Benny Bass

Benjamin "Benny" Baruch J. Bass (December 4, 1904 – June 25, 1975), known as "Little Fish", was an American boxer.

Bass was born in Kyiv, Russian Empire on December 4, 1904, the second son to Jewish parents Jacob and Pauline and was brought to America three years later.

His father first came to Philadelphia to earn enough money to send for his five sons and wife in Kiev.

They sailed to America but were first rescued from a shipwreck on their way, spending five weeks in Queenstown, Ireland.

By ten, he was making a living selling newspapers at a busy street corner in Philadelphia.

In his early teens, Benny held down a job at Curtis Publishing Company, who published The Saturday Evening Post.

From age twelve to sixteen, Bass won 95 of 100 bouts as an amateur.

He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, with his family emigrating to the United States in 1906; choosing to settle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Bass was world featherweight champion and world junior lightweight champion during his career.

Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Bass as the #17 ranked lightweight of all time.

Impressively, he qualified for the Olympic Trials in the Flyweight Class in 1920, where he lost a decision to the future Gold Medal winner Frankie Genaro.

Turning pro the following year, he was managed by Phil Glassman.

In an important early career bout, Bass defeated Johnny Dixon, a leading featherweight contender, in a ten-round newspaper decision on August 30, 1923.

By 1926, he was rated the number one featherweight contender.

On January 11, 1926, Bass defeated Leo (Kid) Roy, in a ten-round points decision in Philadelphia.

In an action filled bout, Roy held a slight lead through the first five rounds.

Roy may have taken the sixth and eighth.

The fighting was particularly fierce in the ninth and tenth, with both boxers swapping punches at close range, but Bass had acquired enough points in the last five rounds to take the decision.

Before an impressive crowd of 20,000, in one of his most important early wins, Bass defeated highly rated featherweight contender Babe Herman on September 1, 1926 in a ten-round points decision at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

In a raucous battle, Bass dropped Herman to the canvas in five instances, with three times in the second for counts of nine, two, and nine, once in the third for a count of seven, and once in the tenth for a count of six where Herman could have risen earlier.

Herman's need to fight a defensive battle marred the bout with frequent instances of clinching.

His opponent threw several looping rights, but Bass was usually able to come inside of them as an effective defense.

Several times Herman's right did connect with jaw and body at close quarters, but Bass weathered the blows quickly.

Herman threw a right in the second, followed almost instantaneously from a left from Bass that sent both boxers to the canvas, though Bass recovered more quickly and was on his feet.

Herman took a count of nine on one knee.

At 5'4", with a two-inch advantage in height, Herman likely benefited from a slight reach advantage, but Bass tended to do well against boxers with slight advantages in reach.

Early in his career on June 27, 1927, Bass defeated Jewish New York boxer Joe Glick in a ten-round points decision at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

Bass sent Glick to the canvas twice in the fifth, once for a count of eight.

Respecting each other's abilities, and suffering from fatigue, the match was marked by frequent clinching.

Several times in later rounds Glick was staggered by Bass's punches but managed to stay on his feet.

On September 12, 1927, Bass defeated Jewish boxer Red Chapman (Morris Kaplan) before an extraordinary crowd of 30,000 in Philadelphia for the NBA world featherweight championship in a ten-round unanimous decision.

In the fourth through seventh, Bass managed to fight from a distance using his long game to prevent Chapman from opening a swollen cut on his eye opened in the third round.

Bass led a two fisted slugging attack in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, that gained him a points margin and won him the decision of all three judges.

In the early ninth, an unusual sight occurred, when both boxers charged each other, landing rights to their jaws and were knocked to the canvas simultaneously.

Bass recovered more quickly, but Chapman took a count of eight before resuming the bout.

Bass lost the world featherweight title to Tony Canzoneri on February 10, 1928 at Madison Square Garden in a fifteen-round split decision, with Bass sustaining a break to his right collarbone from a left to the jaw at the end of the third round that landed him hard on the canvas, causing the collarbone damage.

Bass inflicted some severe body punishment during the fight, but Canzoneri eased ahead on points after Bass's knockdown in the third that resulted in his injury.

Bass defeated Jewish Philadelphian boxer Harry Blitman before a crowd of 24,000 on September 10, 1928 in a sixth-round knockout at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002.

Strongly built with muscular shoulders, Bass's signature punch was a powerful left hook to the midsection, and he enjoyed fighting on the inside, a frequent requirement from his relative lack of reach.