2021 Year in Review in Jewish Boxing

For the second year in a row, covid-19 dominated the storyline. Fighters contracted the virus, fights were canceled or postponed, and a new variant threatens to continue the trend into 2022. In addition, Zachary Wohlman tragically passed away in February.

Despite the pandemic, some Jewish boxers were able to fight this past year. The biggest win came in October when Cletus Seldin knocked out William Silva in the seventh round of their fight in Brooklyn. One of the alphabet organizations ranks the 35-year-old Seldin in their top ten in the junior welterweight division. The New Yorker seeks a big fight in 2022.

Other world class competitors, Yuri Foreman and Isaac Chilemba, weren't able to secure wins this year. Foreman dropped a majority decision to Jimmy Williams in June after testing positive for covid-19 in March. Chilemba had a controversial draw with Fedor Chudinov in February and a unanimous decision loss to Pavel Silyagin in November. Chilemba called Silyagin a future world champion.

David Alaverdian and Shawn Sarembock both went 3-0 in 2021. Alaverdian, a flyweight, is 5-0 with 4 KOs. Sarembock, a junior middleweight, is 7-0 with 7 KOs. Miroslav Kapuler, a junior middleweight, won two fights in 2021 to improve his record to 3-0 with one KO. Mor Oknin won his debut in April.

Former two-division world champion Carolina Duer and powerlifting world record holder Dr. Stefi Cohen also had a successful year in the ring. At the age of 43, Duer won a decision over Silvia Fernanda Zacarias in August. Cohen has started her career 1-0-1. She stopped Haydee Zapa in the third round of their fight in the Dominican Republic in June. Cohen fought Marcela Nieto to a draw in September.

Igor Lazarev was 1-1, Benny Sinakin went 0-1, and Nikita Basin was stopped in both of his bouts after a twenty-month layoff.

John Jarrett's The Great Benny Leonard, Jeffrey Sussman's Holocaust Fighters, and J. Russell Peltz's Thirty Dollars and a Cut Eye were all published in 2021.

A big thank you to everyone who followed The Jewish Boxing Blog this year and a special thank you to those who offered their support on BuyMeACoffee.com. Stay tuned for big things in 2022!

A Look Back: Puddy Hinkes

Filled with righteous indignation and pride in his People, Puddy Hinkes possessed perhaps a pinch of psychopathy.

"The Nazi scumbags were meeting one night on the second floor," recalled Puddy. "Nat Arno and I went upstairs and threw stink bombs into the room where the creeps were." A burgeoning movement of Nazism began to sweep over the United States in the 1930s. Hinkes and his friend Nat Arno, both former boxers, aimed to squash the threat.

"As they came out of the room, running from the horrible odor of the stink bombs and running down the steps to go into the street to escape, our boys were waiting with bats and iron bars," Hinkes remembered. "It was like running a gauntlet. Our boys were lined up on both sides and we started hitting, aiming for their heads or any other part of their bodies, with our bats and irons. The Nazis were screaming blue murder."

Puddy concluded, "This was one of the most happy moments of my life.”

Puddy loved boxing because he loved violence. While Hinkes watched a boxing match between a Jew and a gentile, a member of the crowd yelled out something crass that Puddy deemed anti-Semitic. Something such as, "Kill the Jew!" Puddy opened his mouth, took out his lit cigar, and extinguished it in the heckler's eye.

Max Hinkes was born on March 18, 1911 in a thriving New Jersey city. Had Prohibition never passed, perhaps he would have followed in the footsteps of his father David, a Yiddish-speaking immigrant from Austria who owned his own construction business. Dora, his mother, would have been so proud of her third-born son. But alcohol became illegal in 1920. Newark would house more speakeasies than Manhattan as crime derailed the city's progress. Longie Zwillman, Max's future boss who was based in Newark's Jewish Third Ward, had a hand in much of the bootlegging on the East Coast.

At 17, Max began his boxing career. BoxRec lists Hinkes, alias Puddy, as 10-1 during his three year career, scoring eight knockouts. He likely fought more than that. His first seven documented bouts were against fighters making their pro debuts. He fought in and around the middleweight division.

Zwillman often used boxers as enforcers for his bootlegging operations including Hinkes and Arno. The end of Prohibition created a void in Zwillman's operations, one that was quickly filled by the rise of Nazism.

As the popularity of Nazism in America grew during the 1930s, Zwillman and his team of enforcers, dubbed the Newark Minutemen, took it upon themselves to protect Jewish Americans by violently confronting these Nazi sympathizers. Puddy took particular delight in maiming Nazis.

Myron Sugerman, a former Newark gangster, recalled, "When the goyim, particularly the Irish toughs, would come into the Prince Street area, where the Jews congregated in Newark, and they would beat up elderly Jews or belittle them and pull their beards, the old Jews would holler for Puddy. And Puddy provided physical protection for these old-timers... It was Puddy's great pleasure to take a stick and beat a bunch of guys and break heads. He loved a good fight."

Puddy worked for Longie until Zwillman's passing in 1959. Without Zwillman's protection, Hinkes soon fell on hard times.

He ran a card room and sports betting operation on Chancellor Avenue when Harold "Kayo" Konigsberg came looking for a fellow who owed him money. Konigsberg destroyed the place, which forced Puddy to talk to members of the Italian mob for protection.

Hinkes was soon warned that the authorities were searching for him, so he fled to New York and laid low. When he resurfaced, the Italian mob had taken over his numbers racket.

Years later, an older Jew spoke with Sugerman. "Myron, help out Puddy, even though he is no fucking good and nobody has a good word to say about him. We have to help him out, because it is a disgrace for the Jews that we don't help out one of our own. So, see if you can give him a job,” Sugerman recalls the old man saying.

Puddy, who was 80 years old by this point, was installed as president of one of Sugerman's shell companies. When the company was raided and Hinkes found himself before a federal judge, a prosecutor questioned him about his role in the company. After Puddy explained his duties, the prosecutor seemed unimpressed, "Then in fact, Mr. Hinkes, you do very little as president of the company.” Puddy responded, "Mr. Prosecutor, for $10,000 a year, what would you do?”

On April 8, 1995 in Essex, New Jersey, Max "Puddy" Hinkes died. Few shed a tear for the man Sugerman describes as "not someone very appreciated by anybody," but the world undeniably became a less colorful place.

Bibliography

Barry, Leslie K. Newark Minutemen. 2020.
Deitche, Scott. Garden State Gangland: The Rise of the Mob in New Jersey. 2018.
Donahue, Greg. The Minuteman. 2020.
Rockaway, Robert A. "Hoodlum Hero: The Jewish Gangster as Defender of His People, 1919-1949." American Jewish History. Vol. 82, No 1/4. 1994. Pgs. 215-235.

Samuels, David. "The Last of the Bally Bingo Kings."

Review of President of Pandemonium

President of Pandemonium: The Mad World of Ike Ibeabuchi
By Luke G. Williams
Hamilcar Publications, 2021.

Ike Ibeabuchi scored two impressive victories over undefeated contenders as part of his quest to achieve heavyweight supremacy in the late 1990s. In a thrilling fight, the Nigerian native notched a unanimous decision upset over devastating puncher David Tua in 1997. Three fights and two years later, Ibeabuchi stopped skilled southpaw Chris Byrd in the fifth round of their bout. He looked ready to challenge Lennox Lewis for the title.

But Ibeabuchi faced inner demons. His preparation suffered as his mental health seemingly deteriorated. Violent run-ins with the law eventually derailed his promising career. He left a trail of victims in his wake.

Luke G. Williams provides a fair-minded and thorough analysis of a complicated man with a tarnished legacy. He gives great background about Ibeabuchi's homeland, Nigeria, which is the seventh most populous nation on the planet and quickly climbing, and details the role his Igbo culture had on his outlook.

Ibeabuchi's mental health struggles aren't mocked or dismissed as boxing writers are wont to do, but neither are they an excuse for his irresponsible and violent behavior. Williams does an excellent job piecing together interviews from the people around the self-proclaimed "President" to provide a window into his life.

One of those people was Cedric Kushner, a South African Jew who served as Ibeabuchi's promoter. Kushner, who died in 2015, didn't see much promise in Ike at first. He soon realized what a prize this fighter truly was. About Kushner, Williams ultimately concludes, "[H]is apparent failure to insist that Ibeabuchi get help remains morally questionable."

Though another Jewish promoter, Bob Arum, makes an appearance, Kushner is the main Jewish character in the book. Ibeabuchi never faced a Jewish opponent. Tim Puller would have been the most likely foe, but their paths never crossed in the ring. They did have common opponents, however. Both KOed Mike Acklie in the first, and both fought nearly five whole rounds with Chris Byrd. Ibeabuchi stopped Byrd with a second to go in the fifth while Byrd stopped Puller with five seconds to go in the same round.

Though there's not much of a Jewish angle in President of Pandemonium, it's worth a read for the fantastic reporting. The 1990s were something of a golden age for the heavyweight division and Ibeabuchi was nearly a major player. This is a great book for fans who want a different look at that era.

Lazarev Off Tomorrow's Card, Kaminsky to Announce Fight Date

Igor Lazarev was scheduled to fight Angelo Peña tomorrow, Sunday December 26 in Bern, Switzerland. Peña will now make his debut against a different opponent as Lazarev is now off the card. Lazarev is a lightweight while Peña, the local amateur star, fought as a featherweight in the unpaid ranks. It would be hard to imagine Lazarev, at 35 years old, would still feel strong dropping down to 126 pounds for the first time in his career. 

Lazarev fought twice in 2021. In June, he beat Marius Col by majority decision in a six-round bout. A month ago, Igor dropped a decision on points to Greg McGuinness, an undefeated prospect. Lazarev is now 8-2 with 3 KOs.

In a recent Instagram post, David Kaminsky acknowledged that 2021 has been a tough year for him. He hopes to announce a fight date early in 2022. David has been recovering from a serious knee injury.

The 21 year old Israeli is based in California, USA. Currently sporting a 6-1 record with 3 KOs, Kaminsky last fought in June of 2020 when he lost to Clay Collard by split decision. David has primarily fought around the middleweight limit.