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| Battling Levinsky: Hardest Working Boxer in the Business |
A look at recent boxing ratings shows that Englishman Anthony Joshua is listed as the world’s heavyweight champion with only 21 bouts.
Amazingly, the world lightweight champ has had a mere 12 fights.
Rarely do modern day boxers have 50 career fights.If Philadelphia’s Battling Levinsky were alive, the old champ would be astounded, astonished and appalled that a man could become a champion with so few fights.
Levinsky often claimed he had 500 fights in a 20 year career that started in 1910.
The official record book shows a mere 287 bouts.
There is no debate that on New Year’s Day 1915, Levinsky fought three times – two 10 rounders in New York and 12 rounds in Waterbury, Conn.
Another time he fought six bouts in one week.
He became the world light-heavyweight champ in 1916 and defended the title 49 times over the next four years, before losing the title to Georges Carpentier. He took a a few years off to try his hand at business but returned to the ring and kept slugging.
Levinsky even fought heavyweights, including two great champs, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. He lost to both men, but he was a great defensive fighter who rarely took a beating or suffered a knockout.
He was actually born Barney Lebowitz and started boxing under the name Barney Williams, probably to fool his parents. Eventually, a new manager gave him the Battling Levinsky moniker.
He lived in West Philly and died in 1949 at age 58.
Locating his burial place has so far proved fruitless.