Baby Yack

Baby Yack (born Benjamin Norman Yakubowitz; December 25, 1915 – January 11, 1987) was a Jewish-Canadian professional bantamweight boxer. He held the Canadian bantamweight boxing championship from 1936 to 1938.

Early life Benjamin Norman Yakubowitz, the second of three sons, was born on December 25, 1915, to Bessie Yakubowitz. Emigrating from the Kyiv region of the Soviet Union in 1903, the Yakubowitzes settled in the tough Toronto neighborhood bounded by Baldwin, Palmerston, Bathurst, and Queen.

His early fighting instincts were honed in downtown Toronto as a newsboy during the 1920s, where he defended his newspaper corner from older boys.

Amateur boxing career Yakubowitz, a former Toronto newsboy, began boxing at the age of 13. He went by his middle name and abbreviated his last name from Yakubowitz to Yack in the ring. He received the nickname "Baby" on account of being younger than his older brother, Dave Yack.

In January 1933, the 16-year-old represented the Elm Grove Athletic Club in the 105-pound division, posting a record of 18 amateur bouts with only one defeat.

Yack was named to Canada's 1936 Olympic boxing team but, with Sammy Luftspring, refused to compete in Berlin. Their protest, published as a letter in the Toronto Globe on July 6, 1936, denounced Germany's treatment of Jews.

Professional career Norman Yack made his professional debut at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto in 1936, fighting as a bantamweight.

He went 6–0 before facing Angelo Callura, brother of Jackie Callura, on June 8, 1937, in a six-round fight where Callura handed him his first loss.

He rose from earning $50 as a preliminary fighter to becoming a main headliner in Toronto, drawing $1,000 per bout. In training for his first main event in 1937, he was handled by Mottle Goldman and Steve Rocco, who had previously held the Canadian flyweight title.

Taking the Canadian bantamweight championship, June 1937 He faced Canadian featherweight and bantamweight champion Frankie Martin of Montreal for the Canadian bantamweight championship at Maple Leaf Gardens on June 14, 1937. The Torontonian won the national bantamweight title with a split-decision win over Martin.

In a rematch with Angelo Callura, he won by decision before defending his title successfully in a July 1937 rematch against former titleholder Frankie Martin. In the 1937 annual ratings by The Ring, he was ranked as the world's 7th best bantamweight.

When he saved $3,600 in 1937, his first priority was buying his mother a brick house and relocating her from Palmerston, Ontario. Yack outboxed Quintana and won a split decision after ten rounds.

At the Mutual Street Arena in May 1938, he faced Small Montana, a former NYSAC world flyweight champion, losing a ten-round decision.

His contract with Mottle Goldman was soon turned over to Willie Morrissey, who took him to New York, where he stayed with Sammy Luftspring, then Canadian welterweight champion, and trained under Whitey Bimstein.

Yack went 3–1 in his New York campaign that took him to the New York Hippodrome, Ridgewood Grove Arena, and Queen's Boulevard Arena. During 1939, his last year in the ring, he competed in 12 bouts, facing 1934 Olympian Lefty Gwynne and former bantamweight world champion Harry Jeffra, among others.

Professional boxing record

Life after boxing He retired at 24 to become a physical training instructor in the Canadian Armed Forces but struggled to adjust to life outside the ring. Over six years, he worked various jobs, including as a taxi driver and bookie, and was arrested for bookmaking, assault, and illegal liquor possession.

In summer 1961 near the Town Tavern, Baby Yack intervened after Hamilton mafia boss Johnny Pops Papalia nearly beat bookmaker Maxie Bluestein to death for refusing a drink. He was targeted in multiple assassination attempts over the next two years.

Death Baby Yack died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 11, 1987, at age 71, after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for many years.