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DANIEL
MENDOZA
Sport: Boxing
Inducted: 1981
Country: Great Britain
Born: July 5, 1764 in Aldgate, London,
England
Died: September 3, 1836
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Daniel Mendoza
was the first Jewish prize-fighter to become a champion.
Though he stood only 5'7" and weighed 160 pounds,
Mendoza was England’s sixteenth Heavyweight Champion
from 1792 to 1795. Always proud of his heritage, he billed
himself as Mendoza the Jew.
He is the father of scientific boxing. At a time when the
sport of boxing consisted primarily of barehanded slugging,
Mendoza introduced the concept of defense. He developed the
guard, the straight left, and made use of sidestepping
tactics. This new strategy, the Mendoza School, also referred
to as the Jewish School, was criticized in some circles as
cowardly. But it permitted Mendoza to fully capitalize on
his small stature, speed, and punching power.
His first recorded prizefight was a knockout of an opponent,
known as Harry the Coalheaver, whom he dispatched in
40 rounds. A victory in his first professional fight in 1787
won him the patronage
of the Prince of Wales (later George IV), the first boxer
to earn this honor. His acceptance by British royalty
(he was the first Jew ever to speak to England’s
King George III) helped elevate the position of the Jew
in English society and stem a vicious tide of anti-Semitism
that many Englishmen read into Shakespeare’s characterization
of Shylock in his play The Merchant of Venice.
Mendoza had a series of storied matches against rival
Richard Humphries, one each in 1788, 1789, and 1790. He
lost the first battle in 29 rounds but won the latter
pair in 52 and 15
Daniel Mendoza, “Mendoza the Jew” rounds. He
laid claim to
the English boxing title in 1791 when the prevailing champion,
Benjamin Brain, retired. Another top English boxer,
Bill Warr, contested Mendoza’s claim. In May 1792,
the two met to settle the matter in Croydon, England.
Mendoza was victorious in 23 rounds. Warr and Mendoza met
again in November 1794, and this time it took the
champion only 15 minutes to dispose of the challenger.
Mendoza, a descendant of Spanish Marranos (Jews coerced
into conversion to Christianity) who had lived in
London for nearly a century, became such a popular figure
in England that songs were written about him, and his name
appeared in scripts of numerous plays. His personal appearances
would fill theaters, portraits of him and his fights were
popular subjects for artists, and commemorative medals
were struck in his honor.
Daniel Mendoza was one of the inaugural group elected
in 1954 to the Boxing Hall of Fame and of the inaugural
class of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
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