Guest Post by David R. Ruff

I thought the book was really well done by Gene Patalone. It had great insight on Lew Jenkins the war hero and Lew Jenkins the boxer. Jenkins did fight a who’s who in boxing. What most intrigued this writer is that he fought Al Tribuani in Wilmington, Delaware. As a youth and a boxer at the time, I went on a local TV show that Mike Walsh had, and Al Tribuani was on there with me. He would always brag about how he beat Lew Jenkins up here in Wilmington. If Lew was in his prime, Tribuani would never have beat him with a handful of rice. At this time Lew was kind of going downhill, and his trainer wanted him to stop boxing. But Jenkins continued on. I have to give Jenkins a lot of credit for being a war hero. He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Jenkins was a staff sergeant in the Army.

That’s what really got me: such a great guy but alcohol and Harley Davidson took him out of it a lot of times. I give Gene Pantalone a lot of credit for writing about these boxers from the thirties and forties. I also give him credit for the research that he did. Lew was a great champion, like many in that era. I hope that guys like Gene Pantalone will continue to write about boxers of that era; without those guys there wouldn’t be boxing as it is today. They were at the forefront of boxing. Unlike today those boxers would just fight, back in that era; they didn’t care about who they fought, as they do today. This is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about the great Lew Jenkins or the history of boxing. Way to go, Gene!