1. Benny Leonard (85-5-1, 69 KO, 121 ND)

Born: April 7, 1896

Died: April 18, 1947

 

Depending how I feel position #1 and #2 can be reversed; they are that close in my view.  Benny Leonard possessed superb boxing skills as well as potent punching power.  He fought over two hundred times and suffered only four knockouts: three early in his career and the fourth in his final fight.  Born on the East Side of New York, Leonard learned to fight in neighbourhood battles and turned pro in 1911 at just fifteen years of age.  In his inaugural bout he was knocked out in the third round.

 

By 1915, Leonard was working his way to the top of the lightweight ranks.  A scientific boxer whose poise in the ring led observers to say fighting scarcely even mussed his hair, Leonard fought a series of no-decision bouts with Hall of Famer Johnny Dundee.  He also performed well in no-decision matches with Hall of Famer Johnny Kilbane and lightweight champion Freddie Welsh.

 

Just as the alphabet governing bodies are the enemy of clarity in the modern era, so the no-decision bout could confuse the title picture one-hundred years ago.  A champion refuses to put up the title in anything but a no-decision bout against an emerging talent, that talent outboxes the champion for a one-sided newspaper decision, and what do you have?  An outclassed champion who up and walks away with the title anyway.  It is a wonderful thing then, when a truly great challenger finds a way to rip that title from the opponent anyway, by knocking out a champion who can box only to survive, by stopping a champion who only has to make the final bell to remain the champion of the world.  This is what Benny Leonard was able to do against no less a figure than Freddie Welsh in 1917.  Welsh had never been stopped before and never would be stopped again but Leonard, who had won and lost a newspaper decision to Welsh in the previous two years, did what the great ones do and found a way.  Thirty seconds after the opening bell for the ninth of ten rounds, Leonard broke through with a right hand that sent Welsh to his knees.  He hauled himself to his feet, as champions will, but after being dropped twice more he was rescued by referee Kid McPartland.  The Leonard era had begun.

 

Leonard held the lightweight title for six years. In his first defense, he knocked out Kilbane, then featherweight champ, in three rounds.  Leonard also successfully held several other challengers at bay.  In 1922, Leonard set his sights on the welterweight crown and challenged champion Jack Britton.  In a well-attended fight at New York's Velodrome, Leonard knocked Britton down in the thirteenth round, then in an uncharacteristic move, hit Britton again during the referee's count. Britton was given the win because of Leonard's foul.  Leonard fought left-hander Lew Tendler twice.  A no-decision twelve-rounder in Jersey City was very close and earned Tendler the right to try for the title.  The two met in 1923 in Yankee Stadium with nearly 60,000 fans looking on.  Leonard outboxed his closely matched rival to win in fifteen rounds.

 

For all that he was not the busiest of champions.  He was a busy, busy fighter often boxing three times a month during his early twenties which included more than one sojourn up to welterweight in search of that title, boxing a close no-decision with champion Ted 'Kid' Lewis in 1918.  Never the man at welterweight he nevertheless outpointed bigger men like Soldier Bartfield and Jack Britton (newspaper decision 1918) during the course of a career that did not see him dominate competition as brilliant as that of Joe Gans or engage in the weight-hopping exploits of Roberto Duran but that nevertheless saw him defeat multiple champions of the world and first-class men of all styles.  He retired as undefeated champion of the world, unbeaten by knockout or in decision fights between 1913 and 1932.

 

Leonard retired in 1925, but hard times brought him back to the ring in 1931.  He won the first nineteen fights of his comeback before Jimmy McLarnin knocked him out in six rounds.  Leonard then retired for good.  In 1947, he died of a heart attack in the ring at St. Nicholas Arena in New York while refereeing a match, he was 51 years old..