Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
– October 26, 1970) was a 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 ...
and a 1925 world
featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...
champion.
Early life
Kaplan and his family emigrated to the United States from the
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
when he was five years old and settled in
Meriden, Connecticut
Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850. While selling fruit for five cents a day, he began boxing as a teenager at the Lenox Athletic Club in Meriden, and turned professional in 1919.
Professional career
Kaplan began his boxing career in the Connecticut State circuit. At the time, Meriden was an epicenter of boxing in the Northeastern United States. Early in his career, Kaplan fought the popular local favorite and former New York State champion Charlie Pilkington. Though they never boxed a professional match together, their early rivalry and Pilkington's role as a mentor and sparring partner had much to do with launching Kaplan's very successful boxing career.
A busy fighter, he engaged in over 50 bouts in his first four years in the paid ranks. During one of his early fights in 1920, Kaplan knocked out opponent Sailor Cunningham within two minutes.
After winning against Hughie Hutchinson and Earl Baird in 1922, Kaplan gained significant popularity.
In 1923 he twice drew with rival
Babe Herman
Floyd Caves "Babe" Herman (June 26, 1903 – November 27, 1987) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder between and , most prominently as a member of the Brooklyn D ...
before scoring a 10-round win over future world lightweight champ
Jimmy Goodrich
Jimmy Goodrich became the World Lightweight Champion when he defeated Chilean boxer Stanislaus Loayza in a second round TKO at Queensboro Stadium in Queens, New York on July 13, 1925. He retained the title only five months, losing it by unanimous ...
.
World featherweight champion, 1925
By late 1924, World Featherweight champion
Johnny Dundee
Johnny Dundee (November 19, 1893 – April 22, 1965) was an American featherweight and the first world junior lightweight champion boxer who fought from 1910 until 1932. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Inte ...
vacated his title and a tournament was arranged to determine a successor. "Kid" kayoed Angel Diaz in three rounds, outpointed Bobby Garcia over 10-rounds, and then halted Joe Lombardo in four rounds to advance to the finals. On January 2, 1925 he knocked out Danny Kramer in nine rounds at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
to become the new champion. His first two defenses were against the familiar Babe Herman (D15 and W15) in late 1925. Kaplan next decisioned Hall of Famer
Billy Petrolle
William Michael Petrolle (January 10, 1905 – May 14, 1983) was a world lightweight boxing title contender. Boxing ran in the Petrolle family as his brothers Pete and Frank also shared his occupation.
over 12 rounds in a non-title bout.
However, Kaplan's reign as champion was nearing its end. Despite standing 5 ft 4 in., he was experiencing difficulty making the featherweight limit and decided to relinquish the crown to campaign as a lightweight in 1927. As a 135-pounder, he scored wins over
Jackie Fields
Jackie Fields (Jacob Finkelstein, February 9, 1908 – June 3, 1987) was an People of the United States, American professional boxer who won the World Welterweight Championship twice. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Fields as the #19 ran ...
,
Johnny Jadick
John J. Jadick, better known as Johnny Jadick (June 16, 1908 – April 3, 1970) was an American light welterweight boxer and the NBA light welterweight world champion in 1932. In September of 1932, the NBA decided not to recognize junior divis ...
, Billy Wallace,
Battling Battalino
Christopher Battaglia (February 18, 1908 – July 25, 1977) better known as Battling Battalino, was an American World Featherweight boxing champion. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Battalino engaged in 88 bouts during his career, of which he won 5 ...
and
Sammy Mandell
Sammy Mandell (a.k.a. Samuel Mandella; February 5, 1904 – November 7, 1967) was an American World lightweight boxing champion from 1926-1930. Born in Rockford, Illinois, and named Salvatore Mandala, he was known as the "Rockford Sheik" due to h ...
among others. Amongst the wins were losses to Wallace and Hall of Famer
Jimmy McLarnin
James Archibald McLarnin (19 December 1907 – 28 October 2004) was an Irish professional boxer who became a two-time welterweight world champion and an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.
McLarnin has been referred to as the greatest ...
. In 1933 he lost to Herbert "Cocoa Kid" Lewis Hardwick, and promptly retired from the ring with a 108-17-13D- 12 ND (26KOs) record.
Known as a rugged, pressing boxer who possessed tremendous stamina, the crowd-pleasing "Meriden Buzzsaw" died on October 26, 1970 in Norwich, CT.
Halls of Fame
Kaplan was inducted into 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 2003.
Kaplan, who was
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
ish, was inducted into the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...
in 1986.
Miscellaneous
*Brother of fellow boxer Israel "Izzy" Kaplan
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 to 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 ...