Abe Simon pugile

Abraham Simon (May 30, 1913 – October 24, 1969) was an American professional heavyweight boxer. He fought Joe Louis for the world heavyweight title twice. He was managed for most of his career by Jimmy Johnston, and trained by Freddie Brown. In 1940, he was rated the sixth best heavyweight in the world, and would rise higher in the next two years. After retiring, he became an actor and had roles in two of America's best known boxing movies, Academy Award winner On the Waterfront, and Requiem for a Heavyweight.Simon was born to Jewish parents Max and Rose in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York on May 30, 1913, and attended John Adams High School. He was a star lineman on his high school football team and was an interscholastic shot-put champion before taking up boxing. During a High School football game, several boxing promoters in the crowd noticed his strength and told him if he pursued boxing, he could have a lucrative career and they could arrange for him to be trained by the legendary trainer and cut man Freddie Brown. Brown trained many of boxing's greatest including Italian champions Rocky Marciano, and Graziano, and later Larry Holmes and Robert Duran. While pursuing his boxing career in his 20s he worked as a police patrolman in Long Beach, New York.Making a stir in his professional debut in March, 1935, at the age of 21, he knocked out Jim Dowling at the Jamaica Arena in Queens, New York. According to most sources, in an impressive display, he won his next thirteen fights, and nearly all by knockout. His two most notable early career losses against well known adversaries came against Lou Nova in 1936 in a six-round points decision and the six-foot-six Buddy Baer, brother of Max, who knocked him out in three rounds in 1937.In a rare loss on January 22, 1940, he dropped a decision to Willie Reddish in a well-attended match in Philadelphia. Simon was down twice in the match, and Reddish was given eight of the ten rounds. Reddish peppered Simon's body and jaw with left hooks and right swings, and won an easy decision. In the prior month on December 6, 1939, Simon had defeated Reddish in a fourth-round TKO in Philadelphia. As was not uncommon in Simon's matches, he had a sizable weight advantage over his opponent, in this instance a remarkable fifty-six pounds. The match took a turn for the worse in the fourth when the two boxers' heads clashed, and Reddish received a bad gash on his forehead, leading to the referee ending the fight from a technical knockout in the fourth.In one of his most memorable victories, in a ramp up to the heavyweight title, he knocked out the legendary Jersey Joe Walcott, a future heavyweight champion, in six rounds in Newark, New Jersey, on February 12, 1940. A heavyweight in every sense, he benefitted from a remarkable sixty-two pound weight advantage in the match. Behind in points in the first five rounds, Simon unleashed a tremendous right to the mouth of Walcott 2:32 into the sixth causing the knockout, and Walcott barely moved as he was counted out by the referee.In a well-attended match against a known opponent, Simon defeated Eddie Blunt in a ten-round points decision at the Meadowbrook Bowl in Newark, New Jersey on May 20, 1940. The last three rounds were fought in a heavy rain in the outdoor arena. Simon outweighed Blunt by 28 pounds, and persevered to pull off the win with a points victory.