Evening star., 1947-04-19
Ring Game Loses One
OF Greatest Champs
In Leonard 5 Death
By Sid FEEDER
ASseeiassd Prsss Sports Mrifsr

NEW YORK, April lo.-LittleI
Benny Leonard, the greatest light
weight OF them all. came to the end
of the trail last night-just as you
would expect him to-in q Tight ring,
with the smell OF rosin In his nos
trils and the slide Of the canvas un-
der his black boxing shoes.
The smooth little fighting ma
chine from Uptown, who retired
undefeated as king Of the light
weights In 1924 after just about
fighting himself out OF opponents
during q seven-year reign, died
while refereeing fight in st. Mich
olas Arena. This was the Neigh
borhood Club on Sixty-sixth street,
just of Broadway. where he'd put
on some Of his own classy clouting
exhibitions In his heyday.
It was all over In minutes for the
5I-year-old master Of the ring, who
was so perfect performer that men
close to him still tell how, on a
dozen occasions, he named the
round In which he would put an op-
ponent away-and then did It Just
as he'd called the shot"
Staggcrs Into Ropes.
He had refereed the entire st.
Nick's card, as referees do In the
small clubs, had finished handling
the main bout In which Eddie Giosa,
an up-and-coming Philadelphia
lightweight himself, outpointed
Julio Jiminez. Mexican mauler
Then, Mario Ramon, q Los Angeles
welterweight, and Bobby Williams
OF New York came on for the semi
windup.
Two minutes Of their first round
went by. Suddenly, Benny stag
gered into the ropes. He fell, face
forward. with such force that later a
bruise was found on his forehead.
The old ring instinct must have
been with him to the end, because
almost as he hit the canvas he tried
to roll over on his back, Just as a |
knocked-d down fighter would do, to ]
watch the count"
One of the fighters stumbled over
Benny's body. DR.. Vincent Mar
diello, the State commission pfysi-
clan. hurried into the ring. AL
stretcher was brought. and Benny
was carried to a dressing room. But
ne already was dead. DR.. Nardiello
called 1t cerebral hemorrhage. In
the death certificate issued later. DR..
William Benenson, an assistant med
ical examiner, gave the cause as cor
onary thrombosis.
Won Title In 1917.
Thus ended one Of the most bril-
liant careers in f1sttc history. a
career that saw the little Jewish
lolter from Harlem. who was born
Benjamin Leiner, win the light
weight crown from Freddie Welsh
IN 1917, less than five years after he
first put on glove; that saw him
go II years-from 1918 until his first
retirement-without losing a fight. |
except one he dropped on d foul
when he went out of his class to
challenge Jack Britton for the well
terweight crown in 1922.
It was brilliant career. too. Few
II any. fighters lived the life of an
athlete like the pleasant little fellow
who was liked by every one.
He never smoked or drank. His
condition and habits were such
that he served as physical in
structor for Uncle Sam in two
world wars-for the Army as al
CT In the first one and as a lieu
tenant commander in the merchant
marine although he was crowding
so, In the second. Three years ago,
he was awarded the Edward j,
Neil Memorial Award as the man
who did the most for boxing In
1914.
His comfortable fortune gone
through the stock market blow-up
in 1929, Leonard tried a comeback
as a welterweight in 1881. but
when Jimmy McLarnin flattened
him the following year, he put his
gloves away for keeps. OF late,
he'd been doing well In the dress
business and refereeing. |
Leonard Fought Them All.
Benny fought them all-Welsh
and Britton and Rocky Kansas and
Featherweight Champ Johnny Kill
bane and Ritchie Mitchell and
Charlie White and Pal Moran. And,
OF course, there was Johnny Dun
dee, the Italian boxing master.
They fought IL times-so many,
in fact, that BENNY said that's how
he learned to speak italian.
And there were the two memorable
fights with Lew Tender, the south
paw out of Philadelphia, who rep
resented the one really dangerous
threat to his title reign.
Benny lost only five fights out
of 208 starts in his entire 15-year
career.
Funeral services will be held at
the Riverside Memorial Chapel at
II am. tomorrow.