[3][4][5][2] Benjamin Leiner was born and raised as a youth in the Jewish ghetto, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, near Eighth Street and Second Avenue, where he learned to fight the sons of other immigrants.

His religious Jewish parents Minny and Gershon Leiner, who immigrated from Russia, disapproved of his fighting but understood his frequent need to defend himself in the poor neighborhoods in which he grew up.

Apparently Leonard had learned Houck's strategy after a previous loss to him one year earlier on September 27, 1913, in a ten-round newspaper decision in Atlantic Garden, New York.

[14] Leonard then reeled off a string of 15 straight victories, interrupted by two draws, which earned him the chance to meet Freddie Welsh for the lightweight championship on March 3, 1916.

[15][16] The accomplished Murphy had recently outpointed reigning lightweight champion Freddie Welsh and had met Ad Wolgast, Johnny Dundee, and Pal Moore.

[22][5] With his string of victories, Leonard had earned enough by 1916 to move his formerly struggling family from their Lower East Side ghetto to a better neighborhood in Harlem, a goal he had had since beginning his boxing career.

Leonard displayed sportsmanship, humility, consideration for others, and the ability to articulate the qualities that endeared him to the Jewish community of New York, and made him a great draw and a role model to many of his fans.

[5] With great and unusual gifts of athleticism, Benny defeated stronger opponents without retreating by employing a more complex ring strategy executed with superior speed and agility.

On July 25, 1917, Leonard defeated Johnny Kilbane, reigning world featherweight champion from 1912 to 1923, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia in a third-round technical knockout.

[35][36] In a four-round newspaper decision at New York's shrine to boxing, Madison Square Garden, on July 16, 1918, he defeated Jewish boxer Willie Jackson.

In the well publicized Army benefit that raised $20,000 to buy soldiers athletic equipment, Leonard took criticism and boos among the audience for not unleashing his best punching against his highly rated lightweight opponent.

[45] Leonard soundly defeated Portland Jewish lightweight Joe Benjamin on the evening of January 31, 1919 in a four-round newspaper decision in San Francisco.

Leonard defeated fellow Russian-born, New York Jewish lightweight Johnny Clinton, born Morris Elstein, on September 8, 1919, at the Arena in Syracuse in a ten-round newspaper decision.

Benny led throughout the fight, using his left jab and right uppercut effectively and often, demonstrating his ability to adjust his punching combinations to the style of any given opponent as an opening occurred.

Clinton was in the greatest distress in the sixth, when he appeared to be hanging on the ropes on the verge of a knockout instants before the bell, and was nearly floored again in the tenth, when Leonard attempted to finish the bout.

[57] On July 5, 1920, Leonard defeated Jewish boxer and exceptional Chicago lightweight, Charley White, in a ninth-round knockout before an audience of 12,000 at Benton Harbor, Michigan.

The lack of compassion in the boxing crowd was noted by one reporter, who wrote that the audience was disappointed by referee Haukup's decision to end the bout in the thirteenth.

On a lighter note, Charlie Chaplain performed before the opening bell and Leonard received a world lightweight championship belt from Tex Rickard, manager of the Garden and legendary heavyweight Jack Dempsey, at the end of the match.

Droney fought gamely and remained on his feet throughout the bout, though most reporters believed Leonard could have knocked him out in the final rounds, as he was defenseless by the seventh and eighth.

The tide turned in the ninth round, when Kansas, fighting against the ropes, let his guard down and Leonard, with characteristic lightning speed shot a smashing left that sent his opponent down for the count of nine.

[72] On May 19, 1922, Leonard defeated Hungarian born Jewish boxer Soldier Bartfield, originally Jacob Bartfedlt, in a four-round points decision at Madison Square Garden.

As was Leonard's strength, he defeated Bartfield with a variety of moves, including blows to the head and body using both lefts and rights, and built a solid points margin.

[73][5] Moving up a weight class from the world lightweight championship which he already held, Leonard challenged welterweight Champion Jack Britton for his title on June 26, 1922.

In a somewhat anti-semitic twist, Hemingway later penned a short story, Fifty Grand, in 1927, about a corrupt boxing manager who fixes a fight to profit from the outcome with the aid of gangsters and gamblers.

[74][5] On July 27, 1922, Leonard defeated fellow Jewish boxer Lew Tendler in a twelve-round newspaper decision in Jersey City in a lightweight world title match, that may have been the most remarkable bout of his career.

Nonetheless, at points in the bout, Mendelsohn delivered a few left hooks and right swings, that landed well on Leonard and showed he was not facing a novice.

The Associated Press gave Leonard an impressive seven of the eight rounds, as Mendelsohn connected with strong blows infrequently and failed to hurt his opponent in the vast majority of the bout.

[95] Leonard found his payday on October 7, 1932, but it ended his career when he was knocked out after 6 rounds by future champion, Irish-Canadian boxer Jimmy McLarnin.

It was a humiliating defeat for many of Leonard's supporters, particularly his Jewish fans, but a loss to one of the greatest boxers of the century, a future triple weight class champion.

[4] After the loss, the New York World Telegram wrote, "The real Leonard already is immortal, the artist of the ring canvas who glided up and back, the genius of punch slipping, the counter-puncher of lightning reflex snap, the lion-hearted campaigner, and the devoted believer of all that's good in boxing".