Benny Lynch (2 April 1913 – 6 August 1946 in
GorbalsThe Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the river Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.The area was traditionally home to large numbers of mixed immigrants from Italy and Ireland, as well as at one stage housing the vast majority of Scotland's Jewish population...
,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) was a
ScottishThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
professional boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
who fought in the
flyweightFlyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:The flyweight division was the last of boxing's eight traditional weight classes to be established. Before 1909, anyone below featherweight was considered a bantamweight,...
division. He is considered by some to be one of the finest boxers below the
lightweightLightweight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight. It is also a slang term, indicating insignificance or ineptitude, for example having a low tolerance for alcohol. It can be used as a synonym for "kind of." It may also be used to describe something as being small or...
division in his era and Ring Magazine has described him as the greatest fighter that
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
has ever produced. He was born in the
GorbalsThe Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the river Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.The area was traditionally home to large numbers of mixed immigrants from Italy and Ireland, as well as at one stage housing the vast majority of Scotland's Jewish population...
area of
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and learned his fighting skills in the
carnivalCarnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February...
booths that were popular in the West of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Lynch won the Scottish
flyweightFlyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:The flyweight division was the last of boxing's eight traditional weight classes to be established. Before 1909, anyone below featherweight was considered a bantamweight,...
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
title on 16 May 1934 with a 15 round decision over Jim Campbell in Glasgow.
Benny Lynch (2 April 1913 – 6 August 1946 in
GorbalsThe Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the river Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.The area was traditionally home to large numbers of mixed immigrants from Italy and Ireland, as well as at one stage housing the vast majority of Scotland's Jewish population...
,
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) was a
ScottishThe Scots people and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.An ethnic group, historically they emerged from an amalgamation of Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
professional boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
who fought in the
flyweightFlyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:The flyweight division was the last of boxing's eight traditional weight classes to be established. Before 1909, anyone below featherweight was considered a bantamweight,...
division. He is considered by some to be one of the finest boxers below the
lightweightLightweight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight. It is also a slang term, indicating insignificance or ineptitude, for example having a low tolerance for alcohol. It can be used as a synonym for "kind of." It may also be used to describe something as being small or...
division in his era and Ring Magazine has described him as the greatest fighter that
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
has ever produced. He was born in the
GorbalsThe Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the river Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.The area was traditionally home to large numbers of mixed immigrants from Italy and Ireland, as well as at one stage housing the vast majority of Scotland's Jewish population...
area of
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and learned his fighting skills in the
carnivalCarnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February...
booths that were popular in the West of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Lynch won the Scottish
flyweightFlyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing less than 112 lb but above 108 lb .-Professional boxing:The flyweight division was the last of boxing's eight traditional weight classes to be established. Before 1909, anyone below featherweight was considered a bantamweight,...
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
title on 16 May 1934 with a 15 round decision over Jim Campbell in Glasgow. He then went on to win the British, European and world flyweight titles from
Jackie BrownFor the Scottish flyweight boxer called Jackie Brown, see Jackie Brown .Jackie Brown was a flyweight boxer, who was British and European flyweight champion, and was also recognised by the National Boxing Association as the World flyweight champion.-Professional career:He had his first professional...
in an historic bout held in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
on 8 September 1935. The fight attracted enormous support from Glaswegians who travelled en masse to support "our Benny".
There was dispute, on at least on one side of the Atlantic, as to who was the best flyweight boxer in the world. Lynch settled the matter when he out-pointed
FilipinoThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
Small Montana in London in 1936 to established himself as the undisputed world flyweight boxing champion.
From 1932-36, he lost just five fights; two of them were points losses to
Jimmy WarnockJames "Jimmy" Warnock was a southpawboxer from the Shankill Road, Belfast, Ireland..Jimmy Warnock began his early boxing career at Belfast's Chapel Fields in prize fights organised by Clara Copley...
a '
southpaw-Description:A boxer in the southpaw stance would have his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook.-Alternatives:...
' from
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, on 2 March 1936 in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
and again on 2 June 1937 in front of a home crowd in
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
In 1937 he handed legendary English puncher
Peter KanePeter Kane was one of England's greatest flyweight boxers and a world champion in the 1930s. Kane was born in Heywood, Lancashire, on February 28, 1918, but grew up in the town of Golborne, Lancashire, after his family moved there before his first birthday.-Boxing style:He was a two-fisted...
his first loss (KO).
By 1938, Lynch's drinking lifestyle meant that he could no longer make the weight for the flyweight division. He lost his world flyweight title to American Jackie Jurich, when he weighed in at 118.5 lb (53.8 kg), half a pound over the
bantamweightThe term bantamweight usually refers to a class in boxing or boxers who weigh between 112 and 118 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight. The name is derived from Bantam chickens.-History:...
limit. This was made sadder by the fact that, despite his weight problems, Lynch stopped Jurich in the 12th round.
Benny Lynch's boxing career was over by the time he was 25 and he battled with alcohol for the rest of his life. He was a pathetic sight in the streets and pubs of Glasgow where people pressed drinks on him when a square meal was what he needed. The man who had so much talent died in 1946 from malnutrition, aged 33, a lonely misfit in the city that loved and broke him.
His record for the seven years of his professional career was:
- Total Bouts: 102
- Won: 77 (includes 15 knockouts)
- Lost: 10 (one knockout, in his last fight)
- Draw: 15
He was inducted into the
International Boxing Hall Of FameThe modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
in 1998. A film about the life of Benny Lynch, directed by John Mackenzie and starring
Robert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor.-Early life:Carlyle was born in Maryhill, Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator. He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old...
, was made in 2003.
He was featured on the cover of Scottish rock band
GunGun are a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, most well known for their cover of Word Up!, originally by Cameo.-Early career:Originally called Blind Allez then for a short time, 'Phobia', GUN were formed in 1987 by Giuliano Gizzi and Cami Morlotti , with Mark Rankin , Alan Thornton and David Aitken...
's second album,
GallusGallus is the second album from Scottish rock band Gun. The cover shows Benny Lynch, a renowned Scottish boxer from Glasgow.-Track listing:# "Steal Your Fire"# "Money To Burn"# "Long Road"# "Welcome To The Real World"# "Higher Ground"...
, in 1992.