Stars and Scars

Stars and Scars traces the development of the Jewish boxing scene in London from the 1760s to more recent times. Jeff Jones examines the role that Jewish boxers played in both the progression of the sport itself and the influence they had on increasing the standing of the Jewish community in London.

Starting with the first Jewish boxing stars of the bare-knuckle days, the story winds its way through the prize fighting of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and its links to the infamous Jewish street gangs of the era. It chronicles the rise of the great London Jewish boxers at the turn of the twentieth century and the many Jewish boys’ clubs, boxing clubs and gyms that produced a huge number of fine boxers through the first half of the twentieth century. The links to the community in which they, and boxing generally, flourished, is extensively explored.

Jeff Jones has produced a comprehensive picture of the London Jewish boxing culture that gave rise not only to excellent boxers, but also great boxing trainers, managers and promoters.