283:, who had recently retired, by defeating Ruby "Dark Cloud" Bradley in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 22, 1927, when Bradley was disqualified for delivering a low blow to Silverberg in the seventh round. Silverberg was unable to continue the bout due to the injury. Some boxing officials may have felt that Silverberg's title was not as fully justifiable due to his win by disqualification, though the World Championship Title belt was presented to Silverberg officially by the NBA commissioner a few weeks after his win.
353:, future NBA World Featherweight Champion, in an important fifteen round points decision in Melbourne, Australia. Both boxers fought in the featherweight range at 120 pounds. The poster at right shows Silverberg announcing his status as a bantamweight contender, and noting his return from Australia in 1929. It also lists many of the fighters he had fought up to that point in his career including Pete Sarron, in red near the bottom of the poster, as well as in black on the left of his picture.
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the NBA stripped
Silverberg of the title for an "unsatisfactory showing" in the bout. As a boxing historian later put it, "it remains the only time in boxing history that a champion was shorn of a legitimately won championship due to a poor performance in a non-title bout." It is important to note that Silverberg was boxing with a broken hand in the bout which hampered his performance, adding to the injustice of stripping him of his title.
395:, for the last time, at the Park Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut losing in a ten-round points decision. Silverberg could not manage the speedy attack of Wolgast. The two contenders had previously met in important non-title bouts on March 10 and May 8, 1930, in Queens, N. Y., and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where Silverberg lost in 10 and 8 round points decisions.
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clubs. Between
September 1920, and June 1925, Pinky fought twenty-seven bouts almost exclusively in the Connecticut area, losing only three, and winning fourteen, with three by knockout. The nine draws among his initial bouts indicated that his rise to prominence was gradual but that he learned from these bouts and over time improved his technique.
341:, then a sensational Cuban bantamweight, at New York's St. Nicholas Arena, in a ten-round points decision. The Kid won easily on points but did not score a significant knockdown of Silverberg throughout the bout. In his career after 1930, Chocolate would take the NBA World Super Featherweight, and NYSAC World Featherweight titles. The January 2002
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effective left jabs and hard rights, though there were no knockdowns in the bout. Silverberg demonstrated he could remain on his feet with some of the best boxers of his era. Brown had taken the NYSAC Bantamweight
Champion against Gregorio Vidal on June 18, 1929, in New York, later gaining NBA recognition for the title as well.
196:(NBA) World Flyweight title in late 1927. With an efficient defense, Silverberg was knocked out only once in his career by Willie LaMorte in 1926. His managers were Johnny Herman, Lou Anger, and Joe Smith. Problems with his hands, which were often broken during his career, may have hampered many of his boxing performances.
267:, questioning the decision, wrote, "Silverberg outsmarted Bradley, he carried the fight to Bradley and his punches were straighter and truer, he looked good to everybody except the third man in the Ring (referee)." Bradley was a top Black flyweight contender who was rated as the third best flyweight in the world by
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At 122 pounds, on
November 11, 1929, Silverberg lost to exceptional English flyweight Nel Tarleton in a ten-round points decision at the Nicholas Arena in New York. Tarleton would first take the British (BBOC) Featherweight Title in October 1931. Tarleton easily won the contest taking every round but
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once rated
Chocolate as the fifth greatest featherweight of all time. Remaining on his feet for six rounds with the Kid was no small victory for Silverberg, demonstrating he could stand in the ring with some of the greatest boxers of the era. Kid Chocolate is listed first among the boxers Silverberg
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Ruby
Bradley was a talented flyweight boxer who had taken the New England Flyweight Championship in late 1926, but likely not the best known or highly reputed boxer Silverberg would face in his career. Bradley would never take a world title, and contend only once for the NYSAC Flyweight Championship
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Silverberg recovered from a heart attack in 1959, though it was not his first. He died at his home in
Ansonia on January 16, 1964, after another heart attack at the age of 59. He was survived by his wife and two children, Janis, and Ron. Prior to the year 2000, Silverberg's boxing achievements were
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Silverberg met fellow New
England Jewish contender Archie Bell on September 22, 1928, in a feature bout at the Ridgewood Grove in Bell's hometown of Brooklyn, losing in a six-round points decision. Bell would contend several times for but never take a world title. A talented contender, in May 1927,
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Silverberg met
Bradley again on December 3, 1927, in a fateful match that was contested above the flyweight limit at the State Armory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was therefore not a title bout. Bradley beat him in a ten-round unanimous decision. Only a few days after the match, the President of
255:. A noteworthy black Cuban flyweight at the time, Black Bill would later contend for the NYSAC World Flyweight Championship in March 1930 against Midget Wolgast. Silverberg would lose to Black Bill again in a six-round points decision on December 29, 1928, at the Olympia Athletic Club in New York.
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In what may well have been his only loss by knockout, on April 5, 1926, Silverberg lost to accomplished boxer Willie LaMorte at
Footguard Hall in Hartford, Connecticut, in a difficult bout lasting only three rounds. Apparently LaMorte had Silverberg down cold, as Pinky lost to LaMorte again on June
303:
Due to a power struggle within the organization's hierarchy, the NBA never achieved a consensus to restore the championship to Silverberg. Adding to the confusion, there was no single organization at the time that sanctioned a World Flyweight Champion, and in the 1920s over a dozen World Flyweight
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Silverberg began his career in 1920 when he was only 16 by adding two years to his age so he could begin boxing professionally. His older brother Herman, who may have influenced his choice to be a boxer, was also a featherweight known as "Kid Silvers" and fought feature bouts in New York boxing
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reigning NBA World Bantamweight Champion, in a non-title ten round points decision at the Arena Polar in Havana, Cuba. At 5' 9", using his five-inch advantage in height and reach, Brown was in command throughout the fight. A defensive master, Brown nullified all of Silverberg's advances with
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After his loss to Bradley, Silverberg began boxing exclusively as a bantamweight at a weight range of 112 to 118 pounds. The poster of Silverberg at right, published around 1928, shows his new status as a bantamweight contender, and lists many of the boxers he met formerly as a flyweight.
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Bell had competed for the British version of the World Bantamweight Title in London, but lost a fifteen-round decision. Later in his career in 1932–2, he would contend for the World Bantamweight Title again in Britain, and twice for the California version of the World Featherweight Title.
204:
Pinky Silverberg was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx on April 5, 1904. He would eventually become one of six siblings, with three other boys and two girls. His father relocated to Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1920 to find work in one of the many factories in the Naugatuck Valley.
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At 116 pounds, on July 24, 1928, Silverberg lost to Norwegian Pete Sanstol at Queensboro Stadium in Queens, in a six-round points decision. An accomplished opponent, Sanstol would later take the World Bantamweight Championship on May 20, 1931, against Archie Bell in Montreal.
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In March 1930, Wolgast had impressively taken the NYSAC World Flyweight Title against Black Bill at Madison Square Garden. He clinched the title in May 1930 against Willie LeMorte. Several boxing websites rated Wolgast the eighth greatest flyweight of all time.
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In the fall of 1950, Silverberg was the subject of legal prosecution and conviction for the entertainment provided at a large gala held at his newly opened gymnasium in Ansonia. Silverberg was known in Ansonia for his campaign work in a local mayoral election.
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Silverberg took the Connecticut Flyweight Championship on October 17, 1925, against Al Beuregard at the Opera House in Ansonia, Connecticut, in a ten-round points decision. The important win heralded his emergence as a potential flyweight contender.
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By the early 1950s Silverberg was working as an inspector for aircraft engines at AVCO Lycoming in Stratford, Connecticut near his hometown of Ansonia. He fought in the Connecticut area and lived in Ansonia during much of his early life and career.
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308:(NYSAC), and the European Boxing Union (EBU). Though he would meet a few of the era's greatest boxers near his weight class, Silverberg would never have the opportunity to fight in a title bout again.
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After his retirement from the ring, he stayed in touch with boxing and promoted fights, refereed local bouts, and coached ring science as a volunteer at a local YMCA in the 1940s.
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On January 27, 1926, Silverberg first met Ruby (Dark Cloud) Bradley in Hartford, Connecticut losing in an eight-round points decision. In a close bout, the hometown paper, the
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fought in black print on the poster at right. Chocolate's name appears in the column on the left of his photo in the poster.
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at the Walker Athletic Club in New York in a six-round points decision. The bout was a benefit for the great black boxer
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Fighting at only 113 pounds, on January 19, 1927, Silverberg lost to black Cuban boxer Eladio Valdes known as
893:"Newhaven 200: Boxing Champion, Pinky Silverberg the Boxing Champion from Ansonia that History Forgot"
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Silverberg won his last known fight, a four rounder against Frankie Reese at Star Casino in New York.
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192:(April 5, 1904 – January 16, 1964) was a Connecticut-based American boxer who briefly held the
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Silverberg was inducted into the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame on November 30, 2007.
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the tenth. Fighting at 125, Silverberg gave up three pounds to his opponent.
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At 118 pounds, on November 8, 1928, Silverberg lost to Black boxer
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Silverberg won the NBA World Flyweight Championship vacated by
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Silverberg was fighting with a broken hand in Silver, Mike,
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Silver, Mike (September 2005), "The Man History Forgot",
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325:Bout with future Feather Champ Kid Chocolate, 1928
1032:, Reading, Pennsylvania, pg. 24, 26 January 1930
1088:"Silverberg Faces Year if He Loses on Appeal",
1019:, Rochester, New York, pg. 23, 12 November 1929
1006:, St. Louis, Missouri, pg. 51, 9 November 1928
967:"Bell Beats Silverberg in Ridgewood Feature",
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1127:"Pinky Silverberg, Ex-Ring Champ Dies",
1057:IBROresearch.com Retrieved on 2014-04-29
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378:On January 25, 1930, Silverberg lost to
1161:Pinky Silverberg New Haven Register Bio
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310:
302:
298:
294:
290:
278:
268:
264:
262:
253:Sam Langford
246:
236:
233:
216:
207:
203:
189:
188:
136:Total fights
129:
98:
62:(1964-01-16)
1181:1964 deaths
1176:1904 births
618:Newark, NJ
450:Opponent(s)
176:No contests
75:Nationality
1170:Categories
1074:10 October
988:12 October
921:12 October
899:10 October
781:References
727:10 Rounds
705:15 Rounds
683:15 Rounds
621:10 Rounds
598:10 Rounds
543:Black Bill
488:10 Rounds
249:Black Bill
152:Wins by KO
99:Statistics
51:, New York
872:8 October
827:8 October
661:6 Rounds
641:6 Rounds
575:Low blow
553:6 Rounds
550:New York
511:8 Rounds
438:10 Losses
271:in 1931.
111:Flyweight
106:Weight(s)
49:The Bronx
951:The Ring
917:. BoxRec
868:. BoxRec
465:Duration
460:Location
120:Orthodox
85:American
957:(7): 51
1148:BoxRec
445:Result
434:2 Wins
160:Losses
117:Stance
1146:from
713:Loss
691:Loss
669:Loss
649:Loss
629:Loss
609:Loss
586:Loss
539:Loss
519:Loss
499:Loss
470:Notes
168:Draws
1076:2016
990:2016
923:2016
901:2016
874:2016
829:2016
578:Won
561:Win
491:Won
476:Win
455:Date
144:Wins
57:Died
38:Born
1172::
955:84
953:,
882:^
837:^
812:^
788:^
708:-
686:-
664:-
644:-
624:-
556:-
534:-
514:-
436:,
171:14
163:34
147:34
139:82
1078:.
992:.
925:.
903:.
876:.
831:.
179:0
155:5
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