Abraham Jacob Hollandersky

Abe Hollandersky
Before Norfolk fight, 1914
Statistics
Real name	Abraham Jacob Hollandersky
Nickname(s)	Abe the Newsboy
Rated at	Welterweight
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Nationality	American
Born	(1887-12-03)December 3, 1887 Berznick, Suwalk, Russia
Died	November 1, 1966(1966-11-01) (aged 78) San Diego, California
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	99
Wins	25
Wins by KO	7
Losses	39
Draws	26
No contests	9

Abe "The Newsboy" Hollandersky (December 3, 1887 – November 1, 1966) became one of the first American boxers to win the Panamanian Heavyweight Title when he defeated Jack Ortega in nine rounds in Panama City on May 30, 1913. American congressmen, Naval personnel, and canal workers were among the crowd of nearly two thousand who watched Hollandersky gain victory over an opponent who outweighed him by over thirty pounds. The New York Times announced Hollandersky's best known win the following morning.

Hollandersky was reputed to have fought an unprecedented 1,039 boxing matches between 1905–18, as well as 387 wrestling matches. The record of 1039 bouts from Hollandersky's autobiography, was featured for decades in the Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley's Believe it or Not, and hundreds of short newspaper articles made available as Associated Press fillers, appearing most frequently between 1930 and 1970. The most common number cited is 1039, but as Abe fought additional exhibitions he increased the count, thus a few sources that interviewed him after the publication of his book quote higher fight totals.

Several sources also credit him with taking the Welterweight Wrestling Championship of the World in December 1907. Hollandersky's claim to the Welterweight Wrestling Championship was probably a result of his defeating "Young Roeber" who wrestled frequently in New York and held several world wrestling weight division titles.

Hollandersky was born to Jewish parents Charles and Celia Hollandersky in the small town of Berznicki, in Northeastern Poland, then in the province of Suwalk, Russia. Like many Jewish families in their part of the world, the Hollanderskys struggled to survive in the grips of poverty with little opportunity to improve their fate.

Though his book and several sources, including the ship's manifest from his first entry into the United States, give his birth year as 1888, Hollandersky cited December 3, 1887 as his birth date in his passport application, and other official documents. The frequent moralizing in his autobiography was likely the result of his mother Celia's influence as she was raised by a religious leader. According to tombstones in New London and official Polish records, Celia's father was Mowza (Moses) Finkielsztejn, a "Podskolnik", in which capacity he could fill in as a Rabbi or teach Hebrew.Pogroms, famine, restrictions on career opportunities, the inability to own or purchase property, and highly limited access to public secondary education caused by Tsar Alexander III's May Laws of 1882, encouraged the family to leave Russia.

Departing Russia as a young child, Hollandersky headed to Berlin, Germany and than Manchester, England with his mother Celia and older brother Sol. Four siblings, two boys and two girls, died of starvation prior to his departure. Hollandersky's father Charles, a former tailor, had preceded him to America to find work, at some point plying his trade with his brother Falk, but becoming blind before his family reached him in America in 1899. According to genealogist Marlene Silverman, Falk Hollandersky, Abe's Uncle, emigrated to America around 1885, first living in New York, and then arriving in New London around 1892 accompanied by his wife Sarah Feyga, whom he had previously married in Berznick in 1862. By studying family tombstones, and marriage records, Silverman also concluded that Falk Hollandersky's wife Sarah and Abe's mother Celia were likely sisters, daughters of assistant Rabbi Mowza (Moses) Finkielsztejn (b.c. 1812). The two sisters in turn married the Hollandersky brothers Falk and Charles.