Young Barney Aaron
Young Barney Aaron (born on July 27, 1836 in London, England; died June 4, 1907, in Long Island, New York) was a boxer.
He was the son of Hall of Famer Barney Aaron. He emigrated to the United States in 1855, and began boxing in 1856.
He was U.S. lightweight champion.
Boxing career
According to the Washington D.C.'s The Evening Star, pg. 1, 14 July 1867, Aaron was born on July 27, 1836 at Duke's Place in the Aldgate Section of London. He was 5 feet, 5 inches tall. The Star is the primary source for most of fight information in the following narrative.
Like his father before him, Aaron was a hard-hitting bare-knuckled fighter, but he fought in a new era under different rules than his famous father. The elder Aaron battled under "Broughton's Rules"; Young Barney fought under the Pugilistic Society's "London Prize Ring Rules," which had been developed in 1838. Modified in 1853, only three years before young Barney began his professional career, the Rules stated the ring should be 24 square feet, surrounded by two ropes. Any knockdown marked the end of the round, and the downed fighter had 8 seconds to "come to scratch" unaided, or the fight was over -- under Broughton's Rules, a fighter had 30 seconds to return to the center of the ring, and had the help of his handlers. Therefore, bouts were recorded according to the number of rounds and length of time; 3-minute rounds were not developed until the late-19th Century.
On July 9, 1856, on Rikers Island, Aaron fought a mulatto named Johnny Robinson beginning at daybreak. The bout lasted for 80 rounds, 2 hours and 20 minutes, and resulted in Aaron being declared the winner.[1]
First taking the American Lightweight Championship, September 1857
On September 2, 1857, he defeated American lightweight champion Johnny Moneghan near Providence, RI, over 80 rounds. The fight lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes. With the victory he became the first Jewish fighter to win a ring championship in America.
After losing the title the following year to Patrick “Scotty” Brannagan on October 18, 1858, at Point Abino, Canada, on a foul, he entered a seven-year period of inactivity because no fighter would face him.
Retaking the American Lightweight Championship, June 1867
He returned to the ring around July 20, 1866, and lost a 47-round bid to regain the title at Pohick Landing, Virginia against Sam Collyer. After an excruciating 2 hours and 5 minutes, both men were taken off on stretchers. However, he defeated Collyer in the rematch on June 13, 1867, in a 68-round battle that lasted one hour and 55 minutes to regain the championship. The source for the second Collyer bout is "The Prize Ring", The Evening Telegraph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pg. 1, 13 June 1867.
He won newspaper headlines in July 1874 for foiling two pickpockets trying to steal from the Rev. Henry Thorpe, whom they jostled as the elderly clergyman was "riding downtown on a Fourth Avenue street car." Aaron applied some of his celebrated "scientific boxing" technique, knocking both thieves down into the street, after first having retrieved the reverend's gold watch, which he returned.[2]
According to his New York Times Obituary, his most famous bout was a 17-round win in Mississippi City over Arthur Chambers in 1878. (From Jews in Sports page for Aaron, Young Barney.)(This fight also appears in priamry source, "Former Bare Knuckle Champion Passes Away", The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Indiana, pg. 11, 4 June 1907)
He died a few days before Sunday, June 2, 1907, and was buried in Long Island, New York.
Retirement
In retirement, Young Barney remained in boxing by operating a gym in New York. He also served as a referee and officiated the 1883 John L. Sullivan vs. Herbert Slade bout.