Did Benny Leonard ever fight a black fighter ?

I'm still wondering who all these Black men that Leonard avoided are.

 

jimmy jacobs said,

"i have no film of this incredible fighter but any one eyed middleweight able to take a fight off Gene Tunney must be regarded as terrible special"

Boxing Illustrated 1984

 

So they recognised Greb as a great fighter and special by what he achieved. I wonder why they never thougth much of Benny Leonard then? Both from the same era, both praised by writers of the time, Leonard even helped Tunney beat Greb one time. The Gibbons thought Greb was an unsolveable puzzle, if THEY thought that, and Leonard came up with a strategy to beat Greb, which I think Tunney afterwards used for all his fights with Greb (going to the body) what does that make Benny Leonard? Doesn't make sense, and these guys KNEW boxing - you said yourself Cus may have had the highest boxing IQ. Wonder why they never liked him.

 

All i can say with certainty is there underling steve lott had no great impression of ben based on the tendler fight.

It was my personal experience in the big fights office mid 90s

DONT SHOOT THE...

 

True,S,don't shoot the M .Correct.
And don't listen to contrarians.! Finito,and CHEERS S...

 

He must have been working on that strategy for years.

The subtle intricacy and lateral thinking that must have went into it confound me.

 

Burt, tell me with all this certainty ben could take ike williams then??
And how sturdy was bens chin??
How hard could ike punch??
He florred unhurtable welterweight keed gavalan no?

 

At that time in the 1920s "golden age", most all the boxers had Benny Leonard as
supreme amongst them. Think,a 5ft6" LW earlier edition, of the later WW Ray Robinson.
So highly was Leonard thought of by his peers...He had it all,and was boxing's best thinker by all accounts...Leonard the Magnificent...

 

Ben was hurtable burt. Read Manny Seamons chapter in Cornermen by Ron Fried

Ike could sock like o mighty hell and back

 

What do we know about Greb's fighting style? This may tell us why Cus D'Amato favored him so much.

 

That was the plan in a nutshell. its like saying Duran beat Barkley by countering with his right. That's not all he did but your're just being general. Of course there were other aspects to it.

 

Wasn't challenging you or thinking your not telling the truth, S. Just thought it was strange they didnt like Benny.

 

Tendler would have been no worse than the #1 lightweight contender in any era. He was also a southpaw. Southpaws were avoided as much as Blacks were in those days. Even in today's game where there more and more southpaws. Some even unnatural ones. They still give other boxers fits.
The fight on film was their first bout of two. A learning expereance for Leonard. Leonard won the second bout a year latter more clearly.

 

S, Hell Ike Williams was the greatest LW i saw ringsise. I saw him almost kill Beau Jack in Philly, and several other times...Dynamite puncher who would pose a threat to Leonard or anyone...But Ike lost 3 decisions to a great boxing stylist Willie Joyce, and Joyce was NO Benny Leonard in hitting ability and ringmanship...
Yes Leonard was dropped several times, but he always faced the top lightweights of his time, got up and WON,as Joe Louis did.
Leonard also was a powerul two-handed sharpshooter who flattened such
tough chins as Rocky Kansas, Ever Hammer etc. Leonard overall as a LW had no peers,except for possibly the old master Joe Gans...