Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ted Kid Lewis His Life and Times by Morton Lewis Ted "Kid" Lewis: His Life and Times by Morton Lewis. The icons of boxing which are most powerful in the public mind today are probably Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, or Muhammad Ali. For the British, the images of Frank Bruno and, still, Henry Cooper are hard to avoid. But there was a time, before World War II, when many of the world's best and most famous boxers were Jewish. There was Abe Attell, known as The Little Hebrew, from San Francisco, who was the world featherweight champion, Rueven "Ruby" Goldstein from New York, Battling Levinsky, Maxie Rosenbloom and the peerless Benny Leonard. In Britain there was Jack 'Kid' Berg, Ted 'Kid' Lewis, Harry Mizler - all from London, Joe Samuels from Liverpool and many others. "If you didn't fight, you didn't eat," said Morton Lewis, whose father Kid Lewis was world welterweight champion. Lewis was followed by others such as Berg and Mizler. Mizler's nephew, Tony, said: "They were the Beckhams of their time. They had the trappings of wealth and they were real working-class heroes." Of all the Jewish boxers none was finer than Berg, who reigned as light-welterweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1931. Tough upbringing. Berg - real name Judah Bergman - was born in London's East End but became a huge star in the United States and combined a heady mix of good looks, controlled brutality and showbiz charisma. Now his cousin Howard Fredrics has penned an opera called The Whitechapel Whirlwind. Mr Fredrics, a senior lecturer in creative music technology at Kingston University, has used old tapes of Berg talking in his distinctive transatlantic accent to work out how the fighter's singing voice would have sounded. He has donated several of these specially restored audio interviews to the British Library. It covers his tough upbringing in Whitechapel, where he was born in 1909, and his glorious career in the ring, when he defeated all the big names of the time, including Tony Canzoneri, Kid Chocolate, Mushy Callahan and Mizler. Another scene depicts the infamous Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when hundreds of East End residents came out on to the streets of Stepney to prevent a march by Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts. Ironically Mosley employed Lewis - real name Gershon Mendeloff - for a time in the early 1930s as his bodyguard. One apocryphal story suggests Lewis eventually wised up to Mosley's anti-Semitism and beat him up in his office. Mr Fredrics was naturally drawn to Berg's story: "When I learned about my cousin's life it just seemed such an incredible story and it seemed to naturally lend itself to opera. He has taken some artistic licence with it - for example, a scene in which Kid Chocolate is shot dead in a Havana nightclub. But overall he has stuck to the facts of Berg's extraordinary life. Berg had an affair with Mae West and was friends with another East End legend, gangster Jack Spot, who was also Jewish and born in the same Whitechapel street. In the ring Berg was awesome and his "whirlwind" nickname referred to his non-stop punching style. In one famous anecdote, his opponent was replaced by an identical twin and he beat them both. Brotherly icon. His sister, Marie Stephany, remembers him as a modest and gentle man who looked after her. She says: "It was only later that I grew up and realised what an icon he was, not just to the Jewish community, but to the whole of Britain." Mr Fredrics hopes it will be picked up by the English National Opera, after its preview performance on Tuesday. Before the curtain rises, the Jewish East End Celebration Society is conducting seminars on Jewish boxers. But amid the nostalgia for the sepia-tinted stars, one question keeps popping up: "Where are the great Jewish boxers of today?" Morton Lewis says: "Nowadays most young Jews can earn more money with their brains. In the old days [they wanted] any kind of work to earn some money and boxing was the easiest way to make it." A special preview of excerpts of The Whitechapel Whirlwind takes place at the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre on Tuesday 29 March. Ted "Kid" Lewis: His Life and Times by Morton Lewis. The Boxing Glove Sunday Book Review by Peter Silkov. “Ted Kid Lewis: His Life And Times” by Morton Lewis. This week we are reviewing a book that was first published in 1990. “Ted Lewis: His Life And Times” by Morton Lewis. Ted Kid Lewis has good cause to lay claim to being Britain’s greatest ever boxer. His career, which spanned from 1909 to 1929, is one of the most impressive of his time. Beginning his career as a bantamweight, Lewis would climb the weight divisions all the way to the light-heavyweight class, even though he would never weigh much more than a middleweight himself. Born Gershon Mendeloff, on October 28, 1893, in London, as Ted Kid Lewis, he would become one of Britain’s most exciting and respected fighters, taking America by storm, with a style that would gain him the nickname ‘The Crashing Dashing Bashing’ Ted Kid Lewis. Morton Lewis has written a fascinating biography about his father, a man who is a genuine ring legend, who won titles at multiple weights, and during the years 1914 to 1920, became Britain’s most popular and successful export to America. “Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis: His Life And Times” is a captivating account of Lewis’s life and boxing career, from his earliest days growing up, to the ups and downs of his great boxing career, and finally his post boxing life. It is a tale of rags to riches and then back again. Because of Lewis’s strength of character and popularity, he and his wife Elsie lived in relative comfort into their later years. Lewis career is a stark reminder of just how drastically boxing has changed in the last 100 years and how much harder the ‘hardest game’ used to be in Lewis’s time. In 1912, at the age of just 18 years old, Lewis had no less than 39 contests, of which he lost only 4. In his prime, Lewis thought nothing of fighting every two weeks, at least. Indeed, he was of the old school of fighters who kept in fighting shape by fighting regularly, rather than spending months between fights toiling in the gym. Lewis was a fearless man, always ready to fight anywhere and at any time, with no worry about the reputation or the size of his opponent; the bigger, both in size and reputation, was always the better for ‘The Kid.' Even in today’s era, where weight jumping is common place and there are more titles than contenders, Lewis’s achievements are still unmatched, certainly by any other British fighter. He won British and European titles at Featherweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, and also won a British title at light heavyweight. It is his feats at welterweight, which are most remarkable. In all, Lewis fought 28 times for the World welterweight title, 15 of them against his archrival, Jack Britton. The rivalry between Britton and Lewis has gone down as one of the greatest in boxing history, with the pair fighting no less than 20 times between 1915 and 1921, with 15 of these fights being for the World welterweight championship. The two men dominated the World welterweight title for over half a decade, as they duelled against one another, again and again, for the title. Lewis first won the world title in his 2nd fight with Britton, then lost it in his 6th fight with Britton, regained it in his 13th fight with Britton, only to finally lose it once more to Britton in their 18th meeting. Lewis was the first British fighter to regain a world title, a feat that stood unequaled until the 1980s, when Dennis Andries won regained the World light-heavyweight championship. Although by this time, there were already multiple ‘world champions.’ This book offers a fascinating insight into the boxing world during the 1910s – 1920s. The reader has to marvel at the toughness, determination, and courage of the fighter of this time. These boxers entered the rings week after week, months after month, often carrying injuries of fights, which they had received in previous fights just recently. In such a world, it took very special breed to come out on top and dominate, and Lewis was indeed a very special fighter. He is also shown to have been a man of great integrity throughout his life and career. Taking the ups and downs of his career without bitterness, or self pity, even though he often had to deal with the darker side of the hardest game. Like many of the greats of the ring, Lewis went through his money as quickly as he made it. He fought on long past his prime, but he never fell into bitterness or regret and instead, lived an active and contented life until his death in 1970, at the age of 76. Although Morton Lewis is writing about his father, this biography is a well balanced account of one of Britain’s greatest fighters. This is recommended reading for anyone who wants to read about a time when boxing was bursting at the seams with activity, and when champions were few, but contenders were many. “Ted Kid Lewis: His Life And Times” has a good collection of photos, many of them rare, and never seen before in print. There is also a full list of Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis’s boxing career in the back section of the book. Despite his greatness, Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis is a name not readily recognized by many of today’s boxing fans. By writing this biography about his father, Morton Lewis has produced a wonderful work, which will keep his father's memory and accomplishments alive to boxing followers, both old and young. Ted "Kid" Lewis: His Life and Times by Morton Lewis. The Boxing Glove Sunday Book Review by Peter Silkov. “Ted Kid Lewis: His Life And Times” by Morton Lewis. This week we are reviewing a book that was first published in 1990. “Ted Lewis: His Life And Times” by Morton Lewis. Ted Kid Lewis has good cause to lay claim to being Britain’s greatest ever boxer. His career, which spanned from 1909 to 1929, is one of the most impressive of his time. Beginning his career as a bantamweight, Lewis would climb the weight divisions all the way to the light-heavyweight class, even though he would never weigh much more than a middleweight himself. Born Gershon Mendeloff, on October 28, 1893, in London, as Ted Kid Lewis, he would become one of Britain’s most exciting and respected fighters, taking America by storm, with a style that would gain him the nickname ‘The Crashing Dashing Bashing’ Ted Kid Lewis. Morton Lewis has written a fascinating biography about his father, a man who is a genuine ring legend, who won titles at multiple weights, and during the years 1914 to 1920, became Britain’s most popular and successful export to America. “Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis: His Life And Times” is a captivating account of Lewis’s life and boxing career, from his earliest days growing up, to the ups and downs of his great boxing career, and finally his post boxing life. It is a tale of rags to riches and then back again. Because of Lewis’s strength of character and popularity, he and his wife Elsie lived in relative comfort into their later years. Lewis career is a stark reminder of just how drastically boxing has changed in the last 100 years and how much harder the ‘hardest game’ used to be in Lewis’s time. In 1912, at the age of just 18 years old, Lewis had no less than 39 contests, of which he lost only 4. In his prime, Lewis thought nothing of fighting every two weeks, at least. Indeed, he was of the old school of fighters who kept in fighting shape by fighting regularly, rather than spending months between fights toiling in the gym. Lewis was a fearless man, always ready to fight anywhere and at any time, with no worry about the reputation or the size of his opponent; the bigger, both in size and reputation, was always the better for ‘The Kid.' Even in today’s era, where weight jumping is common place and there are more titles than contenders, Lewis’s achievements are still unmatched, certainly by any other British fighter. He won British and European titles at Featherweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, and also won a British title at light heavyweight. It is his feats at welterweight, which are most remarkable. In all, Lewis fought 28 times for the World welterweight title, 15 of them against his archrival, Jack Britton. The rivalry between Britton and Lewis has gone down as one of the greatest in boxing history, with the pair fighting no less than 20 times between 1915 and 1921, with 15 of these fights being for the World welterweight championship. The two men dominated the World welterweight title for over half a decade, as they duelled against one another, again and again, for the title. Lewis first won the world title in his 2nd fight with Britton, then lost it in his 6th fight with Britton, regained it in his 13th fight with Britton, only to finally lose it once more to Britton in their 18th meeting. Lewis was the first British fighter to regain a world title, a feat that stood unequaled until the 1980s, when Dennis Andries won regained the World light-heavyweight championship. Although by this time, there were already multiple ‘world champions.’ This book offers a fascinating insight into the boxing world during the 1910s – 1920s. The reader has to marvel at the toughness, determination, and courage of the fighter of this time. These boxers entered the rings week after week, months after month, often carrying injuries of fights, which they had received in previous fights just recently. In such a world, it took very special breed to come out on top and dominate, and Lewis was indeed a very special fighter. He is also shown to have been a man of great integrity throughout his life and career. Taking the ups and downs of his career without bitterness, or self pity, even though he often had to deal with the darker side of the hardest game. Like many of the greats of the ring, Lewis went through his money as quickly as he made it. He fought on long past his prime, but he never fell into bitterness or regret and instead, lived an active and contented life until his death in 1970, at the age of 76. Although Morton Lewis is writing about his father, this biography is a well balanced account of one of Britain’s greatest fighters. This is recommended reading for anyone who wants to read about a time when boxing was bursting at the seams with activity, and when champions were few, but contenders were many. “Ted Kid Lewis: His Life And Times” has a good collection of photos, many of them rare, and never seen before in print. There is also a full list of Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis’s boxing career in the back section of the book. Despite his greatness, Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis is a name not readily recognized by many of today’s boxing fans. By writing this biography about his father, Morton Lewis has produced a wonderful work, which will keep his father's memory and accomplishments alive to boxing followers, both old and young. The Jewish Boxing Champion Who Fell in With Britain's Fascists. Ted 'Kid' Lewis could be called a forgotten classic. Though his name is not spoken of in the same breath as the famous fighters who became stars in the era of television, many true aficionados of British boxing rank the East Londoner among the greatest pugilists this island has ever produced. He has the statistics to back this up: Lewis won nine titles during an extensive career, triumphing from the featherweight to middleweight divisions, and was a world champion at welterweight. He was the first British fighter to win a world title in America and became a bona fide celebrity during the twenties. But his later life saw the former champion become involved with one of twentieth century Britain's most vilified politicians: after his career in the ring was over, Lewis worked with the notorious Oswald Mosley, even standing as a candidate for his party at the 1931 general election. Like many of British boxing's greatest success stories, Lewis was the child of immigrants. Born Gershon Mendelhoff in October 1893, he was the third of eight children, his Jewish parents having fled persecution in their native Russia. The family lived in a gas-lit tenement on Umberston Street in Whitechapel, forming part of a growing Jewish diaspora in London's East End. Like much of the area's population, both native and immigrant, the Mendelhoff family was poor. The young Gershon suffered at the hands of local Irish boys who goaded him about his Jewish heritage, and he fought back with his fists. It is said that a local policeman first steered the youngster towards the fight game, spotting the boy in a street brawl and recognising his latent pugilistic ability. Gershon soon joined the Judean Athletic Club and began competing as 'Kid Lewis', supposedly in homage to the great welterweight champion and fellow Jewish fighter Harry Lewis (Ted was not added until years later, when he travelled to America). Lewis spent much of his early career fighting at the Judean, as well as the newly opened Premierland venue on Whitechapel's Black Church Street. He turned pro aged 14 and competed almost fortnightly throughout 1910 and 1911 as he sought to hone his craft. It was certainly an intensive education in a tough world, but it served him well in the years to come. From a precocious youngster, Lewis grew into a tough man with a surprisingly friendly face, gnarled by his battles in the ring but, as a fighter, much stronger for them. Check out some more videos from VICE Sports: By 1913 Lewis had already fought in excess of 130 bouts, making him a veteran of the sport while still a teenager. That year he took his first major honour, winning the British featherweight title by overcoming Alec Lambert at London's National Sporting Club, and in 1914 added the European belt by beating the French fighter Paul Til at Premierland. In doing so, he became Britain's youngest ever featherweight champion. His career soon took him overseas, with Lewis embarking on the long sea journeys to Australia and then on to America to find fights, his options having become scarce in Britain following the outbreak of World War I. It was in the U.S. that Lewis found his greatest success and, for a time, became a genuine celebrity. His breakthrough fight came in August 1915, when he headed to Boston to take on the Irish-American fighter Jack Britton, nicknamed 'the Boxing Marvel'. Given Boston's vast Irish community, it's easy to conclude which fighter would have been the crowd favourite that evening. But, over 12 rounds, Lewis emerged as the victor on points and thus claimed the world welterweight championship. In doing so, he became the first British boxer to win a global title on American soil. The Britton bout made Lewis' name, but it was just the beginning of a rivalry that, by its conclusion, had become one of the greatest in boxing history. The two men would dispute the title 15 times, though that number could be higher still given the conflicting views on how many of their bouts were proper title contests. Indeed, between 1915 and 1922 they were the only fighters to hold the belt. In an era of eight weight divisions and just one titleholder for each, theirs was a remarkable and dominant rivalry. Lewis lost the belt for the final time in New Jersey in July 1919. He challenged Britton for the title again in 1921, but was defeated by unanimous decision. Aside from his boxing success, the time he spent in America also made Lewis famous. He met his future wife Elsie Schneider in New York, and became a close friend of Charlie Chaplin, who would act as godfather to Lewis' son Morton. Lewis also tried his hand in the movies, predominantly tackling boxing pictures. Inevitably, he was typecast: not only was Lewis best known as a fighter, he also looked like one, with many years of punishment having left their mark. Lewis and Chaplin pull a pose for the cameras // PA Images. When the war ended he returned to Britain and continued to earn success in the ring, moving up through the weight classes as he advanced in years. In June 1922 he became British middleweight champion by beating Frankie Burns at Holland Park Rink in London, then added the European belt five months later. He even tried his hand at heavyweight. In May 1922, he challenged Georges Carpentier for the world light-heavyweight belt, though a first-round knockout signalled the end of Lewis' tilt at world titles. He retired from fighting in 1929, but his time in the spotlight was not yet over. In a truly strange turn of events, Lewis was standing for parliament just two years later. Even more bizarrely, he did so for a man who would later become notorious as Britain's leading fascist and anti-Semite. In the period after World War I, Sir Oswald Mosley was the coming man of British politics. He was first elected as an MP in 1918, winning the Harrow seat for the Conservatives. Something of a political itinerant, Mosley left the party and sat as an independent, then joined the Labour Party in 1924. In that year's election he attempted to unseat Neville Chamberlain, but lost by just 77 votes. In 1926 he returned to the commons by winning Smethwick for Labour, but in 1932 he fell out with the party following a disagreement over unemployment policies. Mosley promptly resigned and formed his own political movement. Though in some respects a highly imaginative man, Mosley deigned to call this the New Party. Among its early advocates was Ted Lewis. The New Party was seen by its supporters as a break with old politics that had led Britain into a disastrous war and failed to look after the men who fought in it. It was a serious movement, albeit never particularly well organised, and had the backing of some very wealthy individuals. On the ground Mosley gathered a strange mix of supporters, from respected politicians to racist cranks, from members of the aristocracy to retired sportsmen. Lewis, of course fell into the latter category, along with the former England rugby captain Peter Howard. They were charged with leading and training the 'Biff Boys', a quasi-military group who possessed worrying hints of European fascism. According to Stephen Dorril, a British academic who wrote Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism , the Biff Boys "were a kind of honour guard at Mosley's meetings." Certainly, the synthesis of brain and brawn that Mosley sought to portray – he was a champion fencer and handy boxer – conformed to this. It should be said that the ideas Mosley and the New Party were putting forward in 1931 were neither fascist nor anti-Semitic, though they had elements of both. "You could see where it might lead," says Dorril. "Whether Lewis saw that at all, I don't know. But I suspect he didn't. He liked Mosley because he was a big figure – literally. He did fencing, he'd boxed at Sandhurst, been in the military. Mosley liked to surround himself with muscular men and there is an element of homoeroticism around it. Certainly, some people around Mosley truly fell in love with him. It was a weird mixture, really." Mosley at a rally in 1936, after his full conversion to fascism // PA Images. In retrospect, Lewis' support of Mosley does seem extremely unlikely, but at the time he was not alone: "Mosley did initially have Jewish [followers] who were genuine in their support of him," says Dorril. Nevertheless, Lewis went a step further by standing for election in 1931, when the New Party fielded a total of 23 candidates. They ranged from serious politicians with considerable experience, such as John Pratt and indeed Mosley himself, to less credible candidates such as Lewis, who stood in his local Whitechapel and St Georges constituency. Exactly why Lewis was selected to run for parliament we cannot be certain. Clearly he was a well-known and popular figure in East London, and while there would have been almost no notion that he could win the seat it must have been hoped that he would attract some positive attention and a decent number of votes. But the party was overstretched, and appear to have put Lewis foreword in something of a last-minute panic. His election slogan was "Rome wasn't built in a day," which while factually correct lacked the kind of big-thinking and positivity that people were after in inter-war Britain. Ultimately, Lewis' run for parliament was a disaster. He polled a derisory 154 votes, the fewest of the 23 New Party candidates. (Both Mosley and Sellick Davies won 10,000 votes in their respective constituencies, but ultimately fell well short of earning a seat). "I think that probably hurt. They put him up because they thought he was popular," says Dorril. Lewis may have been a well-known boxing champion, but this was by no means enough to convince the people of Whitechapel to vote for him in a fiercely contested national poll. His association with Mosley would not last much longer. "Increasingly, Mosley became embarrassed by the Biff Boys," says Dorril. "Their activities got out of hand. Some of them seemed to enjoy the violence and fisticuffs, they were becoming too visible, and there was a move within the party to get rid of them." Politically, Mosley also shifted to a position that Lewis must have felt extremely uncomfortable with. After the defeat of 1931, Mosley embraced European-style fascism and founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932. Among other things, this saw him move towards more open anti- Semitism, particularly in Lewis' native East London. The Battle of Cable Street, in which anti-facist demonstrators fought Mosley's supporters, took place in Lewis' native East London in 1936. In a biography of his father, Morten Lewis gives his version of how he was taken along to watch the former boxer quit Mosley's movement. It involves Lewis taking on Mosley and a pair of his henchmen at their headquarters, leaving the former reeling on the ground and the other two out cold. Then, after walking down the street, Lewis is said to have returned to the building and knocked out two more guards, without provocation. It is a fanciful story, but its motivation is understandable. After World War II, Mosley became a pariah of British politics and society. After all, this was a man who had supported Hitler and been married in Goebbels' sitting room. With the full horrors of Nazism becoming clear, Mosley's views became intolerable. That the Lewis family would wish to distance their father from this is entirely understandable. The more likely truth is that Lewis, like many Jewish supporters, simply drifted away when anti-Semitism became a theme of Mosley's politics. Quite what it was about Mosley that appealed to the former champion is not certain, though this was not his only questionable acquaintance: as an old man during the sixties, Lewis got to know the notorious Kray twins. The boxing-mad gangland bosses brought the old champion to their birthday parties and charity evenings, and they even used him as a decoy when springing a fellow criminal from Dartmoor prison. Again, how much of the real Krays the ageing boxer knew is unclear. There is a sense that he was taken along for the ride by those seeking to use his fame. As an elderly man who had fought hundreds of professional boxing matches, he was perhaps vulnerable to manipulation. Lewis lived out his final years at Nightingale House, a Jewish retirement home in Clapham, which his son recalled as one of the happiest periods of his father's life. He died in 1970, at the age of 77, and is now little known outside boxing circles. Yet Ted Lewis – or Gershon Mendelhoff – is one of the most interesting champions the sport has seen, not only for his success in the ring but also for the life he lived afterwards. Ted "Kid" Lewis. Ted "Kid" Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff ; 28 October 1893 – 1970) was an English professional boxer who twice won the World Welterweight (147 lb) Championship. Lewis is often grouped alongside the all-time greats, with ESPN ranking him 41st on their list of the 50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time and boxing historian Bert Sugar placing him 46th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue. [4] [5] Statistical boxing website BoxRec ranks Lewis as the 17th best welterweight of all-time and the 2nd best UK boxer ever. [6] He is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Contents. Boxing career. Career beginnings. Lewis was born in a gas-lit tenement in the Aldgate Pump section of London’s East End as Gershon Mendeloff. One of his brothers became a boxer under the name of Lou (Kid) Lewis. It was as a member of London’s Judean Athletic Club that Mendeloff assumed the name "Kid" Lewis ("Ted" was added later, in America). At 14 he fought for sixpence and a cup of tea. He later won the Club’s Flyweight title and took home a cup of imitation silver. He became a professional boxer in 1909. On 6 October 1913, Lewis won the British Featherweight Championship with a 17th round knockout of Alec Lambert at London’s National Sporting Club. A year later, on 2 February 1914, at London’s Premierland, he won the European Featherweight title from Paul Til via a 12th round foul. Still in 1914, campaigning as a lightweight and welterweight, Lewis left London and toured Australia. In 1915 Lewis traveled to the United States, fighting Phil Bloom in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He won a decision. Rivalry with Jack Britton. In Boston’s Armory, on 31 August of that same year, he fought the man known as the "Boxing Marvel," Jack Britton, for the Welterweight title. Lewis won in a twelve-round decision, becoming World Welterweight Champion and beginning an historic rivalry. From 1915 to 1921 Lewis and Britton fought 20 times, a total of 224 rounds. In 24 April 1916, in New Orleans, Lewis lost the title to Britton. He reclaimed it on 25 June 1917, at Westwood Field, Dayton, Ohio. He lost the title for the last time on 17 March 1919, in Canton, Ohio, when Britton knocked him out in the 9th round — the only knockout of the series. The roundup of his matches with Britton: Lewis won 3, lost 4, and had 1 draw. There were 12 no decisions. After his last loss to Britton, Lewis returned to England. Lewis vs. Carpentier. On 9 June 1920, at London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre, he beat Johnny Basham to win the British and European Welterweight titles. He relinquished these in December of that year due to difficulty in making the weight. His drive to fight Georges Carpentier, World and European Light Heavyweight Champion, came to fruition on 11 May 1922, in the Olympia. Lewis, fighting at 150 pounds to Carpentier’s 175, spent most of the first round giving the heavier man a drubbing. Then referee Joe Palmer put a hand on Lewis’s shoulder to warn him against holding. Carpentier took advantage of this distraction and sneaked in a vicious right. The Kid went crashing to the canvas and was counted out. The Olympia crowd erupted furiously, crying, "foul," but to no avail. The Kid remained nonplussed. "I felt cheated, but I didn’t bear any grudge," he would later say. Later career. On 6 June 1922, at Holland Park Rink, London, Lewis knocked out Frankie Burns to win the British Middleweight title. On 11 November the same year, also at Holland Park Rink, he beat Roland Todd to win the European Middleweight title. He did not hold either title long, losing both at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 February 1923 after a gruelling rematch with Todd. Lewis won his last two titles, the British and European Welterweight crowns, on 3 July 1924 — again at London’s Royal Albert Hall — by defeating Johnny Brown. Two years later, on 26 November 1924, at Waverley Market Hall in Edinburgh, he lost these championships to the much younger Scotsman, Tommy Milligan. He continued boxing until 1929, adding 20 more fights. His final record was: 299 bouts, 233 won, 41 lost, 25 draws, 65 no decisions, 80 knockouts. Lewis started his career as an evasive boxer, with a long left. During the six years he spent in America he changed his style, becoming a swarming, combination boxer-fighter. Notable bouts. Result Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes [7] Win Johnny Basham TKO 3 (10) 1929-12-13 Pitfield Street Baths, Hoxton, London Loss Maxie Rosenbloom DQ 6 (15) 1928-07-31 Queensboro Stadium, Queens, New York Loss Tommy Milligan PTS 20 1924-11-26 Industrial Hall, Edinburgh Loss Roland Todd PTS 20 1923-02-15 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London Win Roland Todd PTS 20 1922-11- 20 Holland Park Rink, Kensington, London Loss Georges Carpentier KO 1 (20) 1922-05-11 Olympia, Kensington, London For World Light Heavyweight Title. Win Johnny Basham RTD 12 (20) 1921-10-14 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London Loss Jack Britton UD 15 1921-02-07 Madison Square Garden, New York, New York For World Welterweight Title. Win Johnny Basham KO 19 (20) 1920-11-19 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London Loss Mike O'Dowd NWS 12 1920-09-23 Westside Ballpark, Jersey City, New Jersey Win Johnny Basham RTD 9 (20) 1920-06-09 Olympia, Kensington, London Win Jerry Shea KO 1 (20) 1920-02-28 Mountain Ash Pavilion, Mountain Ash Win Frank Moody KO 1 (15) 1920-01-13 Free Trade Hall, Manchester, Lancashire Win Matt Wells RTD 12 (20) 1919-12-26 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London Loss Mike O'Dowd NWS 10 1919-09-01 Syracuse Arena, Syracuse, New York For World Middleweight Title. Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton NWS 8 1919-07-28 Armory A.A., Jersey City, New Jersey For World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton KO 9 (12) 1919-03-17 Canton Auditorium, Canton, Ohio Lost World Welterweight Title. Draw Benny Leonard NWS 8 1918-09-23 Weidenmeyer's Park, Newark, New Jersey Newspaper Decision Draw Jack Britton NWS 6 1918-06-20 Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Draw Jack Britton NWS 10 1918-05-02 Town Hall, Scranton, Pennsylvania Retained World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton NWS 10 1918-03-06 Armory Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia Retained World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Loss Mike O'Dowd PTS 12 1917-08-28 Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Win Mike O'Dowd NWS 10 1917-08-17 St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Win Jack Britton PTS 20 1917-06-25 Westwood Field, Dayton, Ohio Won World Welterweight Title. Win Jack Britton NWS 10 1917-05-24 St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Win Jack Britton NWS 10 1917-06-06 Saint Louis Coliseum, Saint Louis, Missouri Newspaper Decision Win Mike O'Dowd NWS 10 1917-05-24 St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Win Jack Britton NWS 10 1917-05-19 Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario Newspaper Decision Win Jack Britton NWS 10 1917-03-26 Queen City A.C., Cincinnati, Ohio Newspaper Decision Draw Jack Britton PTS 12 1916-11-14 Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Loss Jack Britton PTS 12 1916-10-17 Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Loss Mike Gibbons NWS 10 1916-05-18 Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton PTS 20 1916-04-24 Louisiana Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana Lost World Welterweight Title. Loss Jack Britton NWS 10 1916- 02-15 Broadway Arena, Brooklyn, New York Retained World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton NWS 10 1916-01- 20 Broadway Auditorium, Buffalo, New York Retained World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Win Willie Ritchie NWS 10 1915-12-28 Madison Square Garden, New York, New York Retained World Welterweight Title. Newspaper Decision Win Jack Britton PTS 12 1915-09- 28 Arena (Atlas A.A.), Boston, Massachusetts Retained World Welterweight Title. Win Jack Britton PTS 12 1915-08-31 Boston Arena, Boston, Massachusetts Won World Welterweight Title. Draw Charley White NWS 10 1915-07-21 St. Nicholas Arena, New York, New York Newspaper Decision Loss Jack Britton NWS 10 1915-03-26 135th Street A.C., New York, New York Newspaper Decision. Life after boxing. He would later act as a bodyguard and local election candidate for Oswald Mosley's New Party. However, Lewis fell out with Mosley when his subsequent political movement, the British Union of Fascists became openly anti-Semitic. [8]