Jack Britton
American boxer
Died when: 76 years 164 days (917 months)Star Sign: Libra
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, against whom he fought 20 times.
Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Britton as the No. 6 ranked welterweight of all time while The Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at No. 3.
He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1960 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class member in 1990.
Ernest Hemingway's short story "Fifty Grand" is based on the Jack Britton/Mickey Walker fight in Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1922.
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.
