James Edward Slattery (August 25, 1904 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

– August 30, 1960) was an American professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

in the

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

(175 lb) division. He was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, Buffalo Veteran Boxers Association Ring #44 in 1997 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 ...

in 2006.

Professional career

World light heavyweight champion

Slattery, son of a Buffalo fire fighter, turned pro in 1921 and came up short in his challenge for the World Light Heavyweight Title against Paul Berlenbach in 1925. His KO loss in 1925 to

Dave Shade Dave Shade (March 3, 1902 – June 23, 1983) was an American boxer who was active from 1918 to the 1935 and amassed a total of nearly 250 bouts fought during the course of his career.

was named Ring Magazine Upset of the Year. Slattery won the vacant NBA light heavyweight title in August 1927 with a decision over

Maxie Rosenbloom Max Everitt Rosenbloom (November 6, 1906 – March 6, 1976) was an American professional boxer, actor, and television personality. Nicknamed "Slapsie Maxie", he was inducted into '' The Ring's'' Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972, the International Je ...

, only to lose it to

Tommy Loughran Thomas Patrick Loughran (November 29, 1902 – July 7, 1982) was an American professional boxer and the former World Light Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Loughran as the #7 ranked light heavyweight of all time ...

in December of that year. He won the

NYSAC The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...

World Light Heavyweight Title by beating Lou Scozza on February 10, 1930 in

Broadway Auditorium Broadway Auditorium is a former multipurpose arena in Buffalo, New York. It was part of a complex that first opened as Broadway Arsenal in 1858 to accommodate the 65th and 74th Regiments of the New York National Guard. The facility was expanded i ...

. Slattery lost the title later that year in a bout at Bison Stadium against

for the NYSAC World Light Heavyweight Title and the Undisputed World Light Heavyweight Title. The verdict was "highly unpopular" with the 15,000 fans at the fight. The United Press score sheet gave Rosenbloom eight rounds and Slattery four, with three even. Referee Patsy Haley, after being almost knocked out by one of Rosenbloom's wild swings, gave his decision to Slattery. He was overruled by two judges, both of whom voted for Rosenbloom.

Death and legacy

Alcoholism almost certainly shortened Slattery's life, career and marriage (he had famously eloped with 19-year-old Elizabeth A. Pendergast). In 1943, his second wife, Mildred, had him committed to the alcoholic ward at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

. During the Great Depression, Slattery was known to throw money out of the window of his car while driving through the streets in order to help the poor children buy new shoes for school. A play about Slattery's life, ''Jimmytown'', written by Anthony Cardinale, was produced in Buffalo in 1997; Jimmy Slattery Place, in South Buffalo, was named in his honor in 2006. A diagnosis of tuberculosis significantly impacted his health during the last decades of his life. Slattery died of pulmonary tuberculosis on August 30, 1960, in Buffalo, New York. His former wife, Elizabeth Ann Burgess (née Pendergast) died in 1998; they had divorced in 1940.

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

s in the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links

*
Cyber Boxing Zone bio

Sources

LIGHT HEAVY
* Blake, Rich. Slats: the Legend and Life of Jimmy Slattery. Buffalo, NY: No Frills Books, 2015. * Tim Graham, "A good life scotched", ''

Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

'' 8-22-2006. * Tim Graham, "Toast of the town", ''Buffalo News'' 8-20-2006. * Tim Graham, "Ceremony to unveil Slattery Place", ''Buffalo News'' 8-22-2006. * Terry Doran, "Fighting trim, 'Jimmytown', the ring of truth", ''Buffalo News'' 9-19-1997. * "James E. Slattery III, worked in finance", ''Buffalo News'' 7-22-99, Obit. * "Elizabeth A. Burgess, eloped with boxing champion", ''Buffalo News'' 1-26-98, Obit. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Slattery, Jimmy 1904 births Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York World boxing champions 1960 deaths American male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers