Al Singer boxer

Al "The Bronx Beauty" Singer (September 6, 1909 – April 20, 1961) was an American boxer who won the world lightweight championship in 1930.Singer was born in a tenement on Broome Street, part of the Jewish section in New York's Lower East Side on September 6, 1909. He was one of four sons and a daughter born to an ambitious ladies' garment entrepreneur who would keep his large family in America's middle class. Singer, an all round athlete who loved basketball, was discovered by boxing trainers Harry Drucker and Hymie Caplan after his tenth amateur bout which included a great showing in his first outing against the New York State Bantamweight champion, Jimmy Cruze. As an amateur boxer, he won the Metropolitan AAU featherweight title. Singer had unsurpassed grace and a studied style in the ring, and he could punch with authority, but unlike the great lightweight Benny Leonard, to whom he was often compared, he could not take a strong punch and was considered to have a "glass jaw". His quick rise to fame, and equally quick demise could be explained by these competing characteristics.Debuting as a professional in Brooklyn with a knockout of Jim Reilly on July 2, 1927, Singer went undefeated in his first two years as a professional. His affectionate New York fans dubbed him "The Bronx Beauty" for both his looks and exceptional grace in the ring. Though Singer was young and had stayed far distant from crime, his exceptional winning record caught the eye of the New York mob, who hoped to bring him to a championship as quickly as possible. Most reference books on Singer noted that in 1928, two men came to his training camp and asked to meet with his manager Harry Drucker. Accepting a ride with the men, Drucker was never heard from again, and Singer came under the influence of the mob, who many believed fixed a few of his early fights. He performed exceptionally well against Lou Moscowitz at Madison Square Garden and Pete Zivic at St. Nicholas in late 1928, knocking them out in five and six rounds respectively. In his first real feature match on September 14, 1928, Singer and the exceptionally skilled Tony Canzoneri, former holder of the featherweight world title, battled to a 10-round draw, satisfying an impressed audience and spotlighting Singer as a potential feather or lightweight contender. In his career, Singer won 61 of 72 pro fights (25 by KO), drawing twice, and losing nine.In February and March 1929, Singer faced former 1927 world bantamweight champion Bud Taylor at Madison Square Garden, winning in a fourth round disqualification and a ten-round points decision. In Singer's win by disqualification, Taylor landed a low left hook to the body, 52 seconds into the fourth, that caused Singer to drop to his knees in pain. The bout was fast, furious, and close in the opening rounds. In their ten-round bout on March 15, before 20,000 at the Garden, the fighting was close, but Taylor's attempts to end the bout with hooks to the body were not adequate to slow down Singer, who was permitted to land a few rights to the jaw of Taylor, gaining essential points in the closely scored bout.In a non-title bout on July 24, 1929, before a crowd of around 29,000, Singer defeated Frenchman Andre Routis, reigning NBA world featherweight champion, in an impressive second-round technical knockout at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn. Singer first floored the Frenchman with a count of five from a right to the jaw preceded by a right left combination, that was followed by a count of three with another right after Routis resumed boxing. On his third trip to the canvas, the referee called a technical knockout.On August 29, 1929, Singer lost an important twelve round bout with Black Cuban boxer Kid Chocolate, at the Polo Grounds in New York with 50,000 in attendance. It was a swift, clean fight that featured no knockdowns, but studied technique and style. In the fifth and the eighth, Chocolate landed two powerful rights to the head of Singer that nearly staggered him, but he stayed on his feet. In the second and eleventh, Singer boxed Chocolate around the ring, but at the end of each round Chocolate answered with a flurry of his own. Singer appeared better in the early rounds, and was the aggressor particularly in the second, fourth and fifth. In the seventh, eighth and ninth, Chocolate rallied, using his right with enough effect to gain a points advantage from which Singer could not recover. Chocolate clearly took the twelfth, conceding the tenth by a hair to Singer. The decision was unpopular with the New York crowd, who may have been aware that Chocolate effectively blocked a large number of the blows that Singer appeared to land. Chocolate let Singer take the lead, slowly wearing him down, and using his best defense against him.