When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport

Bodner's father was a boxer in the 1920s and a fight manager in the '30s and '40s, so the author, a New York attorney, grew up with the sport and, particularly, with Jewish fighters. Here he presents a concise overview of boxing as it involved Jewish participants, as well as a capsule social history of the Jewish experience in 20th-century New York City. Like many second-generation children of immigrants, young Jewish males flocked to boxing in the '20s because even small purses paid more than $15-a-week factory jobs, and in the '30s because there were no jobs. Jewish parents, stresses Bodner, usually opposed such a career because of their belief that education was the sine qua non of Jewish advancement and that participation in professional sports was an embarrassment if not a disgrace. But many boxed, often under pseudonyms, and more than two dozen Jewish boxers became champions, the most famous being Benny Leonard (ne Leiner), lightweight champ from 1917 to 1925, and Barry Ross (ne Rosofsky), welterweight champ from 1934 to 1938. Generally New York City's leading Yiddish paper, the Daily Forward, ignored the exploits of boxers, as do most major Jewish histories, so Bodner has rescued many from oblivion. Boxing fans will be intrigued by the arcana here. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)