Morgan (the ironic nickname referring to the actual fact Morgan by no means stopped speaking), boasted for all to listen to about Levinsky’s talent and defensive prowess, in addition to the truth that it was every part he might do to maintain him out of the ring. “He’d battle each single night time if I let him,” claimed Morgan.
As if to show the purpose, on New 12 months’s Day, 1915, Morgan, in response to legend, organized for Levinsky to make not one, not two, however three separate ring appearances. Maybe “Dumb” Dan needed extra consideration paid to his fighter after the superb document he had posted within the yr simply completed. Regardless of the case, as a publicity stunt, it labored, and sports activities followers on the time accepted the story at face worth.
In response to the legend, late within the morning of January 1st, 1915, Levinsky boxed ten quick rounds with one Bartley Madden on the Broadway Athletic Membership in Brooklyn. After lunch, Morgan and Levinsky went to Manhattan the place Levinsky boxed one other ten rounds, this time with Soldier Kearns. Following the second battle, the intrepid pair made their solution to Grand Central Station and boarded the practice to Connecticut the place that night Levinsky took on Gunboat Smith in a scheduled twelve rounder that was declared a draw.
Like all the nice boxing promoters and managers, Morgan was nothing if not a teller of tall tales, a well mannered method of claiming the person was an incessant liar. Current searches have turned up nothing on the alleged bouts with Madden and Kearns. The truth is, Madden was inactive for all of 1915, whereas Alfred (Soldier) Kearns did battle with Levinsky that yr, however in July, not January.
However on the time folks thought the story true, it solely including to Levinsky’s repute as probably the most lively boxers within the sport’s historical past. After which a younger reporter had the temerity to ask the formidable younger pugilist: “Mr. Levinsky, why do you insist on such a demanding schedule?” A question to which the battler — with an air of incredulity, as if a extra silly query might scarcely be conceived — bluntly replied: “I like cash!”
The next yr Levinsky, whose document boasts battles with such greats as Tommy Gibbons, Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey and Harry Greb, would win the world mild heavyweight title from Jack Dillon. He would maintain it till 1920 when he was defeated by Georges Carpentier. — Robert Portis
