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The following will be held at the Suffolk Jewish Community Center, 74 Hauppauge Road - Commack, NY 11725 - 631-462-9800 on Mon, Oct 15.
"Sting Like a Maccabee"
Jewish Boxers Discussion
Monday, October 15th 12:30pm-2:30pm
"Did you know there were 27 Jewish world boxing champions?" "More Jews have participated in professional boxing than all other professional sports combined." Benny Leonard and Barney Ross are the marquee names of Jewish boxing, known and revered by almost all. We are going to explore the world not just of these legendary icons but many others - greats, near greats and unsung heroes who graced the prize rings of the 20th Century with the Mogen David proudly adorning their trunks as well as the great Jewish trainers and managers. From there we will move into the 20th Century and the re-emergence of a new breed of Jewish fighter.
We will take a look at the History & Golden Age of Jewish Boxing. This discussion will include boxing historian Mike Silver, writer Budd Schulberg and author Ron Ross.
I seem to recall a boxer in the late 70's maybe 80's with the last name of Rossman who used to wear the Star of David on his boxing robe. He seemed to be on TV alot. Was he ever a champion?CN
CN: Mike Rossman – a.k.a. 'The Jewish Bomber' – was an entertaining slugger who upset Victor Galindez to win the WBA light heavyweight championship on the undercard of Ali-Spinks II in New Orleans on Sept. 15, 1978. He lost the belt in their rematch in '79, and retired in 1983 with a record of 44-7-3 (27 KOs).
Alan: It might interest you to know that while I was employed as a sports columnist for China Daily in Beijing in 2004, I was invited to the opening of the Shanghai Sports Museum. One of the displays includes a large photo of Herbert "The Marine" Perstein, clad in trunks emblazoned with the Star of David. The same photo appears on page 23 of the April 1932 edition of Ring Magazine. As you're no doubt aware, Shanghai served as something of a sanctuary for Jewish refugees from Europe in the early 1930s, and from what I was able to glean from talking to people at the museum, there was a small – but thriving – professional boxing community in the city. Perstein, an American, arrived in China around 1931 and apparently was a very popular fighter.
