Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

62 | JANUARY 12 • 2023 

Jews and Boxing
O

ver the years, our JN sports 
reporter, Steve Stein, has written 
a number of articles about 
boxing. Last year, he penned several 
items about boxing matches promoted by 
Dmitriy Salita, who is a rare person in the 
modern era: an Orthodox Jewish boxing 
promoter.
From 2001-2013, Salita was himself an 
accomplished welterweight 
boxer, with a fine record of 
35 wins and only two losses 
with one draw. Observant, he 
did not fight on Shabbat or 
Jewish holidays.
The heyday of Jewish 
boxers is long past. In the 
1920s and 1930s, when 
boxing was perhaps the 
most popular sport in America, many 
championship belts were held by Jewish 
boxers. Steve’s recent reports about Salita 
reminded me that there are still Jewish 
— and Israeli — professional boxers, so, 
I thought I would research the sport in 
the William Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit History.
The search term “boxing” is mentioned 
on over a whopping 40,000 pages. Many of 
these references, however, cite “boxes” or 
a “box” or the like. Even when eliminating 
citations with such derivatives, the Detroit 
Jewish Chronicle and JN over the past 
100 years hold thousands of stories about 
boxing and boxers.
The earliest boxing story is in the 
Aug. 10, 1917, Chronicle. The article 
has a somewhat archaic-sounding title, 
“Pugilistic Ranks Invaded By Hebrews 
Who Hold Four of Seven World’s Titles,” 
but it makes quite a statement. In an era 
when only seven people in the entire 
world were universally recognized boxing 
champions, Jews held over half the titles. 
Observant Jewish professional athletes, 
like Salita, have always had a tougher path 
to follow. Legendary baseball player Hank 
Greenberg, for example, suffered criticism 

and jeers when he refused to play on 
Yom Kippur. Long before Greenberg’s 
time, all-time great lightweight 
champion boxer Benny Leonard 
declared: “If I Can’t be Home With 
‘Ma’ on Yom Kippur, I Won’t Fight.” 
His bout in Detroit was rescheduled 
so that he could be home in New 
York for the High Holiday (Oct. 3, 
1919, Chronicle).
Some Jewish boxers excelled 
beyond a championship title. At one time, 
Barney Ross held both the lightweight 
and welterweight belts (June 6, 1934, 
Chronicle). After his retirement from the 
ring, Ross would go on to become a hero 
with the Marines in World War II. 
Max Baer reached the pinnacle of 
the sporting world when he beat James 
Braddock for the world heavyweight 
championship in 1934. In the ring, Baer 
always wore the Star of David on his 
trunks in honor of his Jewish grandfather 
(June 22, 1934, Chronicle).
While Jewish boxers are rarer these 
days, there are still many Jewish 
promoters, managers, writers, television 
commentators and others who participate 
in the sport. This includes a number of 
Jewish Detroiters. Jackie Kallen is one 
of only a few women to manage boxers. 
Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum was the state 
boxing commissioner for many years. 
Jessica Hauser is the executive director 
of the Downtown Boxing Gym that 
does so much for Detroit youth. And, 
Dmitriy Salita promotes boxing in Detroit, 
including the best female boxer in the 
world, Claressa Shields, who is from Flint.
For those interested in the “Sweet 
Science,” as famed New York writer A.J. 
Liebling called boxing, the Davidson 
Archives holds a wealth of boxing history 
and stories of Jewish boxers. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.
org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

