Corporal Izzy Schwartz
Name: Corporal Izzy Schwartz
Alias: The Ghetto Midget Corporal
Birth Name: Isidore Schwartz
Hometown: New York, New York, USA
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Died: 1988-07-08 (Age:87)
Height: 155cm
Reach: 157cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Amateur Boxer: Record
Corporal Izzy Schwartz Gallery
Manager: Phil Bernstein
Isadore (Izzy) Schwartz (Hebrew name, used occasionally, was likely Yisrael, or "Israel"), orphaned at the age of two, grew up in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York's East Village. Although too small for the military, he still managed to enlist, eventually rising to the rank of corporal and reported by the Portland Press Herald December 22nd, 1924 to have won the US Army Flyweight Title on December 9th, 1922, in a battle at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. He reportedly saw action in France at the end of World War I in 1918.
Schwartz won the Southwest Bantamweight title on November 22, 1926, defeating Johnny McCoy in El Paso, Texas; and eight days later won the Pacific Coast Bantamweight title defeating Chuck Hellman over ten rounds in Portland, Oregon. These were the first two important professional boxing titles won by Schwartz in his fighting career. And he won both these titles fighting out of his class as a bantamweight, while likely weighing at the 112 lbs Flyweight limit or less.
Schwartz developed his professional boxing skills as a sparring partner for Frankie Genaro. He became the World Flyweight Champion by defeating Newsboy Brown in 1927, as recognized by the New York State Athletic Commission, and held the title until 1929 -- successfully defending the title five times. He never lost the title in the ring -- initially retiring, and then relinquishing the flyweight title in 1929.
There still seems to be many fights missing from Schwartz's record, particularly in the early part of his career when he was in the US Army and fought primarily out of the Detroit area.