page_title: Abraham Jacob Hollandersky
section_title: Panamanian Welter championship
hierarchical_section_title: Abraham Jacob Hollandersky / Boxing and wrestling, 1914–18 / Panamanian Welter championship
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Barbados Joe Walcott
context_page_description: Abe "The Newsboy" Hollandersky was an American professional boxer who became the second American to win the Panamanian national Heavyweight Title when he defeated Californian Jack Ortega in nine rounds in Panama City on May 30, 1913. American congressmen, Naval personnel, and canal workers were among the crowd of nearly two thousand who watched Hollandersky gain victory over an opponent who outweighed him by over thirty-five pounds. The New York Times announced Hollandersky's best known win the following morning.
  Hollandersky was reputed to have fought an unprecedented 1,039 boxing matches between 1905–18, as well as 387 wrestling matches. The record of 1039 bouts from Hollandersky's autobiography was featured for decades in the Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe it or Not, The Ring Record Book, and hundreds of short newspaper articles made available as Associated Press fillers, appearing most frequently between 1930 and 1970. The most common fight total cited by Hollandersky was 1039, but as Abe fought additional exhibitions he increased the count, thus a few sources that interviewed him after the publication of his book quote higher totals.
context_section_description: In his last prize fight in Panama City in June 1917, Hollandersky lost to Pat Kiley in an unsuccessful 15 round attempt at the Panamanian Welterweight Title.  It would be his last recognized championship bout.  Leaving Panama in July, he would stop in New York to help accompany his father Charles, who was ill, to New London.
  Perhaps as a result of his loss to Kiley in his last championship bout, and his previous brutal loss to Dave Palitz in September 1915, Abe prematurely announced his retirement from boxing to his local paper on Christmas Eve 1917.  He continued with exhibition matches, including those on ship and on bases to assist with the training of sailors, but subsequently faced very few opponents in actual prize fights.  Returning to New London in August 1917 from Panama City after his loss to Kiley, Abe was not permitted to join the Navy for WWI due to his eyesight, but was fortunate enough to find a position as a Naval boxing instructor at a base near the New London Pier.  Fighting training matches for the instruction of naval troops often daily, his personal tally of fights continued to climb rapidly.
caption: Welterweight Champ Joe Walcott
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