Misplaced Pages

Lee Anderson (boxer)

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
American boxer

Lee Anderson
BornJuly 17, 1889 (1889-07-17)
Dearing, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJune 1970 (1970-07) (aged 80)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityUnited States United States
Statistics
Weight(s)Light heavyweight
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Boxing record
Total fights88
Wins38
Wins by KO15
Losses36
Draws14

Lee Anderson (July 17, 1889 – June 1970) was a boxer who fought between 1914 and 1929. The 5'10" Anderson fought out of Oakland, California as a light heavyweight. He was the first holder of the World Colored Light Heavyweight title.

On May 30, 1921, he fought Kid Norfolk for the new colored light heavyweight title in a scheduled 10-round bout in Phoenix, Arizona. Anderson won on a T.K.O. when Norfolk returned to his corner in the ninth round, being unable to continue to fight. (They would meet another three times in non-title bouts between 1922 and 1924, and The Kid prevailed each time.)

Anderson defended the title on the Fourth of July 1921 in a 10-round bout in Phoenix, Arizona, beating Rough House Ware on points.

When Norfolk fought The Jamaica Kid on December 20, 1921 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, he had claimed the world colored light heavyweight title. He beat the Jamaica Kid on points in an eight-round bout. In Atlanta on January 30, 1922, Norfolk faced Tiger Flowers, the boxer who would become the first African American world middleweight champ in 1926, K.O.-ing him in third round of a 10-rounder. He apparently had vacated the title when he met reigning colored heavyweight champ Harry Wills on March 2, 1922 in Madison Square Garden in New York City for a 15-round bout, losing to the great champion via a K.O. in the second round. Wills outweighed him by 25¾ lbs.

On May 9 of that year, Lee Anderson took on Tiger Flowers in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, for a 15-round bout to determine the colored light heavyweight title. Anderson won his second colored crown when he K.O.-ed Flowers in the seventh round.

Anderson apparently vacated the title in turn, and Kid Norfolk took the crown title for the second time one day short of a year later, on May 8, 1923, when he K.O.-ed Flowers at 2:50 in the first round of a scheduled 12-rounder. The title then went into abeyance.

Anderson retired from the ring. By 1942, he was living in a boardinghouse in Harlem and working as a stevedore on the Hudson River waterfront.

John Henry Lewis became the first black world light heavyweight champion in 1935.

In his career, Anderson racked up a record of 36 wins (15 by K.O., 32 losses (K.O.-ed four times) and 12 draws, plus eight newspaper decisions, in which he won two, lost two, and had two draws.

References

  1. ancestry.com Social Security Death Index
  2. "Kid Norfolk – Record". BoxRec.
  3. "Lee Anderson – Record". BoxRec. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  4. "Tiger Flowers – Record". BoxRec.
  5. ancestry.com World War II Draft registration Records, dated April 27, 1942
  6. "Lee Anderson". BoxRec. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
Awards and achievements
Preceded byNew Title World Colored Light Heavyweight Champion
May 30, 1921 – Unknown 		Succeeded byKid Norfolk
Won vacated title
Preceded byKid Norfolk
Vacated title 		World Colored Light Heavyweight Champion
May 9, 1922 – Unknown 		Succeeded byKid Norfolk
Won vacated title
Categories: