Lew Tendler

[pr0ne2gr8tness]

how high do u rank him in the best featherweights? havent much heard of him in any peoples arguments but he has a solid reord

 

[TKDhasBin]

how high do u rank him in the best featherweights? havent much heard of him in any peoples arguments but he has a solid reord

Lew was actually a lightweight......A solid fighter, a southpaw who gave his opponents fits.....But a guy who was overshadowed by Bennie Leonard....Strangely enough, in their first bout Tendler (by almost all accounts) gave Leonard a boxing lesson and handily won the fight......But it was one of those confusing/non-sensical ND's that was so prevalent at that time. Leonard got him in the rematch though.

Leonard was a larger than life....almost mythical fighter. He tended to get the Lion's share of the notoiety back in the day.....and maybe.....justifiably so.

 

[Sharkey]

But a guy who was overshadowed by Bennie Leonard....Strangely enough, in their first bout Tendler (by almost all accounts) gave Leonard a boxing lesson and handily won the fight

Huh?

By whose and what accounts, Hasbin?

Tendler was said to have some good early rounds in that one, and reportedly did hurt Leonard momentarily in the 8th round with a short left hand that buckled Benny's legs, but with the exception of that 8th round which Tendler was said to have not done much beyond that punch, Leonard took control of the fight from the 5th round on and was said to have finished really strong, which, had there been a decision rendered, would have enabled Leonard to recieve the verdict (albeit, it was said to have been very close, and Leonard's advantage in points was minimal) from pretty much every account I've read on it.

 

[TKDhasBin]

Huh?

By whose and what accounts, Hasbin?

Tendler was said to have some good early rounds in that one, and reportedly did hurt Leonard momentarily in the 8th round with a short left hand that buckled Benny's legs, but with the exception of that 8th round which Tendler was said to have not done much beyond that punch, Leonard took control of the fight from the 5th round on and was said to have finished really strong, which, had there been a decision rendered, would have enabled Leonard to recieve the verdict (albeit, it was said to have been very close, and Leonard's advantage in points was minimal) from pretty much every account I've read on it.

Jeeez Shark.......you gonna make me go through all my back copies of the Ring ? I remember reading that Tendler thoroughly confused Leonard their first go around ....but that Leonard clearly won the return....

 

[TKDhasBin]

Here's one sight International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home Page


" Although the younger Tendler had soundly thrashed Leonard, the state of New Jersey had a 'no decision' law that meant a champion could only lose the title by knock out"

 

[TKDhasBin]

Here's another one....coxcorner.tripod.com

Tendler busted Leonards nose open in the 3rd and dropped Leonard to one knee in the 8th.

" Lew gave me the worst licking I ever had in my life the first time we fought ".....B. Leonard

 

[Sharkey]

Jeeez Shark.......you gonna make me go through all my back copies of the Ring ? I remember reading that Tendler thoroughly confused Leonard their first go around ....but that Leonard clearly won the return....

Nah, you don't have to do that, buddy, although if The Ring is trying to pass that information off as Tendler beating Leonard "handily" then all I have to say is that it's probably another attempt to pass along the incorrect story from 50-75 years (whenever you read it) after the fact, or more than likely, some exagerations of a fighter's success that have been passed down over time and continually added to.

Who knows why they'd say that (maybe it was in an article on Tendler?), but here's some quick quotes on who deserved the fight from the day-afters of the time, and these are only a small sampling of what was the prevailing opinion in almost all of the day-afters;

"Benny Leonard is still the lightweight champion of the world. In the big wooden arena at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City last night the champion outpointed the leading contender for his title, Lew Tendler of Philadelphia." - New York Times, July 28th, 1922

"Benny Leonard, world's lightweight champion, successfully defended his title against Lew Tendler, of Philadelphia, in a 12-round no-decision contest tonight, earning in the opinion of a majority of sport writers at the ringside a narrow shade in a great struggle. Champ obtains popular verdict by slight margin." - Washington Post, July 28th, 1922

"Leonard earns verdict by narrow shade at the end of great ring fight." - Hartford Courant, July 28, 1922

"After grueling bout ring experts declare Leonard led on points." - Westbrook Pegler, July 28th, 1922

"Leonard gets shade better" (Bridgeport Telegram), "The majority did favor Leonard, although some did declare for a draw" (Gettysburg Times), "Leonard was winner" (Boston Daily Globe), etc., etc., etc., and etc.

Besides Tendler and his manager stating that they thought they won, which is understandable in any fight demed close, he got no better than a draw from every post fight opinion I've read, and with the majority of those opinions favouring Leonard in a close one.

 

[lugubriousduck]

old fucks... lol

 

[Sharkey]

" Lew gave me the worst licking I ever had in my life the first time we fought ".....B. Leonard

If Leonard said that then, yeah, Tendler just might've done that, and some papers like the Washington Post or the Hartford Courant would agree with that when they say things like "the champion was battered more than in any bout since he won the title", and things of that nature. Most opinions do allude to leonard taking punishment in the fight.

They still judged Leonard to have had the better of it, though, albeit slightly.

 

[TKDhasBin]

If Leonard said that then, yeah, Tendler just might've done that, and some papers like the Washington Post or the Hartford Courant would agree with that when they say things like "the champion was battered more than in any bout since he won the title", and things of that nature. Most opinions do allude to leonard taking punishment in the fight.

They still judged Leonard to have had the better of it, though, albeit slightly.

Just watched portions of the fight on YOUTUBE (didn't know they had any of Benny's fights up there)......rounds 1-3-8-10-15....Looked razor thin....Tendler really clocks Benny in the 8th....Benny didn't go down as some of the accounts claim. His right knee buckled considerably, but he was able to stay up. Tendler blasts him with alot of straight lefts. One of them seems to knock Benny clear across the ring into the ropes. Benny is circling to his right ( wrong direction to circle with a southpaw) and walks into alot of the shots.

Benny does finish strong....looks like it was a hell of a fight. First time I've seen it.

 

[Spoonking]

Any good books on Leonard?

 

[KO Cav]

Here's another one....coxcorner.tripod.com

Tendler busted Leonards nose open in the 3rd and dropped Leonard to one knee in the 8th.

" Lew gave me the worst licking I ever had in my life the first time we fought ".....B. Leonard

Be careful with that website. I think Monte Cox does some of the writing himself. He, at least, is largely unreliable.

 

[Sharkey]

Just watched portions of the fight on YOUTUBE (didn't know they had any of Benny's fights up there)......rounds 1-3-8-10-15....Looked razor thin....Tendler really clocks Benny in the 8th....Benny didn't go down as some of the accounts claim. His right knee buckled considerably, but he was able to stay up. Tendler blasts him with alot of straight lefts. One of them seems to knock Benny clear across the ring into the ropes. Benny is circling to his right ( wrong direction to circle with a southpaw) and walks into alot of the shots.

Benny does finish strong....looks like it was a hell of a fight. First time I've seen it.

Ah, so that video did work for you, did it?

Shoot, I tried watching it again myself last night, but all I got when I clicked on it was a "We're sorry, this video is no longer available" message that seems to come up with some frequency when I try to watch some of the videos on there (mostly from the ones put up in 2007).

I guess I might need to add something to play them maybe.

 

[TKDhasBin]

Any good books on Leonard?

There was a book on Leonard years ago.....I believe the title was "Leonard the Magnificent" by Nat Fleischer.......I've looked for it in used/rare book stores with no success. You can probably find it online with a rare book dealer....but don't expect it to be cheap. I believe it was written sometime back in the 40's.

 

[TKDhasBin]

Ah, so that video did work for you, did it?

Shoot, I tried watching it again myself last night, but all I got when I clicked on it was a "We're sorry, this video is no longer available" message that seems to come up with some frequency when I try to watch some of the videos on there (mostly from the ones put up in 2007).

I guess I might need to add something to play them maybe.

You Tube is funny at times....Sometimes it depends on how you are searching. If you type in Leonard vs. Tendler....it won't come up....If you put in Benny Leonard you'll probably get it.

When I first started going on You Tube I punched in Mickey Walkers name and got the Schmeling fight, a training clip and some of the Tommy Milligan fight.....For the longest time, I thought that that was all there was on Mickey....Then I punched in Tommy Loughran and saw his fight with Mickey listed. I was like a kid in the candy store....Didn't even know that fight existed on film and it was the first time I ever saw film of Loughran.....The linking seems to be odd with you tube.....but a great site over all........

 

[Sharkey]

You Tube is funny at times....Sometimes it depends on how you are searching. If you type in Leonard vs. Tendler....it won't come up....If you put in Benny Leonard you'll probably get it.

When I first started going on You Tube I punched in Mickey Walkers name and got the Schmeling fight, a training clip and some of the Tommy Milligan fight.....For the longest time, I thought that that was all there was on Mickey....Then I punched in Tommy Loughran and saw his fight with Mickey listed. I was like a kid in the candy store....Didn't even know that fight existed on film and it was the first time I ever saw film of Loughran.....The linking seems to be odd with you tube.....but a great site over all........

I've always been high on Loughran myself, as Russ Anber (boxing show host in Canada, and frequent radio guest) would know if he had heard me through the television during those few times I was asking him "What about Loughran, you twit?" after Anber put forth one of his 'outstanding eight' in certain categories. But speaking of Anber and to relate it to Mickey Walker, Anber's one of those frequent media types of today that will mutter that the 'pound for pound' term was coined for Robinson, and while Lugu might slap me across the head again for not getting over that pet peeve of mine, here's a little writeup done by the Associated Press on Oct 28th, 1924, just previous to one of Walker's meetings with Jock Malone;


"Fighters and boxers rarely arrive in one human system. Good fighters are rarely good boxers, and good boxers are not always good fighters. The best combination of both trades now around the offing is Mickey Walker, welterweight champion, and the best man, pound for pound, in the business. Mickey can box and Mickey can fight. He has speed, power, skill, the punch, and scrappy instinct. He can both give and take..."


Of course, since this is a thread on Lew Tendler, one of Tendler's most famous fights was his challenge of Walker for the welterweight title just a few months before that was written, and it's also a fight that had a bit of a reverse to the Leonard fight we were discussing...Walker reportedly started out really strong in that one, as he aggressively pursued Tendler who was trying his best to box from distance, and it was said that Walker gave him quite a good working over for the first six rounds of the fight with some strong infighting, body punching, and even had Tendler in some trouble at some points in those rounds (the 4th round tendler was said to have been really rocked by a Walker right). Tendler, though, impressed the hell out of the writers with his ability to take it and even more so with the rally he was said to have pulled off in the last three or four rounds, when he mostly abandoned his attempt at outboxing and started meeting Walker on the inside punch for punch. Lots of "fierce" infighting was described over the last few rounds, with the eighth round apparently being the best of the fight judging by the descriptions of it being a round "nobody will ever forget", and it's also a round that Tendler reportedly staggered Walker somewhat with his left on a couple of occasions.

Tendler was given credit for a couple/few rounds late in the fight when he staged his rally, but he couldn't overcome the deficit Walker had built on him over the first six, and Walker was given what was called the rightful decision. Both were praised quite a bit though for what was described as a highly entertaining fight, with Tendler being praised mostly for his rally.

 

[Sharkey]

With all the missing posts, broken threads, and whatnot, I guess this place has been feeling a little bit sick as of late and not wanting to work right. Maybe this post will bump up this thread and show I posted in it again.

 

[Sharkey]

Nope.