Benny Valgar
| Benny Valgar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Nickname(s) | The French Flash |
| Weight(s) | Featherweight |
| Nationality |
American 
|
| Born |
September 24, 1898 Paris, France |
| Died | October 1, 1972 (aged 74) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 217 |
| Wins | 160 |
| Wins by KO | 18 |
| Losses | 37 |
| Draws | 16 |
| No contests | 4 |
Benny Valgar, frequently spelled "Valger", won the Featherweight Boxing Championship of the world in the resounding decision of newspapers on February 25, 1920. However, he did not knockout Johnny Kilbane, the reigning champion, so by previous agreement, could not take the title. Other sources observed that Valgar forfeited the match because he was less than a pound overweight from the featherweight limit of 124 pounds. Kilbane could have waved the forfeit, but chose not to.
Valgar also made it to the semi-final bout of the NYSAC World Lightweight Boxing Championship against Jimmy Goodrich, who he lost to in a close bout on June 15, 1925.
Showing promise at an early age, Valgar was the U.S. Bantamweight National Amateur champion in 1916. In evidence of his extraordinary defensive ring skills, he was one of only two American boxers of his era to have never been knocked out, though he fought over two hundred fights.
Benjamin "Benny" Valgar was born in Paris on September 24, 1898 to Jewish parents who had emigrated to France from Russia around 1894. He was one of five children of Etta and Menachem Valger. His mother, after her husband's death, emigrated to New York City in 1913. Benny and his younger sister arrived in New York the following year.
A prodigal boxer from an early age, he won the American Bantamweight National Title in 1916.
He began professional prizefighting that year, winning one of his first fights on July 1 against Joe Goodney at the Fairmont Athletic Club in the Bronx. On December 4, he beat Sammy Waltz, future Connecticut State Featherweight champion in fifteen rounds in Meriden, Connecticut. He lost only seven of his first sixty-five recorded fights with BoxRec between July 1916 and September 1919, beating Eddie Wallace in 1918 and 1919 in Philadelphia and Montreal. He fought 1925 World Lightweight Champion Rocky Kansas to a draw on November 9, 1918 in Philadelphia.
Valgar's trainer throughout the 1920s was the legendary Ray Arcel, and his manager was Billy Gibson, who also trained long reigning world lightweight champion Benny Leonard. Valgar and Leonard would often train together. As someone who would know, Arcel once said of Valgar, "When it came to all around ring generalship, Benny Valgar was on a par with Benny Leonard, though Leonard packed the better punch." Leonard once said of Valgar, that he was "the fastest boxer I ever knew." Arcel also noted that Gibson's concentration on Leonard as the reigning World Lightweight Champion may have increased the time and attention Arcel had to influence Valgar in his boxing career.
At the peak of his career on February 25, 1920, Valgar met Johnny Kilbane, reigning World Featherweight Champion at the Newark Athletic Club in Newark, New Jersey for an eight round bout. New Jersey law did not allow decisions beyond eight rounds at the time. By agreement, a knockout would be required to take the title and in over one hundred fights only Benny Leonard had ever knocked out Kilbane. Valgar won the fight on a close points decision by the referees according to the New York Times.
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Wikipedia