Ted "Kid" Lewis (born Gershon Mendeloff; 28 October 1893 – 1970) was an English professional boxer who won the World Welterweight (147 lb) Championship.
Lewis was born in a gas-lit tenement in the Aldgate Pump section of London’s East End as Gershon Mendeloff. One of his brothers became a boxer under the name of Lou (Kid) Lewis.
It was as a member of London’s Judean Athletic Club that Mendeloff assumed the name "Kid" Lewis ("Ted" was added later, in America). At 14 he fought for sixpence and a cup of tea. He later won the Club’s Flyweight title and took home a cup of imitation silver.
He became a professional boxer in 1909. On 6 October 1913, Lewis won the British Featherweight Championship with a 17th round knockout of Alec Lambert at London’s National Sporting Club. A year later, on 2 February 1914, at London’s Premierland, he won the European Featherweight title from Paul Til via a 12th round foul.
Still in 1914, campaigning as a lightweight and welterweight, Lewis left London and toured Australia. In 1915 Lewis traveled to the United States, fighting Phil Bloom in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He won a decision.
In Boston’s Armory, on 31 August of that same year, he fought the man known as the "Boxing Marvel," Jack Britton, for the Welterweight title. Lewis won in a twelve-round decision, becoming World Welterweight Champion and beginning an historic rivalry. From 1915 to 1921 Lewis and Britton fought 20 times, a total of 224 rounds.
On 24 April 1916, in New Orleans, Lewis lost the title to Britton. He reclaimed it on 25 June 1917, at Westwood Field, Dayton, Ohio. He lost the title for the last time on 17 March 1919, in Canton, Ohio, when Britton knocked him out in the 9th round — the only knockout of the series.
The roundup of his matches with Britton: Lewis won 3, lost 4, and had 1 draw. There were 12 no decisions. After his last loss to Britton, Lewis returned to England.
On 9 June 1920, at London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre, he beat Johnny Basham to win the British and European Welterweight titles. He relinquished these in December of that year due to difficulty in making the weight.
His drive to fight Georges Carpentier, World and European Light Heavyweight Champion, came to fruition on 11 May 1922, in the Olympia. Lewis, fighting at 150 pounds to Carpentier’s 175, spent most of the first round giving the heavier man a drubbing. Then referee Joe Palmer put a hand on Lewis’s shoulder to warn him against holding. Carpentier took advantage of this distraction and sneaked in a vicious right. The Kid went crashing to the canvas and was counted out. The Olympia crowd erupted furiously, crying, "foul," but to no avail. The Kid remained nonplussed. "I felt cheated, but I didn’t bear any grudge," he would later say.
On 6 June 1922, at Holland Park Rink, London, Lewis knocked out Frankie Burns to win the BritishMiddleweight title. On 11 November the same year, also at Holland Park Rink, he beat Roland Todd to win the European Middleweight title. He did not hold either title long, losing both at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 February 1923 after a gruelling rematch with Todd.
Lewis won his last two titles, the British and European Welterweight crowns, on 3 July 1924 — again at London’s Royal Albert Hall — by defeating Hamilton Johnny Brown. Two years later, on 26 November 1924, at Waverley Market Hall in Edinburgh, he lost these championships to the much younger Scotsman, Tommy Milligan.
He continued boxing until 1929, adding 20 more fights. His final record was: 299 bouts, 233 won, 41 lost, 25 draws, 65 no decisions, 80 knockouts.
He died in 1970.
英国史上最高のファイター、テッド・キッド・ルイスのプロデビューは16歳の若さ(¿幼さ?)でした。(それ以前に14歳の時に6ペンスと紅茶一杯の賭け試合などをしています。)バンタム級から始まり、ウェルター級まで成長しました。
世界タイトルを狙うルイスにジャック・ブリットンという宿命のライバルが現れました。
アイルランド系のブリットンは、ユダヤ系のルイスを憎み、リング上で握手すら交わそうとはしませんでした。
何から何まで正反対のルイスとブリットンの戦いはいつも鮮烈でした。
1915年にブリットンから奪った世界タイトルは取り返されたり取り返したりで結局ルイスは防衛は１度しか成功していません。
ヘビー級制覇まで照準を定めたルイスは、その過程としてジョルジュ・カルパンチエの持つ世界ライト・ヘビー級タイトルに挑戦したましたが初回でＫＯ負けしてしまいました。
２０年ものリング生活を送り、引退したのは1929年でした。
Welter 級の雄 Jack Britton nació ジャック・ブリットン誕生 (1885年)
ご意見、ご質問等ございましたら、<ernestotaju@yahoo.co.jp> へ。
