Phil Lolosky: The Contender No One Wanted to Fight

Phil "Tubby" Lolosky's career was relatively brief because he immediately faced tough competition. Incredibly, Lolosky wouldn't fight in any bout scheduled for fewer than fifteen rounds until his 27th pro contest, his first in the United States. From his first fight until his first retirement, he faced the best flyweights and bantamweights the United Kingdom had to offer.

Growing up in Aldgate

Philip Lolosky was born on May 17, 1905 to Barnett and Rachel in London. The second of four sons, Philip grew up on Stoney Lane in the Aldgate area of London's East End. It was a poor Jewish neighborhood that regularly churned out professional boxers.

One day, young Phil came home with a black eye. Rachel asked, "Where'd you get that?"

"You should see the other boy," Phil retorted. Soon after, the other boy came to the Lolosky abode with his mother. Phil hid under the bed, more afraid of the kid's mother than anything else. He stayed there for an hour until the coast was finally clear. On the streets of East London, fighting was not only a common pastime, but a way of life. Phil got into plenty of rows as a boy. Of course, he was smart enough to realize there's no one more dangerous than a mother looking to avenge her boy.

Phil attended the Jews' Free School (JFS), located on Bells Lane, just as his father had. The JFS took in Jewish immigrants from Russia in order to help them learn English and adapt to life in London. Phil's family, though, had lived in England for generations. "I am English and proud of it," he once declared.

When he was fourteen years old, Lolosky joined the Hutchinson House Club where he first learned to box. Boxing was in his blood; Phil was a descendent of famed bareknuckle brawler Abraham Belasco and a distant relative of the great Daniel Mendoza. Phil was a blend of Ashkenazi and Sephardi on his dad's side, a rare mix in those days. London had a small Sephardic population, which tended to stick together, and thus, many of its members were related in some way.

Lolosky soon joined the Jewish Lads' Brigade (JLB) where he began to take boxing more seriously. The JLB, founded in 1895, provided Jewish boys, particularly immigrants, with extracurricular activities and a means to acculturate into British society. Lolosky and his JLB teammates captured the Prince of Wales Shield, a boxing tournament for organizations affiliated with the military, several years in a row.

At this time, Phil's buddies started calling him "Tubby," not because of any weight issue- he was a tiny fellow- but as a uniquely British Jewish play on words to show what a good boxer he was. An absolutely dominant amateur flyweight during the early 1920s, Tubby dreamed of fighting for Olympic gold, but an injury to his right hand abruptly ended his hopes for the 1924 Games.

The Deep End

Because of his amateur success, Victor Berliner and Manny Lyttlestone, the promotors at Premierland, the most prestigious boxing venue in London at the time, tried to induce Phil to turn pro several times, but Barnett and Rachel were vehemently opposed to the plan. In 1925, Phil finally signed a contract with the Priemierland duo for a year, against his parents' wishes. His uncle, Morris "Taffy" Isaacs, served as his manager; Dave Phillips was his trainer.

Tubby was thrown right in with the tuna, the sharks, and the killer whales. His pro debut took place on August 20, at Premierland in a fifteen-rounder against Harry Hill who was entering his fortieth fight. Lolosky was stopped in the thirteenth round after controlling the action much of the way. "I got rather weak towards the end," he said later. Instead of a few months off and perhaps a reevaluation of his career trajectory, Lolosky was thrown right back in there ten days later. He stopped a ten-year pro with a winning record in the fourth of a scheduled fifteen rounds.

Berliner and Lyttlestone clearly wanted Lolosky to be the next Jack "Kid" Berg, the immensely popular Whitechapel sensation and future 140-pound champion. Tubby's first three fights, all fifteen-rounders, were on Berg undercards.

Nearly four months after his debut, Lolosky avenged his defeat with a comfortable points victory over Harry Hill. He showed considerable improvement since their first tussle. The two would meet four times in total and Lolosky prevailed in three of them. After his first victory over Hill, the Premierland pair bumped Lolosky up to a twenty-rounder against Bert Laws. By this point, Phil was so popular he was headlining. Another Jewish boxer trained by Dave Phillips, Jack Hyams, also known as Kid Froggy, often fought on his undercards.

After beating Laws and two other opponents inside of a month, he faced Young Jackie Brown, a tough Jewish opponent. The legendary Ted "Kid" Lewis served as referee for the twenty-rounder; the great Jewish lightweight Harry Mason worked Brown's corner. Lolosky won the fight by decision with his jab and took home £250 for his efforts.

Stepping Up Even More

Tubby then rattled off five straight wins, including two stoppage victories. One knockout was in a rematch against Young Jackie Brown. Phil next faced Nicolas Petit Biquet, a young star and the Belgian flyweight champ. On November 4, 1926 at Royal Albert Hall, Lolosky and Biquet fought a thrilling fifteen round battle. Lolosky came away with a close points victory, arguably the best win of his career. On account of his fight against Phil, Biquet was praised as the second coming of Jimmy Wilde.

"Although I was satisfied in my own mind that I had won that fight," Lolosky said, "I was not at all satisfied with my boxing on that occasion. I knew I had fought a bad fight, and I asked for a return contest."

The Belgian evened the score a month later in another exciting scrap at the same venue. Just as in the first fight, both boxers gained prestige from the close contest, but Lolosky was indignant. "I know I boxed better. I was shocked at the verdict," he declared. 

After a win, Lolosky then fought Johnny Hill. The Scottish-born Hill was not far off from winning the British and European flyweight titles and grabbing a claim to the world title. As for the fight between Lolosky and Hill, Jack Berg put it succinctly, "Phil Lolosky was a good flyweight, but Johnny Hill was a better flyweight."

Lolosky was a very skilled boxer. He slipped and dodged punches so expertly that he often kept his right hand low. Against a talented power puncher like Johnny Hill, it proved to be his undoing. Tubby had a terrific jab and liked to throw one-twos. His shots were typically straight. To this point, he only had three knockouts, one was due to an opponent's injured hand, so he lacked power. He was a pure boxer of the hit-and-don't-get-hit variety, who found his way into some exciting fights.

Chasing the Title

Over the next two and half months, Lolosky went undefeated in five fights with four wins and a draw. On July 3, 1927, he fought Johnny Hill in a rematch at Premierland. Hill had picked up the vacant British flyweight title by beating Alf Barber in May after grabbing a win over Biquet. The title was not on the line as both weighed 116 pounds. Tubby started the fight off well, but faded down the stretch of a great battle. The tenth was the turning point and the round of the fight. Ultimately, the verdict was a draw, much to the frustration of both fighters.

With a draw against Hill and a win over Biquet, Lolosky was one of the top flyweight contenders in the world. But a month after the Hill rematch, Lolosky suffered a setback. Jim Hanna of Belfast was an experienced veteran and a very good fighter, but not on the level Tubby hoped to achieve. Hanna had just lost to Johnny Hill and he couldn't quite beat the top fighters. Things were going well early as a short right from Lolosky knocked down Hanna in the third round. But Hanna's pressure and constant infighting wore down Tubby.  A body shot put down Lolosky in the ninth, though he came back to stagger Hanna with a straight right and then won the tenth. By the twelfth, Lolosky's left eye was swollen and his face marked up. After fifteen hard-fought rounds, Hanna was deemed the winner.

After a bounce-back win, Lolosky was off the the United States to drum up support for a title shot. Fidel (pronounced Fiddle) LaBarba had just vacated the flyweight world championship, and Lolosky believed voyaging to America was his best shot at replacing the reigning Olympic gold medalist.

Phil traveled to America with his mother Rachel, who was visiting a relative in New York, on September 24, 1927. Charles J. Harvey managed Phil while he was in the States. James Dawson, the boxing scribe for the New York Times claimed Lolosky "is regarded as the best flyweight in Europe today."

Harvey had trouble getting Lolosky fights at flyweight. Filipino American Trip Limbaco stepped up to the challenge and in Lolosky's shortest scheduled fight, the two fought to a draw in six rounds in Chicago. Harvey had to give up on luring a flyweight opponent into the ring with Tubby and by the end of November, he announced Lolosky was moving up to bantamweight and hoped to fight the Jewish American Archie Bell. Lolosky and Bell had sparred in London and Phil believed he'd beat the talented Bell, but Harvey couldn't make the match in the States and Uncle Taffy advised against it in London.

One Last Shot

Lolosky went back to the United Kingdom after an unsuccessful U.S. stint. He decided to stop chasing fights in America when Uncle Taffy secured one against Phil's friend Teddy Baldock, who had held a claim to the world bantamweight title. Baldock trained with Jack Berg, who said, "He was a hell of runner. He used to leave me." Berg described Baldock as a "tall, skinny, fantastic flyweight." But Baldock wouldn't fight Lolosky at flyweight or even at bantamweight. The former champ shook up Lolosky in the first and cut him in the second, but the Aldgate man came back to take control of the fight. Baldock snatched momentum back in the tenth and his body punches and infighting caused Lolosky to fade late once again. Baldock was declared the winner of a close fight.

Lolosky next fought noted Jewish boxer Young Johnny Brown, the younger brother of the more accomplished Johnny Brown. Young Johnny repeatedly fouled Lolosky, who was cut over the left eye once again. Brown's body shots wore down the boxer and Uncle Taffy asked to stop the fight after the twelfth round. Lolosky then fell to Kid Nicholson by fifteen-round decision at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge on April 19, 1928. Both fighters boxed, but Nicholson led more. Lolosky occasionally fell into a habit of simply trying to counter.

Lolosky fought Baldock in a rematch on October 25, 1928. Tubby hoped to improve upon their close first fight. Baldock had won the British and Commonwealth bantamweight titles by beating Johnny Brown in August, but wouldn't risk his titles against Lolosky. Matt Wells, the great Jewish Olympian and world champion served as referee. Baldock stopped Lolosky in three rounds which caused Phil to retire from boxing having won only one fight in his last five.

Comebacks and Post Career

Phil married Belle De Costa on May 8, 1930. The couple had a daughter a year later. The Great Depression made it difficult to earn a living and Tubby got back into the ring for three fights at the end of 1931 with limited success. Another daughter was on the way in 1934 and Tubby came back again to mixed results. BoxRec lists his record as 24-11-2 with 4 KOs, although the Kid Nicholson fight isn't listed.

Most contenders avoided Lolosky as if he had the Spanish flu. Champions- British, world, or otherwise- would only fight him if their title were not on the line. Perhaps his career was hindered by such an ambitious start. Tubby himself later admitted, "I was mistaken to fight fifteen round contests right from the start." In any event, he rose to become one of the best flyweight boxers in the world during his brief peek.

After his boxing career, Phil worked as a process engraver. He and his brothers shortened their surname to Lowe. He protested against Oswald Mosley and the fascists in the late 1930s and endured World War II. His grandson, Philip Harris, remembers Tubby teaching him to box, discussing his political views, and playing chess together. The ex-fighter loved Shakespeare and regaling his grandson with the history of London as they traveled around the city.

Sadly, Phil struggled with dementia in his later years. He passed away in 1997 at the age of 82.

Sources

A very special thank you to Philip Harris who shared his incredible collection of his grandfather's career called A Boxers Life Phil "Tubby" Lolosky: The Pride of Premierland, which is the main source for this profile. He also graciously answered any questions I had about his grandfather. 

"16-year-old Belgian Flyweight Acclaimed by London Critics." New York Times. Nov. 20, 1926. Pg. 15.

Dawson, James P. "Sharkey Contract Claimed by Paulino."New York Times. Oct. 3, 1927. Pg. 31.

Jack "Kid Berg interview with John Harding. 1986.

Jones, Jeff. Stars and Scars. 2023.

"Lolosky to Box Bantams." New York Times. Nov. 29, 1927. Pg. 24.