Selling at the corner of 8th and Market, near the Mechanics Pavilion, a frequent venue for important boxing matches, Attell watched the fight between Solly Smith and George Dixon for the world's Featherweight championship.

Attell's first professional fight was at age 17 on August 19, 1900, when he knocked out Kid Lennett in two rounds at the San Francisco Athletic Club.

His brother, Caesar Attell also fought and was called "Two and a Half," for always giving that amount whenever the hat was passed for charity at a boxing event, which he attended faithfully.

Attell defeated American 1905 World Bantamweight Champion Jimmy Walsh three times in title matches; on September 12, 1907, for a ten-round decision in Indianapolis, on December 7, 1906, in a ten-round TKO in Los Angeles, and on February 22, 1906, for a fifteen-round decision in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in which Attell "badly punished" Walsh.

He met Attell twice in non-title matches on April 3, 1913, in New York in a ten-round loss by decision and on October 24, 1912, in a twelve-round draw in Boston.

[7] After his professional boxing career ended, Attell operated a shoe store in New York City, doing a good business selling to customers, fans and sporting people who came in to see him.

In 1920 Attell was accused of being the messenger between the gangster Rothstein and players of the Chicago White Sox baseball organization, during the planning stages of the fix of the 1919 World Series.

Prior to the series, Attell had been approached by former fighter Billy Maharg and former Major League Baseball pitcher "Sleepy" Bill Burns in their bid to get Rothstein to financially back the fix.

[7][8] Following the 1919 Major League Baseball gambling impropriety, which did much to taint a spectacular featherweight career, Attell lived a full and extraordinary life.

[7] Attell was inducted posthumously as a member of various halls of fame: All information in this section is derived from BoxRec,[10] unless otherwise stated.