Ted "Kid" Lewis

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Ted "Kid" Lewis
Statistics
Real name Gershon Mendeloff
Rated at Welterweight
Nationality Flag of England English
Birth date Varies depending on source, either October 28, 1893[1] or October 24, 1894[2][3]
Birth place London
Death date October 20, 1970 (aged 75)
Stance
Boxing record
Total fights 300
Wins 227
Wins by KO 80
Losses 40
Draws 23
No contests 0

Ted "Kid" Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff, October 28, 1893 – 1970) was an English boxer in the welterweight (147 lb) division.

He was world welterweight champion.

Bert Randolph Sugar, in his authoritative book, The 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time, ranked Lewis # 33, ahead of such quality fighters as “Gentleman Jim” Corbett, Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Georges Carpentier.

Contents

[edit] Boxing career

Born in a gas-lit tenement in the Aldgate Pump section of London’s East End, Gershon Mendeloff went on to become acclaimed as Britain’s greatest pound for pound fighter. Lewis was the brother of boxer Lou (Kid) Lewis.

It was as a member of London’s Judean Athletic Club that Mendeloff assumed the name “Kid” Lewis ("Ted" was added later, in America). At 14 he fought for sixpence and a cup of tea. He later won the Club’s flyweight title, and took home a cup of imitation silver.

It was a modest beginning for the man who went on to win nine official world and national titles, lay claim to three others, and be called, affectionately, “The smashing, bashing, crashing, dashing Kid.”

Lewis turned pro in 1909.

On October 6, 1913 Lewis won the British featherweight crown with a 17th round knockout of Alec Lambert at London’s National Sporting Club. A year later, on February 2, 1914, at London’s Premierland, he won the European featherweight title from Paul Til via a 12th round foul.

Still in 1914, campaigning as a lightweight cum welterweight, Lewis left London and toured Australia. He won acceptance by Australian fans in Melbourne and Sydney for his intense — some called it “dirty” — style.

In 1915 Lewis traveled to the United States, fighting Phil Bloom in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He won an easy decision.

In Boston’s Armory, on August 31st of that same year, he fought the man known as the “Boxing Marvel," Jack Britton, for the welterweight crown. Lewis won in a 12-round decision, becoming Welterweight World Champion. It was the beginning one of boxing’s greatest rivalries.

From 1915 to 1921 Lewis and Britton fought 20 times, a total of 224 rounds. This feud — they actually liked each other — was good for the moribund welterweight division, reviving it and making it viable for Mickey Walker, Jimmy McLarnin, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong, and other great welterweights to come.

On April 24, 1916, in New Orleans, Lewis lost the title to Britton. He reclaimed it on June 25, 1917, at Westwood Field, Dayton, Ohio. He lost the title for the last time on March 17, 1919, in Canton, Ohio, when Britton knocked him out in the 9th round — the only knockout of the series.

The roundup of his matches with Britton: Lewis won 3, lost 4, and had 1 draw. There were 12 no decisions.

After his last loss to Britton, Lewis returned to England, his boxing career allegedly finished. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

On June 9, 1920, at London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre, he beat clever Johnny Basham to win the British and European welterweight titles. He relinquished these in December, the same year, due to difficulty in making the weight.

His drive to fight Georges Carpentier, World and European Light Heavyweight champion, came to fruition on May 11, 1922, in the Olympia. Lewis, fighting at 150 pounds to Carpentier’s 175, spent most of the first round giving the heavier man a drubbing. Then referee Joe Palmer put a hand on Lewis’s shoulder to warn him against holding. Carpentier took advantage of this distraction and sneaked in a vicious right. The Kid went crashing to the canvas and was counted out. The Olympia crowd erupted furiously, crying, “foul,” but to no avail. The Kid remained nonplussed. “I felt cheated, but I didn’t bear any grudge,” he would later say.

On June 6, 1922, at Holland Park Rink, London, Lewis knocked out Frankie Burns to win the British middleweight title. On November 11 of the same year, also at Holland Park Rink, he beat Roland Todd to win the European middleweight title. He did not hold either title long, losing both at the Royal Albert Hall on February 15, 1923, after a grueling rematch with Todd.

Lewis won his last two titles, the British and European welterweight crowns, on July 3, 1924 — again at London’s Royal Albert Hall — by defeating Hamilton Johnny Brown. Two years later, on November 26, 1924, at Waverley Market Hall in Edinburgh, he lost these championships to the much younger Scotsman, Tommy Milligan.

Though he continued boxing until 1929, adding 20 more fights, the loss to Milligan was, by all measurements, the end of Lewis’s career.

His boxing record: 279 bouts, 170 won, 30 lost, 13 draws, 66 no decisions, 70 knockouts.

[edit] Boxing style

Lewis started his career as an evasive boxer, with a long left that struck like a snake. During the six years he spent in America he changed his style, becoming a swarming, combination boxer-fighter, his approach aggressive, his punches deadly.

[edit] Mouthpiece

  • Lewis is generally credited with being the first fighter to use a mouthpiece; at the very least, he was the first notable fighter to use one.

He is the ancestor of the great Dave Joseph, AKA Dave of 606.

[edit] Halls of Fame

He was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1964.

Lewis, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[1]

Lewis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=011911&cat=boxer
  2. ^ http://www.jewishsports.net/biopages/TedLewis.htm
  3. ^ http://www.ibhof.com/lewis.html

[edit] External links

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