Harry Jeffra
| Harry Jeffra | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Ignacius Pasquale Guiffi |
| Rated at |
Bantamweight Featherweight |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Nationality |
 American
|
| Born | November 30, 1914 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | September 1988 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 68 |
| Wins | 93 |
| Wins by KO | 27 |
| Losses | 20 |
| Draws | 7 |
| No contests | 0 |
Harry Jeffra (born Ignacius Pasquale Guiffi on November 30, 1914 – September 1988) was an American boxer. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he became a World Bantamweight and NYSAC World Featherweight boxing champion. Jeffra's career spanned from 1933 to 1950, and his final record showed 93 wins with (27 by KOs), 20 losses, and 7 draws. Jeffra was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998. His manager was Max Waxman, and his trainer was Heinie Blaustein.
Jeffra was born on in Baltimore, Maryland. He claimed to have changed his name from Ignatius Guiffie in the fourth grade, when his school principal said she couldn't pronounce it. According to Jeffra, he began boxing in 1929 at age fifteen, though his amateur career was rather dismal, fighting twenty-eight amateur bouts, and losing twenty seven.
Apparently his boxing fortunes changed for the better once turning professional around eighteen, and particularly after finding manager Max Wacman. Fighting exclusively in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland as a professional between September 22, 1933, and August 2, 1935, he won twenty-six fights with only one draw and not a single loss.
On December 9, 1936, Jeffra first met the reigning World Bantamweight champion Sixto Escobar. Though barely 23 years old, Jeffra was awarded a 10 round decision at New York's Hippodrome. Both fighters boxed close to the 120 pound mark, slightly over the Bantamweight limit. It was an important early victory for a boxer aspiring to a world championship to beat a world champion, even if it was not in a title fight.
On May 13, 1937, he defeated Nicky Jerome handily at the New York Hippodrome. Two right hand shots in the second round put Jerome on the mat twice, once for a count of seven and the second time, 1:26 into the second round, the referee stopped the fight.
On July 19, 1937, he defeated Ruby Bradley, a well known opponent, at Arena stadium in Philadelphia in a fourth round technical knockout.
Jeffra captured the World Bantamweight title at the age of only twenty-three by outpointing Puerto Rican great Sixto Escobar on September 23, 1937 in a fifteen round points decision in New York's Polo Grounds. A noteworthy source wrote that "he (Jeffra) deserved the decision by a wide margin, winning nine rounds to Escobar's two." The evening included three championship prizefights in one night staged by promoter Mike Jacobs, and included a bout by boxing great Barney Ross. The crowd numbered an extraordinary 32,600, though even more had been anticipated at Jacob's masterpiece of displayed boxing skill. The bout was Jeffra's first fifteen round battle, and exhausted after the win, he was jubilant, but expected to take a month off from training.
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