Career
Between 1923 and 1936, Berg had 192 professional fights, winning 157 of them. His record was 157–26–9. Fifty seven wins were by knock out.
In 1931 he moved to the USA, where he won 64 out of 76 fights there. He became British lightweight champion in 1934 by beating the holder Harry Mizler, and he lived to be the oldest British boxing champion. During his bouts in America, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.
In 1930, Berg defeated the great Cuban fighter Kid Chocolate in ten rounds. In 1930, he knocked out the American champion Mushy Callahan to take the Light Welterweight Championship in London. The National Boxing Association (NBA) had stripped Callahan before this fight and Britain did not recognize this division, so only the New York State Athletic Commission recognized Berg as champion after this fight. The NBA only recognized Berg as champion after he beat Goldie Hess in January 1931.
Berg fought as a lightweight when he put his title on the line to meet with Tony Canzoneri in Chicago on 24 April 1931. He was quickly knocked out in three rounds, falling on his face and stumbling to get up before giving in and collapsing into the ropes. Berg, contending that he lost at lightweight and not at light welterweight, continued to claim that he was champion. Most of the boxing world recognized Canzoneri, however.
After the Canzoneri bout, Berg continued boxing with mixed results. His last notable win came in 1939 against the up-and-coming prospect Tippy Larkin.
After retiring from boxing, he worked as a film stunt man, joined the Royal Air Force, and owned a restaurant in London.
Read more about this topic: Jack Kid Berg
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