Sam Mossberg boxer

Samuel A. Mossberg or Mosberg (June 14, 1896 – August 30, 1967) was an American lightweight professional boxer who competed in the early 1920s. He was managed by Billy Gibson and Jack Bulger for most of his professional career.Mosberg was born in Austria on June 14, 1896, but grew up on New York City's East side, a largely Jewish section. He began his prolific amateur boxing career in 1912 at age 16 with New York's Pastime Athletic Club and gained vast experience, eventually fighting an impressive 250 amateur fights.Boxing for the navy in World War I, Mosberg won the lightweight championship for his base, the Newport Naval Station at Newport, Rhode, Island, where he continued his amateur boxing career against navy fighters. He simultaneously worked as a navy boxing instructor, as did his friend boxer Mel Coogan, before he was discharged and returned to his civilian amateur career. His patriotic service in World War I and subsequent training and participation in the Olympics delayed his entry into boxing's professional ranks until he reached the age of twenty four.Mosberg did not perform well enough in the Olympic trials in Boston to be placed on the two-person American lightweight boxing team, but was picked as an alternate and sailed to the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium in August 1920. He was selected for the team when he defeated a higher-ranking team member, black boxer Ben Pontieu, in a match on the boat ride. Mosberg also claimed to have beaten Pontieu earlier that year in an Eastern elimination tournament prior to the trials, and admired his skills and technique. In 1952, he claimed Pontieu was a better boxer than those he would later meet in the Olympics. The New York Age told a different version of Pontieu's Olympic trails experience, but omitted that Mosberg had beaten Pontieu prior to the Olympics. With an exceptional performance in his Olympic showing on August 23, 1920, Mosberg knocked out his Semi-Final competitor, rugged South African, Richard Beland, only seconds into the first round, establishing what might have been an Olympic record at the time for fastest knockout. Not long after the opening bell, Mosberg feinted, and connected with a powerful hook to Beland's chin that sent his opponent to the canvas for the count and ended the bout. In his Olympic Finals match on August 24, he defeated Danish boxer Gottfred Johansen, and claimed the gold medal. In one of his proudest moments, he was presented with his medal by King Albert of Belgium in an Olympic ceremony.His Olympic coach, Spike Webb, the long serving boxing coach for the US Olympics, and Naval Academy's teams, commented once that Mosberg was the greatest Olympic champion he had ever coached.