Jews In Boxing--a Bloodline

(Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

One reason boxing is beautiful is that it honors the truth of our animal nature, our still primal urge toward tribalism, the desire to see 'ours' triumph.  In the best of matchups, this triumph is over someone of another race or culture, so that the winning group can be 'represented' favorably. 

This territorial aggression made raw and real in professional boxing sets the stage for any number of  critiques, with respectability made even harder to attain when a sport so close to our primal natures inevitably attracts the 'bottom feeders' of our society--crooks, fast-talkers, professional money-makers.  It is, however, also part of what makes boxing compelling for the true fan (just ask hard-core Pacquaio or Cotto fans!).

My own interest in boxing is largely culturally/ancester based, though it was only after I began competing as an amateur boxer that various relatives let me know that not only both of my grandfathers but even my GREAT grandmother Anna were boxing fans. 

I have become somewhat obsessively interested in the history of my particular people--Jewish immigrants to America--partly out of my thirst to gain a deeper understanding of the feisty, expressive rage running through my own blood that I have drawn upon in my forays into the amateur ring.

In the book "When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport" (1997) Allan Bodner captures the draw of boxing for second-generation Eastern European immigrants, often to the chagrin of their old-school, traditional parents.  Boxing is a phenomenon that arises only under certain conditions, in which there is not enough of something, and occurs in an area in which the streets play out as the territory for which it is gained--be it money, pride, or that ultimate of streetfight prizes, respect--with the body as the weapon of choice.

The arc of Jewish interest in being in the front lines of the sport reflects the truth of the bare necessity behind making a living by putting one's life on the line.  The sport was popular in the 1920s and 30s, when Jews were trying to carve out a place for themselves in America, money was tight, and Jewish boys coming of age in the ghettos of New York and Philadelphia had something to prove. 

Once the doors to more lucrative lines of business opened up, by the late 30s, American Jews began to take up the more stereotypical roles of professional success, riding at the top of the wave of entertainment, financial services, law and medicine. 

The sport, however, had gained a lasting grip on the Jewish psyche, and Jews rose too into the moneymaking elements of the sport.  In fact, two of the most iconic boxing institutions--The Ring Magazine and Everlast sports--were started by Jews.  Jews have never been strangers to the shadier side of the sport either, and Bob Arum stands squarely at the top of Top Rank as a reminder of that fact.

The cultural stamp of having a champion, or even better a heavyweight champion, from your area of the world or your personal heritage of identity, embodies in some ways the underlying racial/cultural tensions in our world, and seductively simplifies them: as evidenced in purest form in the Shmeling-Lewis fights--in which the balance of power between world powers as well as racial relations would be literally turned upside down.

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