Nat Fleischer
Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer, born on November 3, 1887, in New York City, was a prominent sports journalist and boxing promoter known for his significant contributions to the sport of boxing. His passion for boxing was sparked at a young age after attending a championship fight in 1899. Although he briefly pursued a career as an amateur boxer, Fleischer found his true calling in journalism, graduating from City College of New York and working for several newspapers, where he gained recognition for his reporting.
In 1922, responding to a ban on boxing, Fleischer founded and edited The Ring, a magazine that became a leading authority in boxing and was the first to rate fighters systematically. He refereed and scored over a thousand fights and played a vital role in establishing boxing commissions worldwide. Fleischer authored numerous books, including the widely popular "Training for Boxers," and served as the editor of The Ring's annual record books, which are still referenced today. His extensive work earned him accolades, including the James J. Walker Award and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Affectionately known as "Mr. Boxing," Fleischer passed away on June 25, 1972, leaving a lasting legacy in the boxing community.
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Nat Fleischer
Writer
- Born: November 3, 1887
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: June 25, 1972
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Nathaniel Stanley Fleischer was born on November 3, 1887, in New York City, and grew up on the city’s Lower East Side. An excellent athlete despite his diminutive stature, Fleischer attended his first professional fight in 1899 and witnessed “Terrible” Terry McGovern win the world bantamweight championship, an event that forever instilled in him a love of boxing. At the age of fifteen, Fleischer was an amateur boxer in the 122-pound weight class, but he was knocked out in the first round of his only bout.
Fleischer also was interested in journalism. While attending the City College of New York, he worked as a sports correspondent for the New York World and the New York Press before earning his B.S. in 1908. After graduating from college, he taught in New York City public schools until he was hired to work in the Press’ sports department. While working as night editor there on April 14, 1912, Fleischer received a wire that the “unsinkable” Titanic had hit an iceberg, and the Press scooped rival city papers, whose early editions were already on the streets, with the first news of the disaster.
In 1922, as a reaction against the Walker Law that essentially banned boxing and with the encouragement and financial backing of promoter George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, Fleischer founded, published, and edited The Ring, which would become the most authoritative boxing magazine on the market. In 1929, Fleisher left the New York Sun to devote his time fully to The Ring, and he ran the magazine until his death. Under his direction, The Ring became the first publication to rate fighters, awarding championship belts to heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey and other boxers. Fleischer refereed and scored more than one thousand fights and helped establish boxing commissions in many countries around the world. He was one of the founders of the Boxing Writers’ Association, and he received the James J. Walker Award for service to boxing in both 1943 and 1966.
Fleischer, who wrote some forty million words about his favorite sport, published numerous books about boxing during his lifetime, many of them published by The Ring Athletic Library, a company associated with his magazine. Some of his best-known works include Training for Boxers, which sold more than one million copies; Jack Dempsey, the Idol of Fistiana: An Intimate Narrative, with Numerous Illustrations; and Gene Tunney, the Enigma of the Ring, with Numerous Illustrations. He also wrote history book about the sport, such as Black Dynamite: The Story of the Negro in the Prize Ring from 1782 to 1938, The Heavyweight Championship: An Informal History of Heavyweight Boxing from 1719 to the Present Day, and A Pictorial History of Boxing.
Fleischer’s most popular works were The Ring’s annual record books, which he edited from 1941 through 1973; these books continued to be published in the twenty-first century under the title The Ring Boxing Almanac and Book of Facts and are the ultimate source of boxing data.
Known as “Mr. Boxing,” Fleischer died on June 25, 1972. He was enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame and in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.