A deeper dive on Barney Ross' greatness.

Barney Ross was battling all his life. As a child, he would struggle with weak lungs and an arthretic left arm, that and his small size also made him a clear target for bullies. His father wouldn't allow him to fight back though for religious reasons, but Ross would come back come with cuts and bruises, and would get punished by his parents for fighting back. As an adolescent, he would live a double life, one as a dutiful son of a good family, and one as a worker for a gangster named Samuel Morton. Then, at the age of 14, tragedy struck as his father was brutally murdered from a gunshot. His mother suffered a nervous breakdown and could no longer take her of Barney and his siblings, who were sent to either an orphanage or to a relative's place to live. Barney made an oath of making money and being able to get his family back on the same roof, so he again became a street hustler, and was even rumored of doing jobs for Al Capone and he even became friends with Jack Ruby. After he started hanging around in a Boxing gym, and having a year long amateur career, he sought out to pursue a brighter future and a larger purse in the pro game.

As early as in his 10th fight, he would defeat the undefeated Jackie Fields, who a single year later, would be a top 5 Welterweight contender. To give an idea of how game he was, he would end up having wins over Sammy Mandell, Cocoa Kid, Jimmy Leto, Izzy Jannazzo and Pancho Villa. Ross would then suffer his first professional loss against the experienced veteran, Carlos Garcia, who had 65 fights under his belt, 40 of them being victories. A few months later after a streak of victories, he would get a draw against the future top 3 Welterweight contender, Harry Dublinsky, who would go on to defeat Tony Canzoneri. He then won a second time against Davis, prior to losing to the #1 rated Junior Lightweight contender, Roger Bernard. Ross would only lose twice in his career after this.

After that, he would have a mean 15 fight winnning streak against mostly experienced competition, including the former fringe Bantamweight contender, Midget Mike'o Dowd, as well as Tony Canzoneri's stablemate, Lud Abella. He would then defeat the #4 rated Lightweight, Ray Miller, dropping him in the first round and decisioning him so easily, that even Barney himself was surprised. He would then defeat the Former Featherweight champion of the world, and former #1 rated Lightweight prior to his losses against Billy Petrolle, Christopher ''Battling'' Battalino. Then he would beat the former top 3 rated Junior Welterweight contender, Tommy Morgan, as well as the #1 rated Junior Welterweight, Billy Petrolle.

After defeting Joe Ghounly, who would still be rated #10 by the end of 1933, he would win in a hard fought fight against the all time great Tony Canzoneri, the Lightweight and Junior Welterweight champion of the world, who was his idol, and would finally gain become king in both divisions. Ross went from an unknown, to one of the most talked about fighters in the world, in less than a year. With this, he would finally be able to get the money he always longed for, and successfuly managed to get his family back together.

A few months later, the rematch would take place. Barney Ross would once again manage to defeat his #1 contender, and said he was happier to once again defeat Canzoneri, than if he had won 50 fights. He then defended his Junior Welterweight title against the #4 rated Sammy Fuller, and then rematched the #1 rated Welterweight, Billy Petrolle, in a non title bout. He would defend his title three more times against the former top 5 Featherweight, Pete Nebo, then draw wiith the #7 rated Lightweight and Junior Lightweight Champion, Frankie Klick, and the still green Kid Moro, who would later prove himself as a very good contender, even managing to beat Bobby Pacho.

Ross then decided to move up a division, going up to Welterweight. He defeated the aforementioned Welterweight contender, Bobby Pacho, and then won against another fellow all time great, Jimmy McLarnin, the Welterweight champion of the world. McLarnin had recently defeat the great Benny Leonard, and took it upon himself to avenge his fellow Jew by defeating McLarnin. Ross managed to do just that, despite being dropped at one point, but he stood up so fast, that most spectators thought it was a slip. A day later he would be suspended of the NBA title for failing to defend the title against Tony Herrera, but most didn't think much of it. 4 months later, he would lose against the #1 rated McLarnin in a closer contest, with most thinking Ross should have won it, or at least being deserving of a draw.

He would then proceed to defeat the #6 rated Welterweight, Bobby Pacho, and the #2 rated Lightweight, Frankie Klick, and the 60-2, Henry Woods. Then, the rubber match against his rival, Jimmy McLarnin, once again for the Welterweight championship, with Jack Dempsey serving as the referee. This time, Ross would soundly defeat McLarnin and regain his Welterweight crown, and had cemented himself as an all time great.

Ross would then defeat the former divisional #1, Baby Joe Gans, knocking him out in 2 rounds. As well as the #4 rated Welterweight and the future Middleweight champion, Ceferino Garcia, twice, winning practically every round in the rematch. Contenders Gordon Wallace and Chuck Woods would also be defeated, the latter being stopped in the 5th round. He would then end the year by defeting the #5 rated Welterweight, Izzy Jannazzo. Ross would once again defeat Woods and Garcia, as well as tough fringe/almost contenders like Jackie Burge and Al Manfrendo in-between. Then, he would have his last fight and loss against the legendary Henry Armstrong, the Featherweight and soon to be Lightweight and Welterweight champion of the world, who was on arguably the best winning streak the sport has ever seen. Armstrong was at his peak and bullied Ross and beat him to submission, thus losing the title and retiring from the sport.

Now a married man, and in a bit of financial trouble after giving a lot of money to his friends, he would go on several business ventures, even opening up a night club. His marriage would get testy, since he would meet a showgirl named Cathy Howlett, and divorced his wife. But now, it was time for World War 2, and he would enlist in the military, opting to actually go to combat rather than play a more ceremonial role like other Boxers and athletes would. In the battler of Guadlcanal in 1942, he and other 3 of his comrades were on patrol prior to some Japanese soldiers trapped them, and ended up getting injured, Ross took the dropped weapons and managed to last 13 hours in a mosquito filled hole with dead soldiers, and managed to kill 22 dozen Japanese soldiers single handedly, before carrying his only surviving comrade, who outweighed him by 90 pounds, to safety. He was given the Silver Star for this.

After this, he was addicted on morphine and heroine, spending a couple of hundred dollars daily at times to get them. He suffered with the addiction for 4 years, prior to to turning himself in to the federal authorities, after learning his wife was suing him for divorce. Instead of taking his recovery slowly, he did it the fast way, and clawed himself out of it, and ended up being very sick. He tried commiting suicide twice, but was stopped by a fellow addict in both occasions. After 2 months of this processes, he cleaned up his system and left the facility. A year later, his wife returned to him and they remarried. He would spend years after this preaching about the dangers of drug addiction. In 1966, he would have another battle against throat cancer, but despite the great support his fans gave him during that battle, and the brave front he put on, he would pass away after a year of daily support.

While not quite the greatest fighter who ever lived, although he isn't way too far away from that, he might just be the single greatest man to ever be a Boxer.