Ted Kid Lewis vs Milburn Saylor

Only seven days after going twelve rounds with Joe Mandot, Ted “Kid” Lewis completed another full contest in Boston and again secured the decision. Milburn Saylor was the beaten opponent on 2 November 1915, when Lewis won on points over twelve rounds at the Arena under the Atlas Athletic Association’s promotion. The result left Lewis in possession of the world welterweight championship he had taken from Jack Britton barely two months earlier. It continued a succession of important Boston victories which had rapidly established the Englishman among the leading fighters campaigning in America.

Lewis had won the championship by outpointing Britton on 31 August and repeated that success in their September return. His October victory over Mandot provided the immediate background to the Saylor engagement. The former British and European featherweight champion had advanced through the weight divisions while maintaining a demanding schedule, with appearances in Philadelphia and Boston during the preceding fortnight. Saylor, from Indianapolis and frequently billed as “Young” Saylor, was familiar to the local audience. Earlier in the year he had drawn with Charley White over twelve rounds, then defeated Joe Azevedo and Matty Baldwin in further Boston contests. Those performances gave him credible local form before facing the reigning champion.

For Lewis, the evening added another distance victory to an exceptionally active championship campaign. For Saylor, it brought defeat after his useful summer performances in the same city. Boston had supplied Lewis with the opportunity to win his championship, confirm his superiority over Britton in a return and overcome Mandot; Saylor now became another opponent unable to obtain the decision against him. The available evidence supports that straightforward conclusion, while leaving the detailed course of the fighting beyond dependable reconstruction.

There's not a lot I can say or add to enhance this fight. All I know is that Ted “Kid” Lewis is probably among the top five British boxers of all time. He didn't just score a tremendous win over a single American fighter; he fought many top-level opponents on US soil and won most of them.

As stated so many times in the past, it is an absolutely amazing fact: the number of fights these boxers had in any given year, half-year, or month. They were just incredible. I don't even know whether they had time to train. I expect they fought so often they were in fight condition permanently.