“We have been Jews dwelling in an Irish neighborhood. You may guess the remaining. I used to struggle 4, 5, ten occasions a day.”
Abraham “Abe” Attell was born in San Francisco in 1884 to a poor household whose patriarch abandoned them when Abe was simply 13. To assist put meals on the desk, younger Attell offered newspapers on road corners and on a kind of corners was positioned the well-known Mechanics Pavilion, an historic venue which ceaselessly hosted boxing matches. After occurring to witness the featherweight title struggle between the legendary George “Little Chocolate” Dixon and Solly Smith in 1897, Abe determined that the ring was calling him and he’d strive his luck as a prizefighter. Doing so concerned apparent dangers, however Abe noticed the prospect to make far more cash combating than he ever may promoting papers.
Abe wasn’t the one one in his household to decide on pugilism as a occupation, as his brothers Monte and Caesar made the identical profession alternative. Their choice to ply their commerce within the ring proved a great one as Abe and Monte would later grow to be the primary brothers to carry world titles concurrently.
Attell’s profession acquired underway in 1900 and from the outset he was profitable, knocking out all however considered one of his opponents in his first full yr of punching for pay. “Once I began I used to be solely sixteen,” recalled Attell years later, “and I believed that the simple manner was to knock ’em out. I used to be a immodest fighter. I believed I may lick anyone. For a very long time, I used to be proper.”
However Attell later remodeled his type to 1 extra cerebral and technical by emulating James J. Corbett and Dixon, two of pugilism’s early scientific practitioners. As an alternative of searching for the knockout, Attell started to weave protection and footwork into his recreation, making him a way more versatile and unpredictable combatant.
“The sunshine dawned,” recollected Abe. “A fellow could possibly be a prizefighter and never get harm, offered he was sensible sufficient. I realized that lesson manner again in 1900, and I remembered it till I give up boxing in 1915.” And through that fifteen yr stretch, Attell constructed a legacy as one of many biggest featherweights to ever step by the ropes.
Simply 9 months after Attell’s profession commenced he confronted the person who had impressed him to grow to be a fighter, taking up the good “Little Chocolate” in Denver in solely his sixteenth professional bout. The relative novice held Dixon to a draw and a rematch two months after yielded the identical consequence. However per week later Attell, who was nonetheless 4 months shy of his eighteenth birthday, battled Dixon a 3rd time and received by fifteen spherical choice to say the world featherweight title.
Nevertheless, within the early twentieth century it was not unusual for a number of fighters to concurrently declare to be the rightful champion in a given division. It was not till 1906, when Attell squared off with Jimmy Walsh, that the undisputed world featherweight championship was at stake. However within the interim Attell had been very lively, as high execs all the time have been in these days. Between his win over Dixon and his showdown with Walsh, Abe had answered the bell greater than forty occasions, within the course of going through such formidable battlers as Aurelio Herrera, Tommy Sullivan, and Battling Nelson.
Thus Attell wasn’t about to let his likelihood at whole featherweight supremacy slip away as, in line with The Los Angeles Occasions, he “performed with [Walsh] as a cat would a mouse [and] when he acquired by with the milling on the conclusion of the fifteenth spherical, he didn’t have a mark on him and was good for a lot of extra rounds.”
Whereas the precise variety of title defenses registered throughout Abe’s prolonged reign as featherweight king varies relying on the supply, what can by no means be questioned is the actual fact he was a combating champion and all the time prepared to check his elite abilities in opposition to the fiercest rivals out there. In his prime, “The Little Champ” defeated a bunch of actually wonderful pugilists, together with all-time greats Pete Herman, Owen Moran, Tommy Sullivan, and Johnny Kilbane.
However Attell was not content material with conquering all of the out there competitors in his weight class. In the hunt for extra daunting challenges, he repeatedly moved as much as light-weight to tackle the highest contenders there, together with Advert Wolgast, Battling Nelson, Jim Driscoll, and Freddie Welsh, all of whom are enshrined within the Corridor of Fame. That he was prepared to show himself in opposition to the most effective, no matter weight, demonstrates Attell’s fearlessness and why he’s rightfully acknowledged as one of many best ringmen of all-time.
As famed struggle scribe Lester Bromberg wrote: “Attell’s pure weight was 117 [but] he gloried in being small. There have been situations when he gave away as a lot as twenty kilos. However he appreciated being ‘The Little Champ’ … to him there was added honor to it.”
Legendary boxing promoter Tex Rickard acknowledged that Abe Attell was the best boxer he had ever seen. Writer Allen Bodner asserts Attell is second solely to the legendary Benny Leonard within the pantheon of nice Jewish boxers. No severe listing of the all-time greatest featherweights can omit his title and most put him within the high 5, shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow immortals Willie Pep and Henry Armstrong.
Nevertheless, by 1912 the frenetic tempo of Abe’s profession had caught as much as him and he misplaced his world title by choice in a rematch with Kilbane. A report from the Los Angeles Herald states that “Attell didn’t put up his typical stylish exhibition and failed to point out inside 50 % of the identical nice boxer who so ceaselessly drew with Owen Moran and defeated Advert Wolgast and different nice fighters.”
Notably, throughout spherical sixteen of this bout, the referee needed to wipe an unknown substance from Attell’s physique. Kilbane insisted it was chloroform meant to make him groggy; Attell refuted the accusation, insisting the substance was cocoa butter. Whatever the veracity of Kilbane’s accusation, this was removed from the one time Attell was suspected of bending the principles. The very fact is, the story of “The Little Hebrew” can’t be full with out mentioning his shady facet.
At one level, the New York State Athletic Fee even banned Attell from competing for six months as a result of he had barely put forth an offensive effort in opposition to one Valentine Braunheim, aka “Knockout Brown,” in January of 1912. Attell’s fame preceded him and his reluctance to struggle satisfied all that the repair was in. Abe insisted that his efficiency was affected by an harm to his thumb for which cocaine had been injected, however years later he admitted not all the time giving forth his greatest effort for the needs of securing an even bigger payday in a potential rematch.
However after all essentially the most nefarious scheme wherein Attell was allegedly concerned got here after his profession had led to 1917. As a member of gangster Arnold Rothstein’s entourage, Abe was accused of serving to to facilitate one of many greatest scandals in sports activities historical past, the well-known “Black Sox Scandal” of 1919 when eight gamers on the Chicago White Sox allegedly threw the World Collection in opposition to the Cincinnati Reds. Attell was by no means delivered to trial as he managed to persuade a New York jury that it was all a case of mistaken identification and that he was not the identical Abe Attell that the Chicago Grand Jury was after. However even when he was by no means convicted, the mere affiliation provides one other black mark to Attell’s fame.
Finally Abe put the scandal behind him and settled down, opening a well-liked tavern in New York’s East Aspect. And he by no means strayed too removed from his sport of alternative, typically attending struggle playing cards at Madison Sq. Backyard. Abe would spend his last years in a nursing house earlier than passing away at age 85 in 1970.
Regardless of all of Attell’s antics and the accusations that adopted his profession, nothing can overshadow his plain ring greatness and accomplishments. Abe Attell, a real ring legend, constructed a boxing legacy that can perpetually stand the take a look at of time, having competed in over 150 professional bouts. Not unhealthy for a poor Jewish child who used to promote papers on the nook simply to get by. — Jamie Rebner
