Sid Terris pugile

Sidney Terris (September 7, 1904 – December 30, 1974) was a top rated American lightweight boxing contender from the lower East Side of Manhattan. He excelled as an amateur, winning fifty straight bouts and taking Metropolitan, New York State, National AAU, and both National and International titles.At the end of 1924, Tex Rickard, Dempsey's manager, rated Terris second behind only champion Benny Leonard. A world ranked lightweight from February 1925 until November 1929, his highest ranking was # 1. On February 6, 1925, he lost to Sammy Mandell in an elimination bout for the World Lightweight Championship.Terris was born one of five children on September 27, 1904 on Clinton Street in the lower East Side of Manhattan to Fred and Gussie Terris. His father died when he was only eight, leaving his single mother to bring up the large family. An early coach, Dan Caplin recognized his skilled footwork, and had Terris learning to box by age thirteen. Boxing as an amateur, Terris was a prodigy from an early age, winning fifty bouts in a row, and accumulating titles that included the Metropolitan Amateur, New York State Amateur, and both National and International Amateur titles.Terris turned pro in 1922 at the age of eighteen, winning eighteen of nineteen fights that year. Author Ken Blady noted that Terris's greatest strength, his early speed and constant footwork in the ring, could also be a detriment against more skilled opponents, as it exhausted him and made him less a threat near the end of his fights.In his first years as a pro, and not yet nineteen, Terris beat exceptional boxer Eddie "Kid" Wagner in a ten-round points decision at the Henderson Bowl in Brooklyn on June 3, 1924 after a previous six round loss.Terris had a few exceptional wins by knockout as a young pro. He was the first boxer to get a full count from Andy Chaney winning in a third-round knockout at the Henderson Bowl in Brooklyn on May 23, 1924, as well as winning with a seventh-round knockout of Johnny Lisse on January 21, 1924 at the Lenox Athletic Club in New York. Chaney, in over 130 fights, had never been knocked out. Impressively, Terris fought Sammy Mandell, 1926-30 Lightweight Boxing Champion, to a ten-round draw at Madison Square Garden on December 17, 1923. One source noted that Terris's greatest bout in 1924, was a decisive win against French born Jewish boxing great Benny Valgar, in a ten-round decision at the Nostrand Athletic Club in Brooklyn.