Johnny Dundee

Johnny Dundee
Statistics
Real name	Giuseppe Curreri
Nickname(s)	Scotch Wop
Rated at	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.^[1] 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.^[2][3] Dundee was elected to the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1957 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.^[4]

Professional career

World featherweight champion

Dundee earned a world title fight in his 87th fight and fought to a draw with 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.

Dundee successfully defended his junior lightweight crown three times before losing it to Jack Bernstein in 1923. Two fights later he unified the featherweight title by defeating Eugene Criqui and finished 1923 by regaining the junior lightweight title in a rematch with Bernstein.

Later career

Dundee lost the junior lightweight title to Steve Sullivan in June 1924 and then relinquished the featherweight crown two months later. The last significant fight of his career was in 1927 when he challenged featherweight champion Tony Canzoneri but lost a 15-round decision. Dundee finally retired in 1932 after posting a six-round decision over Mickey Greb.

Legacy

Dundee faced all of the great fighters in the featherweight, junior-lightweight, and lightweight divisions of his era. He fought the great Benny Leonard nine times, Lew Tendler three times, and boxed lightweight champions Freddie Welsh and Willie Ritchie.

Dundee was regarded as a skillful boxer with great footwork. During his career he had 330 bouts and won featherweight and junior lightweight titles. Only two fighters in history, Len Wickwar (463) and Jack Britton (350) had more fights than Dundee. Perhaps more remarkable was that Dundee was knocked out only twice in his long career.

Notable bouts

References

1. "All-Time Featherweight Rankings". BoxRec. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
2. All-Time Featherweight Rankings IBROresearch.com Retrieved on 2014-04-29
3. Bert Randolph Sugar (2005). Boxing's Greatest Fighters. Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1-59228-632-4.
4. Cyber Boxing Encyclopedia - Johnny Dundee CyberBoxingZone.com Retrieved on 2014-04-30
5. Johnny Dundee's Professional Boxing Record. BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-18.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Johnny Dundee from BoxRec