Jack Britton

Jack Britton
Statistics
Nickname(s) Boxing Marvel
Rated at Welterweight
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Reach 70 in (178 cm)
Nationality American
Born October 14, 1885
Clinton, New York
Died March 27, 1962 (aged 76)
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 344
Wins 239
Wins by KO 30
Losses 57
Draws 43
No contests 5
portrait of Britton

Jack Britton (October 14, 1885 - March 27, 1962) was three-time world welterweight 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, against whom he fought 20 times.[1] Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Britton as the #6 ranked welterweight of all time while The Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #3. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1960 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class member in 1990.[2]

Ernest Hemingway's short story "Fifty Grand" is based on the Jack Britton/Mickey Walker fight in Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1922.[3] Other sources 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. [4]

Notable Bouts

Result Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes[5]
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Red Herring PTS 8 1929-04-22 United States Memphis Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Mickey Walker UD 15 1922-11-01 United States Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Lost World Welterweight Title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Benny Leonard DQ 13 (15) 1922-06-26 United States Velodrome, Bronx, New York Retained World Welterweight Title.
Draw United States Dave Shade MD 15 1922-02-17 United States Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Retained World Welterweight Title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Mickey Walker NWS 12 1921-07-18 United States Armory, Newark, New Jersey Newspaper Decision
Draw United States Dave Shade PTS 10 1921-06-03 United States Milwaukie Arena, Milwaukie, Oregon
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis UD 15 1921-02-07 United States Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Retained World Welterweight Title.
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Mike O'Dowd NWS 12 1920-05-17 United States Canton Auditorium, Canton, Ohio Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Mike O'Dowd NWS 8 1919-08-22 United States Armory, Newark, New Jersey Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 8 1919-07-28 United States Armory A.A., Jersey City, New Jersey Retained World Welterweight Title.
Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis KO 9 (12) 1919-03-17 United States Canton Auditorium, Canton, Ohio Won World Welterweight Title.
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Benny Leonard NWS 8 1918-06-25 United States Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Newspaper Decision
Draw United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 6 1918-06-20 United States Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Newspaper Decision
Draw United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1918-05-02 United States Town Hall, Scranton, Pennsylvania For World Welterweight Title.
Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1918-03-06 United States Armory Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia For World Welterweight Title.
Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Benny Leonard NWS 10 1917-10-19 United States Harlem S.C, New York, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 20 1917-06-25 United States Westwood Field, Dayton, Ohio Lost World Welterweight Title.
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1917-06-14 United States St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1917-06-06 United States Saint Louis Coliseum, Saint Louis, Missouri Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1917-05-19 Canada Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Mike O'Dowd NWS 12 1917-05-08 United States Broadway S.C., Brooklyn, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1917-03-26 United States Queen City A.C., Cincinnati, Ohio Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Mike O'Dowd NWS 10 1917-01-25 United States Saint Paul Auditorium, Saint Paul, Minnesota Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Charley White PTS 12 1916-11-21 United States Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Retained World Welterweight Title.
Draw United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 12 1916-11-14 United States Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 12 1916-10-17 United States Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Mike O'Dowd PTS 12 1916-06-06 United States Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 20 1916-04-24 United States Louisiana Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana Won World Welterweight Title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1916-02-15 United States Broadway Arena, Brooklyn, New York For World Welterweight Title.
Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1916-01-20 United States Broadway Auditorium, Buffalo, New York For World Welterweight Title.
Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 12 1915-09-28 United States Arena (Atlas A.A.), Boston, Massachusetts For World Welterweight Title.
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United Kingdom Kid Lewis PTS 12 1915-08-31 United States Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Lost World Welterweight Title.
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United Kingdom Kid Lewis NWS 10 1915-03-26 United States 135th Street A.C., New York, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Packey McFarland NWS 10 1913-12-08 United States Milwaukee Auditorium, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Newspaper Decision
style="background:#bfd; color:black; vertical-align:middle; text-align:center; " class="table-yes2" |Win United States Matty Baldwin NWS 10 1913-04-15 United States St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Packey McFarland NWS 10 1913-03-07 United States Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Willie Ritchie PTS 4 1911-10-06 United States Dreamland Rink, San Francisco, California
Draw United States Packey McFarland PTS 8 1911-01-30 United States Armory A.C., Memphis, Tennessee
Draw United States Leo Houck NWS 6 1909-03-18 United States Lancaster A.C., Lancaster, Pennsylvania Newspaper Decision
Draw United States Leo Houck NWS 6 1909-02-04 United States Lancaster A.C., Lancaster, Pennsylvania Newspaper Decision
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Loss United States Leo Houck NWS 6 1906-10-18 United States Lancaster A.C., Lancaster, Pennsylvania Newspaper Decision

References

  1. International Boxing Hall of Fame - Jack Britton IBHOF.com Retrieved on 2014-04-05
  2. Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia - Jack Britton CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30
  3. Jack Britton Retains World Welterweight Title Boxing360.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30
  4. Century, Douglas (2006). Barney Ross, The Life of a Jewish Fighter, Nextbook, Schocken, Random House, New York, pg. 29.
  5. Jack Britton's Professional Boxing Record. BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-18.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by
Mike Glover
World Welterweight Champion
June 22, 1915 August 31, 1915
Succeeded by
Kid Lewis
Preceded by
Kid Lewis
World Welterweight Champion
April 24, 1916 June 25, 1917
World Welterweight Champion
March 17, 1919 November 1, 1922
Succeeded by
Mickey Walker