Jack Britton (October 14, 1885 – March 27, 1962) was an American boxer who was the first three-time world welterweight boxing champion. Born William J. Breslin in Clinton, New York, his professional career lasted for 25 years beginning in 1905. He holds the world record for the number of title bouts fought in a career with 37 (18 of which ended in no decisions), many against his arch-rival

Ted "Kid" Lewis Ted "Kid" Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff; 28 October 1894 – 20 October 1970) was an English-Jewish professional Boxing, boxer who twice won the World Welterweight Championship (147 pound (mass), lb). Lewis is often ranked among the all-tim ...

, against whom he fought 20 times.International Boxing Hall of Fame - Jack Britton
IBHOF.com Retrieved on 2014-04-05 Statistical boxing website

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

lists Britton as the No. 6 ranked welterweight of all time while ''

The Ring Magazine ''The Ring'' (often called ''The Ring'' magazine or ''Ring'' magazine) is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into questio ...

'' founder

Nat Fleischer Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer (November 3, 1887 – June 25, 1972) was a noted American boxing writer and collector. Career Fleischer was born in New York City. After he graduated from City College of New York in 1908, Fleischer worked for the ''N ...

placed him at No. 3. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1960 and the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

as a first-class member in 1990.Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia - Jack Britton
CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

's short story " Fifty Grand" is based on the Jack Britton/ Mickey Walker fight in Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1922.Jack Britton Retains World Welterweight Title
Boxing360.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30 Other sources, like the famous writer of boxing, Budd Schulberg, link this story to the Britton/Benny Leonard fight the previous June in the Bronx Hippodrome where Leonard lost in what appeared to be an intentional foul. Leonard was specifically mentioned in the first draft of Hemingway's short story.

World Welterweight Title Defense Against Benny Leonard

"This fight is one of the most controversial in the history of the ring, as shown by a reading of about fifteen accounts by New York sportswriters (supplied by Jack Kincaid). The writers were unanimous in having Britton well ahead after twelve fast rounds. He had crowded Leonard, cleverly outboxed him, and even marked him up. Leonard did have a good round eleven, staggering Britton twice, but Jack had a big 12th. In the 13th, Leonard landed a left to Britton's body which caused him to gasp, folding his hands over his mid-section, and go down to his knees. Jack seemed to claim a foul (although he said afterward that he didn't), but Referee Patsy Haley disallowed the claim. Britton came up to one knee and Leonard rushed in and struck him a light blow, causing the referee to disqualify Benny. Leonard claimed that this final blow was not a foul, but none of the reporters agreed. The reporters, who included Damon Runyon, Sid Mercer, Hype Igoe, W.R. McGeehan, and George Underwood, drew various conclusions about the ending. Some thought that the conclusion was staged, others did not. The spectators seemed inclined to believe that something had been put over on them, but perhaps the best approach is to take the result at face value."

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a " no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...

s are officially regarded as "no decision" bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s in the win/loss/draw column.

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

* World welterweight champion (147 lbs) (3×) * NYSAC

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion (147 lbs) * NBA (WBA) welterweight champion (147 lbs)

Regional/International titles

* American welterweight champion (147 lbs)

Undisputed titles

* Undisputed welterweight champion

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

*
Cyber Boxing Zone Bio

Hickok Sports Bio
, - , - *https://titlehistories.com/boxing/wba/wba-world-wl.html *https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-wl.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Jack 1885 births 1962 deaths Boxers from New York (state) American male boxers Welterweight boxers World welterweight boxing champions World boxing champions