Mushy Callahan

Mushy Callahan (November 3, 1905 – June 14, 1986) was the 1926–1930 light welterweight world champion of boxing. After retiring from boxing in 1932, Callahan refereed hundreds of matches, and he had a 30-year career in Hollywood, taking small roles in movies, most with boxing themes, as well as working as a stuntman, trainer and boxing adviser on movie sets.

Callahan was born Vincent Morris Scheer in Manhattan's Lower East Side. His father was a produce merchant. His family moved to the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Boyle Heights District in Los Angeles from New York when he was two. He was into amateur boxing by ten, and when he finally started professional boxing in 1924, four rounds were the limit in California, so his progress in gaining experience was limited.

He took the ring name of Mushy Callahan, discarding his more ethnic-sounding name, as most Jewish boxers did at the turn of the century. He was nicknamed "Mushy" from his Hebrew name Moishe, or Moses. According to Callahan, he took his last name from an Irish fight promoter at his Newsboy's boxing club, in hopes it would keep his family from finding out he was boxing. Callahan was a great counter puncher and possessed a fine defense.

In 1925, when ten-round fights were legalized in California, Callahan ran through a number of opponents, including Russel LeRoy and Pal Moran, knocking both out in three rounds. He also fought James Red Herring and Spug Myers. Callahan fought Ace Hudkins to a draw in their first meeting on September 16, 1925, in Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, and then defeated Hudkins in ten rounds on November 14, 1925, in Vernon, California, despite having broken bones in both hands.

On September 21, 1926, Callahan fought Pinky Mitchell for Mitchell's World Light Welterweight crown. Mitchell was the first champion light welterweight, a class created in 1922. At the time of the fight, he had held the title almost continuously from its inception in 1922 until his fight with Callahan. When the two boxers met, few recognized the legitimacy of a championship in this weight class. Nevertheless, Callahan beat Mitchell over ten rounds in Vernon, California, and won the title.

Callahan said in an interview of his subsequent title bout with Andy DiVodi, "My biggest thrill came when I fought Andy DiVodi in Madison Square Garden on March 14, 1927. The New York papers were full of DiVodi...I knocked him out in the second round." The National Boxing Association recognized the bout as being for the World Super Lightweight title. Callahan defended his title again on May 31, 1927, against Spug Myers at Wrigley Field in Chicago and then on May 28, 1929, against Fred Mahan in Los Angeles. The NBA again recognized the ten-round points decision win over Myers as for the World Super Lightweight title.

Callahan also fought a variety of non-title fights from 1927 to 1929. On July 13, 1927, Callahan lost a bout to Sergeant Sammy Baker by TKO in the ninth round. Baker had weighed in at 144 pounds (65 kg), putting him four pounds over the junior welterweight limit, allowing Callahan to keep his title despite the loss. Four month later, on November 22, Callahan lost badly to Olympic champion Jackie Fields in a ten-round decision, although, again, he retained his title because Fields was overweight for the class.

Of his March 28, 1928, ten-round win over Dick Hoppe at the Olympic Auditorium, the Montreal Gazette wrote, that he had won "in the opinion of ring siders seven of the ten rounds." Callahan had previously lost to Hoppe in ten rounds on November 10, 1927, in Hollywood Legion Stadium. Hoppe was not the quality of competition he would later face in Jackie Berg.