Johnny Dundee
| Johnny Dundee | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Giuseppe Curreri |
| Nickname(s) | Scotch Wop |
| Rated at |
Featherweight Junior Lightweight Lightweight |
| Height | 5 ft 4 1⁄2 in (1.64 m) |
| Reach | 63 in (160 cm) |
| Nationality |
 American
|
| Born | November 19, 1893 Sciacca, Sicily, |
| Died | April 22, 1965 |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 333 |
| Wins | 197 |
| Wins by KO | 17 |
| Losses | 76 |
| Draws | 45 |
| No contests | 15 |
Johnny "Scotch Wop" Dundee (November 19, 1893 – April 22, 1965) was a featherweight and junior lightweight champion boxer who fought from 1910 until 1932. He was born Giuseppe Curreri in Sciacca, Sicily, but was raised in the United States. Though Dundee was a clever boxer with little knockout power, he was highly skilled at fighting off the ropes and was always in outstanding condition. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Dundee as the #3 ranked featherweight of all time, while The Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #4. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Dundee as the 5th best featherweight ever and boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 32nd in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue. Dundee was elected to the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
Dundee earned a world title fight in his 87th fight and fought to a draw with World Featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane in 1913. The slick boxer waited until his 265th fight for another shot at the title. His patience paid off. He won the junior lightweight championship in 1921 when his opponent, George "KO" Chaney, was disqualified in the fifth round. Dundee earned the distinction of being the first universally recognized junior lightweight champion in history. Then in 1922 he knocked out Danny Frush to earn recognition in New York State as the featherweight champion of the world.
On July 6, 1922, Dundee defeated "Little" Jackie Sharkey by unanimous decision in a fifteen round Junior Lightweight title bout at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Sharkey was down briefly in the fourth, and again in the fifteenth in what several boxing critics considered only a modest showing for Dundee. The New York Evening World wrote that Dundee was "losing his fighting fire", by allowing the bout to go fifteen rounds. The Evening World considered Dundee to have taken every round, though he made a strong showing in the early part of the fourth. Sharkey had lost earlier to Buff on January 15, 1920 in an eight round newspaper decision of the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The bout was quite exciting and Sharkey was said to excel at infighting having a reach advantage over Dundee. The bout was close and pushed Dundee to his limits, though he won "by a shade".
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