Who Was Daniel Mendoza? The Sephardic Diaspora Pt. 5
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Brief lecture on the life and times of Daniel Mendoza, a Sephardic Jewish champion boxer of the 18th and early 19th century. Part of The Sephardic Diaspora series available at jewishhistorylectures.org.
I love your lectures on illustrious and heroic rabbis, but as a huge fan of boxing and early boxing history, this was one of my favorites. I can confirm from my own obsessive knowledge of the sport that Mendoza indeed had a revolutionary effect on boxing. The dodging and technique-based styles of greats like Muhammad Ali are the distant descendants of Mendoza's innovations. Mendoza was also a middleweight routinely fighting what would be modern cruiserweights, a gap of around 40 pounds, and winning. A fight with such a large weight gap wouldn't even be legal today.
On technique: Mendoza did a lot more than just step to the side. He brought in fencing techniques, footwork, posture, guard, and counters, during an era when boxing primarily relied on sword and shield techniques. Boxing was invented to mimic swordplay. In the modern era when you watch a "boxer" like Floyd Mayweather, that's Mendoza's fencing with fists at work. When you watch a "puncher" like Rocky Marciano; that's sword and shield boxing. If you imagine a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right Rocco will show you a spartan warrior. If you imagine a dagger in his left and a rapier in his right Mayweather will show you a musketeer. As boxing fans, yes, we do put over Mendoza quite a bit. He is not a jew, he is the jew, we will never forget.
What I can't believe the esteemed speaker missed in his research is Mendoza's boxing form isn't simply set up to keep Mendoza safe. It's also set up to rile his audience. Dodging a punch rather than blocking it was seen as cowardly, not illegal, but cowardly. Cowardly jew would be an insult hurled at him.
Charging for the fights, being the first man with the gull to charge, also seen as a Jewish thing to do. Greedy jew they'd call him.
Writing editorials in the media was seen as arrogant; arrogant jew.
Let's put that into narrative: Mendoza pens a challenge, England responds with he's little more than an arrogant jew. Mendoza charges for the right to watch the fight, greedy. Then he fights defensively, cowardly. After he wins England is pretty dang upset with him. Which is fine for our Danny Boy, bigger crowds would show up, pay their money, and come to watch him lose. Which he didn't do often. They'd leave even more upset and hungry to find a man to beat him. Wash and repeat, Mendoza makes the big bucks, is healthy enough to enjoy it, and is super famous. Were his fights fixed? Almost undoubtedly but we have no proof outside of how brilliantly his manipulation of his audience went over and how perfectly his outcomes stoked those fires. One should always remember, boxing invented pro-wrestling, but, without proof let us not defame our champions. Take even modern boxing with a grain of salt, but, remember, these men are real warriors who put their lives on the line.
John Jackson did cheat actually. After Jackson England would enter an era of blatant but accepted cheating. Molineaux-Cribb, which has our man Mendoza as a trainer, is a great example of a post Jackson-Mendoza era accepted cheating. The "right" man needed to win by any means. The common jew had to lose to the gentile lord, the black, Moli, had to lose to the white, Cribb. Even later on in the 1820s-30s Jem Ward would cheat James Burke and England would accept it on the grounds that Burke, even though he's a gentile from london, was not English enough to be champion.
Thanks for the video, very well done. Especially for a man who isn't himself familiar with boxing. I very much appreciated it. If y'all ever want to do another seminar on Mendoza I'd love to help out anyone speaking about this great character in history. I am not Jewish, just a historical boxing fan who recognizes greatness when he reads it. Finally, boxing history is history told from the perspective of common folk, it's fine to know how kings and lord felt about political movements and such, much better to know the conversation in the pubs and bars.
My dad always said he was an Irish Jew, that's why he married a Dutch girl.
Father did have all his boys circumcised, not an easy feat in 1960 small town Catholic Newfoundland.
My mother is a descendant of Mendoza. Makes sense now with a lot of things 😂
I have been listening to Professor Abramson's lectures for a few weeks now. As an Irish Catholic with a father who was a boxer, I finally found someone with whom I can fully identify! It's nice to see an example of a Jewish figure who utterly defies all the stereotypes.
Such a good lecture ....i love boxing and you talked about some little stuff that boxer's do...true historian
Espectaculares sus conferencias!! Gracias por esa labor, inconmensurable.
Eduardo Reyes
De verdad tengo respecto al la todos los españoles pero la historia de este Judeo es que el es portugués. Como Cristóbal Colon y su mamá también eran portugueses.
Wow that is remarkable. That's REAL history. It's the people living on the edge of society that have the most interesting history.
I know, right? I love this stuff.
I found Mendoza on Wikipedia. it helped me in my discovery of Sefardic heritage in England
Learned about this man's influence on modern boxing, he's one of my heroes now.
In the historical novel, Every Man A Slave, by Sender Zeyv, (p. IBS) there is a monologue, which incorporates in the story a lot of the history of Mendoza as lectured by Dr. Abramson . In addition the book contains numerous authentic historical scenes in which the characters in the book play roles (fictitiously of course). I found the book very informative while at the same time entertaining.
Hmm
@@HenryAbramsonPhD Hmm...mm
Hi Henry, Just wondering which penal colonies was Daniel and later his son was sent to?
I am doing some research on Daniel Mendoza and found some information about 4 of his children.
Abraham b. 1790 Tried and found guilty of ' Theft with violence and Highway robbery' at the Old Bailey 10th July 1816, he was transported to Australia and arrived in New South Wales on April 1817 on the convict ship Morley. Died aged 49 in Sydney, Australia.
Daniel b. 1797 Deported whereabouts unknown but returned to UK as died in London 1838.
Sophia b. 1792 Unmarried with three children. Sentenced 29 May 1828 7 years transportation to Australia for larceny. Arrived Van Diemen's Island (Tasmania) January 1829. Granted certificate of freedom 1855.
Isaac b. 1808 Transported to Australia as a convict. No further details.
Benny Leonard was another great Jewish boxer, he was a New Yorker. Leonard was one of the greatest lightweights of all time.
he was a heroin addict I believe
This was totally awesome!! Love this one!
the Lord has always been with us my dad is of Jewish decent and he won the golden gloves for boxing in Los Angeles was never defeated...
Great presentation. Do more prominent Jewish sports figures.
One of Daniel Mendoza's descendants is the great Peter Sellers, according to a book i've read.
the last British Jewish Professional Boxer, was Gary "the Kid" Jacobs... from Scotland... look him up... there maybe other British Jewish Boxers since him, but he always fought with the Star of David on his shorts... circa 1990s...
Daniel Mendoza is peruvian and a good friend of mine. Greetings from Perú.
Probably not the same Daniel Mendoza, but thanks for watching!
I love history
This is interesting to me as I also have some Jewish ancestors who were brought up on charges in England. I'm not sure if you are aware of this but petty larceny was the most common charge for any crime attributed to English Jews. While no doubt some of these crimes were actually committed it was also often the case that we were essentially being charged "walking while Jewish", or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. One particular ancestor of mine was a Cohen Jeweler who was at the time living in Warwickshire. He was later cleared of charges after his deportation to Austrailia. I believe, tho I could be mistaken, that the term for someone who had managed that feat (in UK law of the time) was that of an emancipist. Here is an interesting article from the national library in Syndey about my ancestor (also named Henry) which may be of interest to you when you, when it is that you next come to study Austrailain Jews or Jewish convicts in general. judaica.library.sydney.edu.au/catalog/Henry%20Cohen.pdf So it is interesting that Mendoza supported an emancipated African American's boxing career as you mentioned. It is great when the oppressed peoples of the world can come together to lift each other up. I'm not sure where I heard it but I think that the idea that when individuals of groups to which you do not personally belong become (within the bounds of wisdom) your own concern that is when those who up to that point had been your oppressors might step back and learn to see us as humans. It often takes third-party support to provide the mirror for change that is needed. We are not all as Robert Burn who said of himself and like-minded Scotts God, "the Giftee" or Hashem Yireh (Providence) to us had given the gift and power to see ourselves as others see us. Thanks again for another quality presentation.
Wes Swank Jews are not oppressed
Wes Swank Half of the world's Jewery were once convinced that salvation was obtained through sin, and many still do, and that is plenty obvious when you talk to so many Israelis. Evil people. No wonder they were persecuted.
Precise Puncher sir, while certainly I have no illusions of my people being perfect, I have never heard of the idea of "salvation thru sin". On the contrary we are taught "Zion will redeemed through charity". Where did you get this from?
It is a misunderstanding of the Yetzer Hara. There are as we know positive uses to which we can put the same energies that tempt us to sin to instead of sinning. Sadly, this misunderstanding is common among those who consider themselves informed but really are not.
chodeshadar18 dude salvation through sin. Think about how stupid that sounds. Sabatian jewery supposedly exists but that is like saying every Christian is a knights templar. Pure stupidity.
They say Mendoza invented the side step and left jab.
I get the concern that if we lash out with violence Jews will lose public sympathy and be ground into the dirt, but subservience hasn't been a great strategy in keeping our people from harm. Some things are worth getting into a brawl over. Sometimes that's the only way to get people to back off. Sometimes fighting is safer than being submissive.
Does this "athlete" video mean Sandy Koufax is next? (Please, please, please, please....)
Peter Sellers claimed he was a descendant of Daniel Mendoza.
Interesting!
he was
Seller's, mother's maiden name was mendoza. Her family was also Jewish. Might be some truth in seller's claim.
This blew me... +1
don't forget about Cesar Chavez
yeshua my saviour really? The fighter or the libertarian who fought for poor farmers in San Diego? Either way I am Sephardi from the Azores islands and live in San Diego, I grew up with Mexican culture and speak Spanish so visits to Tijuana are a constant. I love both Cesar Chavez...I never heard of his matriarchal lineage being Jewish.
Funny, I clicked on this because I'm fan of pugilism and am familiar with Daniel Mendoza (thanks to Englishmartialarts Channel)
Hope you found it useful!
Don't forgot Cletus "The Hebrew Hammer" Seldin, still fighting.
Dmitry Salita a Chabadnik today is a top prize fighter.
motorhead true I watched him very good.
Sailta a Lubavitch is a boxer. Very good.
Salita
He wrote a book called "The Art of Boxing." He didn't write it in Hebrew; he wrote it in English! LOL Whereas suppression is one-sided, discrimination is often two-sided!
I'm Josue Mendoza
Welcome!
If Mendoza was 16 in 1789, then he was born in ~1773, not in ~64 as said earlier in the presentation. (Though you did say there was question about the 1764 date.)
Thanks for these lessons. I've been binging on them lately.
David. Lee. Roth. IJS. Please.
JMuRda5555 Elvis Presley mother was Jewish. Seriously
JMuRda5555 VanHalen
The lecturer is not very knowledgeable about Jews in Boxing. Jews have enjoyed great success in boxing up and into the present time. Many Jews have been inducted into the various Boxing Hall of Fame. In fact, arguably the greatest Lightweight Boxer in history in the Nonpareil Benny Leonard. Among the outstanding Jewish Boxers in modern boxing history include, but are not limited to Barney Ross, Battling Levinsky, Max Baer, Abe Attell, Dave Rosenberg, Maxie Rosenbloom, and, many many others
And my dads name is: Daniel Mendoza
Nice!
Josue....was/is he from PACOIMA,CA.?
Hank Greenberg had to fight alot. anti-Semitic players egged him on.
Spanish Jew big difference.
Mendoza was a gate keeper
mendivil is my last name im tony blue blood brown mendozvilla kind mvrderugo bull
boxing in the u.s.a. in early 1900 's very much dominated by jewish boxers....
No it wasnt....