Barney Ross(1909-1967)

Two years after Barney Ross was born, his family moved to Chicago's Maxwell Street Market area, where they opened a small grocery. Misfortune soon struck the family, however. By the time Ross was age 14, his father had been murdered by gangsters, his mother had suffered a nervous breakdown, and his younger siblings had been placed in an orphanage. Ross dropped out of school and became a petty thief, an errand boy for mobster Al Capone, a street fighter, and eventually an amateur boxer.

After winning a Golden Gloves amateur championship in 1929, Ross began his professional boxing career. He won a 10-round decision over Tony Canzoneri on June 23, 1933, to gain simultaneously the world lightweight and junior welterweight titles. On September 18, 1933, Ross won a 15-round decision in a rematch with Canzoneri for both titles. Following three more successful defenses of his junior welterweight title, Ross moved up to the welterweight division and won the world championship by decision over IJimmy McLarnin in 15 rounds on May 28, 1934, but he lost the title back to McLarnin in a 15-round decision on September 17, 1934.

Following three more successful defenses of his junior welterweight title, Ross relinquished it in order to fight McLarnin again for the welterweight title, which he won with a 15-round decision on May 28, 1935. Ross defended it by winning 15-round decisions over Izzy Jannazzo on November 27, 1936, and Filipino Ceferino Garcia on September 23, 1937. Ross lost the title in a 15-round decision to the reigning featherweight champion, Henry Armstrong of the United States, on May 31, 1938. It was the final fight in an 81-bout professional career in which Ross compiled a record of 72 wins (22 by knockouts), 4 losses 3 draws, and 2 no decisions.