Description
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Harry Lewis
Born: September 16, 1886 New York, New York
Died: February 22, 1956 (aged 69) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 130-155 lbs
Division: Welterweight
Record:
Total fights: 173
Wins: 108
Wins by KO: 48
Losses: 39
Draws: 25
No Contest: 1
Biography:
Lewis is generally credited with holding the Welterweight Championship of the World from April 1908 to March 1911. He defeated “Young Joseph”, the reigning Welterweight Champion of England in London on June 27, 1910, but was not credited with the British Welterweight championship as the fight was sanctioned as a World, and not English title.
Lewis was a red-headed “Philadelphia fighter”; He was scrappy, tough and proficient at feints and counter-punches; His favorite blow was a left hook to the body; He was also game and was knocked out only twice in 171 bouts; Willie Lewis, arch-rival, once said “What Harry doesn’t know about boxing isn’t worth learning”.
Lewis relinquished the welterweight title in March 1911, being unable to make the welterweight limit. After this date, he fought almost exclusively as a middleweight. On May 3, 1911, Lewis lost to Leo Houck at L’Hippodrome in Paris while Emile Maitrot acted as referee. BoxRec records this bout as the loss of the Middleweight World Championship which Lewis claimed to have taken on February 22, 1911 from Blink McClosky previously at the Hippodrome. The Middleweight World Championship had been vacated by Stanley Ketchell the previous year, and remained vacant all of 1911, though no sanctioning bodies active today recognize Lewis’s claim to the title.
Returning to Philadelphia, Lewis made a tragic mistake agreeing to box Joe Borrell on October 13, 1913 at the Olympia Athletic Club in Philadelphia. He had been in a car accident while traveling in a taxi in Philadelphia the previous spring and had suffered a head injury. During the Borrell fight, Lewis was knocked to the canvas twice and according to boxing writer Ken Blady, was “so groggy and dazed between rounds that the referee had to stop the fight.” By the fifth round he was unable to resume the bout after being knocked to the canvas. Taken to Philadelphia Hospital, he was subsequently diagnosed with a blood clot in his brain. Lewis suffered from partial paralysis the remainder of his life. After recovering, he managed a number of boxers in his retirement, including Bernie Manhoff. Lewis died on February 22, 1956 in Philadelphia at the age of 69.
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lewis_(boxer)
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/lewis-h.htm
https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Harry_Lewis_(boxer)
