Career
Born William J. Breslin in Clinton, New York, his professional career lasted for 25 years beginning in 1905. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1960 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a first-class member in 1990. Ernest Hemingway"s short story "Fifty Grand" is based on the Jack Britton/Mickey Walker fight in Madison Square Garden on November 1, 1922.
Other sources link this story to the Britton/Benny Leonard fight the previous June in the Bronx Hippodrome where Leonard lost in what appeared to be an intentional foul.
Leonard was specifically mentioned in the first draft of Hemingway"s short story.
