Pinky Silverberg (April 5, 1904 – January 16, 1964) was a Connecticut-based American boxer who briefly held the National Boxing Association (NBA) World Flyweight title in late 1927. With an efficient defense, Silverberg was knocked out only once in his career by Willie LaMorte in 1926. His managers were Johnny Herman, Lou Anger, and Joe Smith. Problems with his hands, which were often broken during his career, may have hampered many of his boxing performances.[1][2][3]
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Pinky Silverberg was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx on April 5, 1904. He would eventually become one of six siblings, with three other boys and two girls. His father relocated to Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1920 to find work in one of the many factories in the Naugatuck Valley.[4]
Silverberg began his career in 1920 when he was only 16 by adding two years to his age so he could begin boxing professionally. His older brother Herman, who may have influenced his choice to be a boxer, was also a featherweight known as “Kid Silvers” and fought feature bouts in New York boxing clubs. Between September 1920, and June 1925, Pinky fought twenty-seven bouts almost exclusively in the Connecticut area, losing only three, and winning fourteen, with three by knockout.[1][4] The nine draws among his initial bouts indicated that his rise to prominence was gradual but that he learned from these bouts and over time improved his technique.
Silverberg took the Connecticut Flyweight Championship on October 17, 1925, against Al Beuregard at the Opera House in Ansonia, Connecticut, in a ten-round points decision.[3] The important win heralded his emergence as a potential flyweight contender.
In what may well have been his only loss by knockout, on April 5, 1926, Silverberg lost to accomplished boxer Willie LaMorte at Footguard Hall in Hartford, Connecticut, in a difficult bout lasting only three rounds.[3] Apparently LaMorte had Silverberg down cold, as Pinky lost to LaMorte again on June 25, 1928 at Laurel Garden in Newark, New Jersey in a ten-round points decision. According to the Newark Star-Eagle, LaMorte floored Silverberg in the first round, taking all but two of the rounds in the bout.[3]
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