Dolly Lyons
Name: Dolly Lyons
Birth Name: Adolph Lyons
Hometown: New York, New York, USA
Pro Boxer: Record
A New York featherweight, Dolly Lyons boxed mostly in Brooklyn during his career in the 1890s. At this time, boxing was still considered an undesirable sport by many middle class Americans, including many of the Jewish immigrants who eventually flocked to see Lyons fight.
In July 1892, Lyons stated to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, regarding his claim to the American bantamweight championship: "I want the public to understand that I do not weaken in the match made for me by the Coney Island athletic club to meet Billy Plimmer. I merely refuse to fight...for the $500 purse, $400 to go to the winner and $100 to the loser because they would not pay my training expenses to which I think I am entitled...To show that I mean business I will fight Plimmer for a $1,000 purse the winner to take all, for the championship of the world...If this is satisfactory the Coney Island athletic club knows where to find me." Lyon's use of the press to increase his name recognition was typical of many boxers of the period. For some reason, the fight with Plimmer never took place.
Lyons proved his skills on October 31, 1893, when he fought Kid Hogan at the Coney Island Casino on the undercard of a fight between Joe Choynski and black boxer George Godfrey. Choynski, a California boxer, was one of the best known Jewish boxers of the period, and once defeated Jack Johnson in Galveston, Texas early in Johnson's career. Lyons actually lost the ten round decision but received additional coverage as a skilled boxer from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Earlier, on February 6, 1893, Lyons had beaten Hogan in a twenty round match at Coney Island.
Lyons drew a crowd of 25,000 when he fought Maxie Haugh at Coney Island in May of 1896--an extraordinarily large crowd for this period.
Near the end of his career Lyons fought featherweight contender Joe Bernstein three times. These bouts greatly increased the audiences for both Lyons and Bernstein.
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