- Feb 2, 2013
- 936
- 108
#38 Jack Britton (103-29-20; Newspaper Decisions 136-27-25)
We don’t have room to document in any level of detail where Jack Britton’s career is concerned—that in itself is a ten-part undertaking. One of the great ring careers it stretched from 1904 to 1930, a chasm spanned by more than three-hundred fights.
By the time he beat Mike Glover for what was widely billed as a title fight in June of 1915 he had already fought two careers, listed at 41-7-8, but having fought in as many “no decisions” where the fight reaches a limit but where no verdict is rendered.
Against Glover though, he was made the winner over twelve rounds, but immediately lost that title to the man with whom he would form the greatest rivalry in boxing history, Ted Kid Lewis. Boxing.com allows us as writers and readers to sprawl beyond the normal barriers where wordage is concerned but even here there isn’t room to get into these battles in any detail, so to put it in a nutshell: Britton won. But it wasn’t easy. Given an almost immediate rematch, he dropped another decision. Britton was lucky. Had he dropped two against Lewis even three years before, Ted could have made him wait as long as he wanted, and given how much these two despised each other it was a real possibility—but the fledgling American Boxing Association was flexing its muscles and leaning on fighters to defend their titles. Lewis did so, in a manner of speaking, facing Britton in a no decision bout which was rendered a draw. The two were making money and Britton was getting closer. He came closer still the following February, winning a newspaper decision by most accounts but not taking the title—the title could only change hands in a no decision affair if the champion lost by a knockout. Britton was a defensive genius and master-boxer with a granite jaw and the professionalism and stamina to match, but he lacked a punch. He needed to meet the champion in a decision affair, and he got it in April, beating Lewis clean over twenty rounds following this with a rush fifteen unbeaten, including wins over future middleweight champion Mike O’Dowd and more wins over Lewis. In the middle of 1917 Lewis took his turn to rush, grabbing a clutch of newspaper decisions and then the welterweight title. When Britton was then outclassed by Benny Leonard he looked as though he might be on the slide, but he put together another run of wins, including over Lewis, who was by now only meeting him in non-title affairs or non-decisions. Like all the great ones, Britton did what needed to be done and despite his dearth of power found a way to knock the steel-chinned Lewis out. Britton fought with an uncharacteristic “spiteful and determined aggressiveness” according to the Pittsburgh Press. After being repeatedly smashed to the canvas, Lewis was knocked out in the ninth round. It was one of only two knockouts he suffered in his prime, the other coming at the hands of light-heavyweight Georges Carpentier.
Britton added another dozen defenses, lucky to retain his title in a majority draw to Dave Shade and involved in an even more controversial fight when Benny Leonard was disqualified in strange circumstances (Britton was apparently ahead on the scorecards). Having beaten Mickey Walker in 1921 he was then separated from his title by him in 1922. He was thirty-seven years old. Incredibly, he boxed on for another eight years and when he finally retired in 1930 it was as an unquestioned welterweight great. He had been knocked out just once, twenty-five years before.
We don’t have room to document in any level of detail where Jack Britton’s career is concerned—that in itself is a ten-part undertaking. One of the great ring careers it stretched from 1904 to 1930, a chasm spanned by more than three-hundred fights.
By the time he beat Mike Glover for what was widely billed as a title fight in June of 1915 he had already fought two careers, listed at 41-7-8, but having fought in as many “no decisions” where the fight reaches a limit but where no verdict is rendered.
Against Glover though, he was made the winner over twelve rounds, but immediately lost that title to the man with whom he would form the greatest rivalry in boxing history, Ted Kid Lewis. Boxing.com allows us as writers and readers to sprawl beyond the normal barriers where wordage is concerned but even here there isn’t room to get into these battles in any detail, so to put it in a nutshell: Britton won. But it wasn’t easy. Given an almost immediate rematch, he dropped another decision. Britton was lucky. Had he dropped two against Lewis even three years before, Ted could have made him wait as long as he wanted, and given how much these two despised each other it was a real possibility—but the fledgling American Boxing Association was flexing its muscles and leaning on fighters to defend their titles. Lewis did so, in a manner of speaking, facing Britton in a no decision bout which was rendered a draw. The two were making money and Britton was getting closer. He came closer still the following February, winning a newspaper decision by most accounts but not taking the title—the title could only change hands in a no decision affair if the champion lost by a knockout. Britton was a defensive genius and master-boxer with a granite jaw and the professionalism and stamina to match, but he lacked a punch. He needed to meet the champion in a decision affair, and he got it in April, beating Lewis clean over twenty rounds following this with a rush fifteen unbeaten, including wins over future middleweight champion Mike O’Dowd and more wins over Lewis. In the middle of 1917 Lewis took his turn to rush, grabbing a clutch of newspaper decisions and then the welterweight title. When Britton was then outclassed by Benny Leonard he looked as though he might be on the slide, but he put together another run of wins, including over Lewis, who was by now only meeting him in non-title affairs or non-decisions. Like all the great ones, Britton did what needed to be done and despite his dearth of power found a way to knock the steel-chinned Lewis out. Britton fought with an uncharacteristic “spiteful and determined aggressiveness” according to the Pittsburgh Press. After being repeatedly smashed to the canvas, Lewis was knocked out in the ninth round. It was one of only two knockouts he suffered in his prime, the other coming at the hands of light-heavyweight Georges Carpentier.
Britton added another dozen defenses, lucky to retain his title in a majority draw to Dave Shade and involved in an even more controversial fight when Benny Leonard was disqualified in strange circumstances (Britton was apparently ahead on the scorecards). Having beaten Mickey Walker in 1921 he was then separated from his title by him in 1922. He was thirty-seven years old. Incredibly, he boxed on for another eight years and when he finally retired in 1930 it was as an unquestioned welterweight great. He had been knocked out just once, twenty-five years before.
thanks JA21
