By Sherman Lambert
For reasons unknown, Jews are often stereotyped as being non-athletic. Nonetheless, Jews have helped shape and at times dominated the tough sport of boxing. A number of Jewish boxers rank among the all time best in their weight divisions and quite a few are enshrined in the Boxing Hall of Fame. The founder of Ring Magazine, Nat Fleisher, recognized 7 Jewish boxers on his list of the all time best in the traditional eight weight divisions. You’ll find at least one Jewish boxer on almost any list of the 20th century’s top greatest fighters. There are Jewish boxers who fought over 200 times and one who had over 200 victories.
Most of the top Jewish fighters fought in an era of only 8 or 10 weight divisions and only one world champion. During the first half of the 20th century boxers were the highest paid professional athletes so the sport attracted the type of top athlete who would be playing professional baseball, football or basketball today. During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s several sport historians believe that over one third of the American professional boxers of that period were Jewish.
