[2] He was born in a tenement flat at 17 Florence Street,[6] in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, and learned his fighting skills in the carnival booths that were popular in the west of Scotland during the Great Depression.

[9] Lynch rounded off the year with further wins over opponents including Maurice Huguenin, Jim Brady, Valentin Angelmann,[10] and Pedro Ruiz.

[11] Lynch won the British, European and world flyweight titles from Jackie Brown in an historic bout held in Manchester on 9 September 1935, the two having fought a draw six months earlier.

[12][13] The fight attracted enormous support from Glaswegians who travelled en masse to watch Lynch floor his opponent eight times before the bout was stopped in the second round.

[14] In his next three fights he beat Gaston Maton (but had to pay a forfeit after failing to make the weight),[15] Harry Orton,[16] and Phil Milligan,[17] before suffering his first defeat in three years when he lost on points to Jimmy Warnock in Belfast in March 1936.

[18] In September 1936 he successfully defended his British and European titles against Pat Palmer, stopping the Londoner in the eighth round.

[31][32] Lynch was arrested later that month and charged with driving offences after crashing his car while drunk and hitting a telegraph pole and a pram containing a 12-week-old baby, and failing to stop after the accident.

[34] He forfeited his world flyweight title against Jurich, when he weighed in at 118.5 lb (53.8 kg), half a pound over the bantamweight limit.

Morgan at bantamweight later that month at Shawfield Park, losing on points despite being once again over the agreed weight and over 7lbs heavier than his opponent.

[39] In October 1938, after his weight increased again and he suffered a third-round knockout at the hands of Aurel Toma, he was offered 'three months holiday' and received several weeks treatment at a sanatorium in Kent, arranged by the National Sporting Club in an attempt to return him to fitness.

A documentary about the life of Benny Lynch, directed by John Mackenzie and narrated by Robert Carlyle, was made in 2003.