Newsboy Brown
| Newsboy Brown | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | David Montrose |
| Rated at | Flyweight |
| Height | 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) |
| Nationality |
 United States
|
| Born |
August 17, 1905 Russia |
| Died | February 1, 1977 (aged 71) Los Angeles, California |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 91 |
| Wins | 68 |
| Wins by KO | 12 |
| Losses | 13 |
| Draws | 10 |
David Montrose (August 17, 1905 – February 1, 1977), better known as Newsboy Brown, was an American boxer who held the World Flyweight Title for eight months in 1928.
Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Brown as the #7 ranked flyweight of all-time. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012. Brown was ranked the second-best bantamweight boxer in the world in The Ring magazine's Annual Ratings for 1931, and the fourth-best in January 1932 by the National Boxing Association.
Born in Russia on August 17, 1905, Brown emigrated to the U.S. with his parents at the age of three months, though the exact date of his birth remains in some dispute. Raised in Sioux Falls, Iowa, he learned to fight while selling newspapers on street corners like many young immigrant boxers. According to Brown, he weighted only 95 pounds when he first got into boxing. He began boxing professionally around 1922, and early in his career used the name David Montrose. In one of his early fights, he acquired the name "Newsboy Brown" when a ring announcer introduced him without being certain of his name. His first eight fights ended in no decisions, but then Brown registered his first official win with a third-round knockout of John Walker in April 1924.
As part of the inaugural card for the famous Olympic Auditorium, he defeated Frankie Grandetta by points. Brown had two famous bouts against future World Flyweight Champion Corporal Izzy Schwartz. Brown beat him in 1925 but lost in a title bout to Schwartz for the NYSAC flyweight title on December 16, 1927. One newspaper summarizing the bout wrote, "Corporal Izzy Schwartz...outscored Newsboy Brown of Sioux City, Iowa throughout to win recognition in New York as the holder of the Flyweight Championship vacated recently by Fidel LaBarba." Apparently Schwartz demonstrated superior scientific boxing skills and was better trained for the bout, though he was five years older than Brown who had not yet reached the peak of his boxing career at twenty-two. The Norwalk Hour, perhaps showing some local bias, wrote of the well attended bout in Madison Square Garden, that Schwartz was "too fast, shifty, and resourceful, for the plodding Brown, and won hands down." A more objective source noted that Brown had previously defeated Schwartz, and that he "entered as a slight favorite and forced the fighting throughout", despite losing in a unanimous decision. It is interesting to note that the bout, though a NYSAC World Title match was not the headliner for the night but merely a semi-final. This was probably due to the greater popularity of other weight classes and the dispute over who held the World Flyweight Title at the time. Schwartz would receive his fair share of recognition for taking the Flyweight title and holding it for two years, but Brown would never reach the same level of notoriety holding the title for only eight months and only in the state of California.
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