Jack Britton (October 14, 1885 – March 27, 1962) was an American boxer who was the first three-time world
welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...
boxing champion. Born William J. Breslin in
Clinton, New York, his professional career lasted for 25 years beginning in 1905. He holds the world record for the number of title bouts fought in a career with 37 (18 of which ended in no decisions), many against his arch-rival
Ted "Kid" Lewis
Ted "Kid" Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff; 28 October 1893 – 20 October 1970) was an English professional boxer who twice won the World Welterweight Championship (147 lb). Lewis is often ranked among the all-time greats, with ESPN ranking ...
, against whom he fought 20 times.
[International Boxing Hall of Fame - Jack Britton](_blank)
IBHOF.com Retrieved on 2014-04-05 Statistical boxing website
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profess ...
lists Britton as the No. 6 ranked welterweight of all time while ''
The Ring Magazine
''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...
'' founder
Nat Fleischer
Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector.
Career
Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the '' ...
placed him at No. 3. He was inducted into the
Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1960 and the
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...
as a first-class member in 1990.
[Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia - Jack Britton](_blank)
CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
's short story "
Fifty Grand
"Fifty Grand" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1927, and it appeared later that year in Hemingway's short story collection '' Men Without Women''.
"Fifty Grand" tells the story of Jack B ...
" is based on the Jack Britton/
Mickey Walker fight in Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1922.
[Jack Britton Retains World Welterweight Title](_blank)
Boxing360.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30 Other sources, like the famous writer of boxing, Budd Schulberg, link this story to the Britton/Benny Leonard fight the previous June in the Bronx Hippodrome where Leonard lost in what appeared to be an intentional foul. Leonard was specifically mentioned in the first draft of Hemingway's short story.
World Welterweight Title Defense Against Benny Leonard
"This fight is one of the most controversial in the history of the ring, as shown by a reading of about fifteen accounts by New York sportswriters (supplied by Jack Kincaid). The writers were unanimous in having Britton well ahead after twelve fast rounds. He had crowded Leonard, cleverly outboxed him, and even marked him up. Leonard did have a good round eleven, staggering Britton twice, but Jack had a big 12th. In the 13th, Leonard landed a left to Britton's body which caused him to gasp, folding his hands over his mid-section, and go down to his knees. Jack seemed to claim a foul (although he said afterward that he didn't), but Referee Patsy Haley disallowed the claim. Britton came up to one knee and Leonard rushed in and struck him a light blow, causing the referee to disqualify Benny. Leonard claimed that this final blow was not a foul, but none of the reporters agreed. The reporters, who included Damon Runyon, Sid Mercer, Hype Igoe, W.R. McGeehan, and George Underwood, drew various conclusions about the ending. Some thought that the conclusion was staged, others did not. The spectators seemed inclined to believe that something had been put over on them, but perhaps the best approach is to take the result at face value."
Professional boxing record
All information in this section is derived from
BoxRec
BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing.
The objective of the site is to document every profess ...
,
unless otherwise stated.
Official record
All
newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...
s are officially regarded as "no decision" bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.
Unofficial record
Record with the inclusion of
newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...
s in the win/loss/draw column.
See also
*
Lineal championship
In combat sports where champions are decided by a challenge, the lineal championship of a weight class is a world championship title held initially by an undisputed champion and subsequently by a fighter who defeats the reigning champion in a mat ...
*
List of welterweight boxing champions
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
External links
*
Cyber Boxing Zone BioHickok Sports Bio
, -
, -
*https://titlehistories.com/boxing/wba/wba-world-wl.html
*https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-wl.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Jack
1885 births
1962 deaths
Boxers from New York (state)
American male boxers
Welterweight boxers
World welterweight boxing champions
World boxing champions