Benjamin Jamito Gan (February 24, 1913 – August 4, 1976), known professionally as Small Montana, was a

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

boxer. Montana, who stood 5 feet and 4 inch (163 cm) tall and never weighed more than 112 pounds, won the Flyweight Championship of the World (as recognized by New York state).

Fighting style

Montana was known for his quick punches, although he was a scrappy and not very tall fighter; he had not the KO punch but was speedy and clever. Montana scored just 13 knockouts in 83 professional wins.

Early life

Benjamin Gan was born in

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Western ...

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, on February 24, 1913, a son of the local chief of police father Teodhore Gan, He was of Chinese descent and Marinella Jamito, She was an office clerk and was the oldest five children. In 1920 Gan began his studying at age 6, he attend of Rizal Elementary School and he completed of the sixth grade, and until the fourth year high school at age 17 of

Negros Occidental High School Negros Occidental High School is a public secondary educational institution and oldest public secondary school in the province located in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines that was founded since 1902. The school currently offers var ...

. Gan grew up after high school at age 17, He was also a skilled blacksmith with the passion for boxing and was inspired by the fights of

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...

. He carried a photo of Guilledo in his wallet at all times. At a young age, Gan changed his name to Small Montana ("little mountain") and ran away from home to become a professional boxer in 1932 at age 18.

Professional career

He won the American Flyweight Title by beating Midget Wolgast twice in 1935. He also went abroad to defend his title, but lost to

Benny Lynch Benjamin Lynch (2 April 1913 – 6 August 1946) was a Scottish professional boxer who fought in the flyweight division. He is considered by some to be one of the finest boxers below the lightweight division in his era and has been described as ...

in a 15-round bout in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on January 9, 1937. He also tried to fight for a world championship but fell short in all his world title matches. During his career he fought

Little Dado Eleuterio Zapanta or Little Dado, (January 1, 1916 – July 7, 1965), was a flyweight boxer from the Philippines, who became World bantamweight champion in 1940 and World flyweight champion in 1941. Professional career Little Dado was one of the ...

and Little Pancho (half-brother of

Francisco Guilledo Francisco Villaruel Guilledo (August 1, 1901 – July 14, 1925), more commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino professional boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch (154 cm) tall and never weighed more than 114 poun ...

) but lost to both of them on points. He defeated Manuel Ortiz, Midget Wolgast,

Tony Marino Tony Silipini (April 20, 1931 – May 28, 2021) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tony Marino. Professional wrestling career Early career (1954-1963) Tony Silipini was born in 1931. He started wrestling i ...

, Joe Tei Ken,

Speedy Dado Diosdado Posadas (December 25, 1906 - July 2, 1990), better known as Speedy Dado, was a Filipino boxer who contended for the world flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight championships. His managers included Frank Churchill, and Jesus Corte ...

, Tommy Forte, Augie Curtis, Pat Palmer, Frankie Jarr, Eugene "Tuffy" Pierpont and Antol "Tony" Kocsis.

References

External links

* 1913 births 1976 deaths Flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers Boxers from Negros Occidental Filipino male boxers {{Philippines-boxing-bio-stub