Benny Lynch

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Benny Lynch boxer
Data
Birth Name Benny John Lynch
Weight class Flyweight
nationality British
birthday April 2, 1913
place of birth Glasgow
Date of death August 6, 1946
Place of death Glasgow
size 1.65 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 108
Victories 81
Knockout victories 34
Defeats 12
draw 15th

Benny John Lynch (* 2. April 1913 in Glasgow , Scotland ; † 6. August 1946 ) was a British boxer in the flyweight .

Career

Benny Lynch grew up in poor conditions in the Gorbals , an immigrant district in the south of Glasgow. There he was discovered by the bookmaker Sammy Wilson, who trained him in his newly opened boxing club and from then on looked after him. After some fights as an amateur, Lynch became a professional boxer on his eighteenth birthday in 1931. By defeating the defending champion Jim Campbell, he won the Scottish flyweight championship on May 16, 1934 in Glasgow.

In the course of 1934 he defeated the champions of Italy, France and Spain one after the other with Carlo Cavagnoli , Valentin Angelmann and Pedro Ruiz . These victories drew the attention of the boxing public to him, so that on March 4, 1935 in Glasgow there was a first encounter with the English world champion Jackie Brown . This non-title fight ended in a draw. But only six months later, on September 9, 1935, Benny Lynch won both the NBA world championship and the British flyweight championship from Brown by knocking out in the second round in Manchester . He became the first Scottish world champion in boxing history and the triumphant reception at Glasgow Central station brought all traffic in his hometown to a standstill on his return.

A year later, on September 16, 1936, Benny Lynch defended his two titles at Glasgow's Shawfield Stadium against the 1934 European amateur champion , Patrick Palmer , who had started a professional career in 1935. With this victory he also earned the flyweight title of the International Boxing Union . Unconditional recognition in the United States was given to Lynch after he defeated the Filipino NYSAC title holder Small Montana on January 19, 1937 at the Empire Pool, now Wembley Arena , on points.

On October 13, 1937, in front of 40,000 spectators in Glasgow's Shawfield Stadium , he also defeated the undefeated and also very powerful Englishman Peter Kane by knockout and thus defended his British championship title.

At first Lynch had used alcohol to counter his migraine attacks , but now he enjoyed being the center of attention and was to be found very often in Glasgow pubs. He also neglected his training and gained weight. This led to the fact that he exceeded the weight limit before his world championship fight against the American Jackie Jurich on June 29, 1938 and then had to surrender his title without a fight. The new world champion was Peter Kane, who defeated Jackie Jurich on September 22, 1938 in the fight for the vacant title.

Lynch then switched to bantamweight , the next higher weight class. There he suffered two defeats within a week, the last of which by the only knockout of his career against the Romanian European champion Aurel Toma on October 3, 1938 in London . Since he could not land a single hit in this fight, the British federation withdrew his boxing license. Lynch quit boxing at the age of 25 due to increasing alcohol problems. At first he financed his whiskey addiction by selling his boxing trophies, later he was a beggar on the streets of the Gorbals . His marriage fell apart and when his mother died, Lynch was also left homeless. He died in Glasgow's Southern General Hospital in 1946 at the age of 33 of complications from pneumonia caused by malnutrition and alcoholism. His widow Anne emigrated to Canada in 1966 with their two sons, John James (1936–1970) and Robert .

The Ring Magazine rated him as the fifth best flyweight and best Scottish boxer of all time. In 1998 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Artistic processing

Scottish folk singer Matt McGinn dedicated the title Benny Lynch to the boxer . In 1975 the play Benny Lynch, Scenes from a Short Life: a Play by Bill Bryden appeared , which was filmed for television in 1976 with Mark McManus in the role of Lynch. From 1999 to 2005 several attempts were made to film the life of Benny Lynch with Robert Carlyle in the lead role. Bill Bryden also wanted a remake of his 1975 play. However, the implementation of these plans was successfully prevented by the lawyers of the relatives of Lynch, who feared a negative portrayal of the boxer and his widow and scared off possible donors with threats of legal action.

A photo of Benny Lynch can be seen on the cover of the 1992 album Gallus by the Scottish rock band Gun .

As part of the redevelopment of the Glasgow district, from which Benny Lynch came, a street was named in honor of the athlete Benny Lynch Court in 2000 .

literature

  • John Burrowes: Benny: The Life and Times of a Fighting Legend . Mainstream Publishing, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84018-661-1 .
  • Robert Philip: Scottish Sporting Legends . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-78057-554-4 , pp. 134-136 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benny Lynch crowned world champion 1935 , accessed on January 2, 2014 (English)
  2. ↑ Benny Lynch at Allmusic (English)
  3. ^ Benny Lynch: Scenes from a Short Life: a Play , Southside (Publishers) Ltd, 1975
  4. ↑ Benny Lynch in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  5. ↑ Robert Carlyle directs, produces and plays the leading role in "Benny Lynch , spielfilm.de from June 3, 1999, accessed on January 2, 2014 (English)
  6. ↑ Napier University honor for Carlyle , The Scotsman, November 22, 2002, accessed January 2, 2014.
  7. ↑ The Razz: Bobby's a fab fan , Daily Record February 3, 2005, accessed January 2, 2014
  8. ↑ Gallus at Allmusic (English)
  9. ↑ Built historiography in Glasgow's New Gorbals - the Crown Street Regeneration Project , accessed on January 2, 2014 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Lynch, Benny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lynch, Benny John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British flyweight boxer
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Glasgow , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1946
Place of death Glasgow , Scotland