Louis "Kid" Kaplan (born October 15, 1901, in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

– October 26, 1970), known as the Meridan Buzzsaw, was a professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and a 1925 world

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

champion.

Early life

Kaplan and his family emigrated to the United States from the

when he was five years old and settled in

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden ( ) is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the South Central Connecticut Planni ...

. While selling fruit for five cents a day, he began boxing as a teenager at the Lenox Athletic Club in Meriden, and turned professional in 1919.

Professional career

Kaplan began his boxing career in the Connecticut State circuit. At the time, Meriden was an epicenter of boxing in the Northeastern United States. Early in his career, Kaplan fought the popular local favorite and former New York State champion Charlie Pilkington. Though they never boxed a professional match together, their early rivalry and Pilkington's role as a mentor and sparring partner had much to do with launching Kaplan's very successful boxing career. A busy fighter, he engaged in over 50 bouts in his first four years in the paid ranks. During one of his early fights in 1920, Kaplan knocked out opponent Sailor Cunningham within two minutes. After winning against Hughie Hutchinson and Earl Baird in 1922, Kaplan gained significant popularity. In 1923 he twice drew with rival

Babe Herman Floyd Caves "Babe" Herman (June 26, 1903 – November 27, 1987) was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder between and , most prominently as a member of the Brooklyn Dod ...

before scoring a 10-round win over future world lightweight champ

Jimmy Goodrich Jimmy Goodrich became the Undisputed World Lightweight Champion when he defeated Chilean boxer Stanislaus Loayza in a second round TKO at Queensboro Stadium in Queens, New York on July 13, 1925. He retained the title only five months, losing it ...

World featherweight champion, 1925

By late 1924, World Featherweight champion

Johnny Dundee Johnny "The Scotch Wop" Dundee (November 19, 1893 – April 22, 1965) was an American featherweight and the first world junior lightweight champion boxer who fought from 1910 until 1932. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in ...

vacated his title and a tournament was arranged to determine a successor. "Kid" kayoed Angel Diaz in three rounds, outpointed Bobby Garcia over 10-rounds, and then halted Joe Lombardo in four rounds to advance to the finals. On January 2, 1925, he knocked out Danny Kramer in nine rounds at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

to become the new champion. His first two defenses were against the familiar Babe Herman (D15 and W15) in late 1925. Kaplan next decisioned Hall of Famer

Billy Petrolle William Michael Petrolle (January 10, 1905 – May 14, 1983) was a world lightweight boxing title contender. Boxing ran in the Petrolle family as his brothers Pete and Frank also shared his occupation.

over 12 rounds in a non-title bout. However, Kaplan's reign as champion was nearing its end. Despite standing 5 ft 4 in., he was experiencing difficulty making the featherweight limit and decided to relinquish the crown to campaign as a lightweight in 1927. As a 135-pounder, he scored wins over

Jackie Fields Jackie Fields (Jacob Finkelstein, February 9, 1908 – June 3, 1987) was an American professional boxer who won the Undisputed Welterweight Championship twice. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Fields as the #19 ranked welterweight of all ...

Johnny Jadick John J. Jadick, better known as Johnny Jadick (June 16, 1908 – April 3, 1970) was an American light welterweight boxer and the NBA light welterweight world champion in 1932. In September 1932, the NBA decided not to recognize junior divisio ...

, Billy Wallace,

Battling Battalino Christopher Battaglia (February 18, 1908 – July 25, 1977) better known as Battling Battalino, was an American Undisputed Featherweight boxing champion. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Battalino engaged in 88 bouts during his career, of which he ...

and

Sammy Mandell Sammy Mandell (a.k.a. Samuel Mandella; February 5, 1904 – November 7, 1967) was an American Undisputed World lightweight boxing champion from 1926-1930. Born in Rockford, Illinois, and named Salvatore Mandala, he was known as the "Rockford She ...

among others. Amongst the wins were losses to Wallace and Hall of Famer

Jimmy McLarnin James Archibald McLarnin (19 December 1907 – 28 October 2004) was an Irish people, Irish professional boxer who became a two-time list of undisputed world boxing champions#Welterweight, Undisputed Welterweight World Champion and an Internatio ...

. In 1933 he lost to Herbert "Cocoa Kid" Lewis Hardwick, and promptly retired from the ring with a 108-17-13D- 12 ND (26KOs) record. Known as a rugged, pressing boxer who possessed tremendous stamina, the crowd-pleasing "Meriden Buzzsaw" died on October 26, 1970, in Norwich, Connecticut.

Halls of Fame

Kaplan was inducted into 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 ...

in 2003. Kaplan, who was

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish, was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

in 1986.

Miscellaneous

*Brother of fellow boxer Israel "Izzy" Kaplan

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

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 ...

, 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 to the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s to the win/loss/draw column.

Professional championships

References

External links

*
Cyber Boxing Zone Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Kid 1901 births 1970 deaths American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Featherweight boxers Boxers from Connecticut Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jewish American boxers Jews from Connecticut Boxers from Kyiv World featherweight boxing champions American male boxers 20th-century American Jews