Jackie Fields (Jacob Finkelstein, February 9, 1908 – June 3, 1987) was an American professional boxer who won two world championship titles.[1]
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Jackie Fields, who was Jewish, was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on February 9, 1908 under the name Jacob Finkelstein.[2][3] He was married on August 12, 1931. The couple separated in December 1940 and his wife, Martha, was granted a divorce in May 1944.[4] Fields died in 1987 at the age of 79 in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. At the time he was part owner of the Tropicana Hotel.[1]
Over the course of Field's amateur career, he participated in 54 fights, winning 51 of them. During the 1924 Summer Olympics, Fields won a gold medal in the featherweight division. He was 16 years old.[5]
Competing as a welterweight, Fields won the 1929 and 1932 championship titles.[1]
On July 25, 1929 Fields faced Joe Dundee in a match for the welterweight championship. Fields was awarded the fight in the second round after Dundee, having been knocked down twice, delivered a foul blow which left Fields incapable of continuing the fight. Dundee, who had taken a $50,000 advance to participate in the fight, claimed that the foul was unintentional.[6] Fields stated he believed Dundee, but noted that it was the only bout he had ever won on a foul.[7]
In 1972 he was inducted into the United Savings-Helms Hall of Boxing Fame during a ceremony in Las Vegas.[5]