Dandy: A Jewish Boxer's Journey From Russian Immigrant To Boxing Champion

by Daniel P. Joseph

Moishe Josofsky was an eight-year-old Jew when he and his family came to America in 1911 to escape the pogroms of Russia and the Czar's rule. Following in the footsteps of his brother, Moishe entered the boxing arena as Dandy Dillon and at the tender age of seventeen became a boxing champion.

138 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2011

Reviews

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shout out great great uncle Danny

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Jewish Museum in Philadelphia for an exhibit on the Jewish boxers, who flourished mostly in the early part of the twentieth century. Ever since, I've been fascinated to learn more. Dandy highlights the career of Moishe Josofsky AKA Dandy Dillon. Written and privately published by his son Daniel, the volume starts out with some backstory before moving on to a detailed story of Dandy's fighting career, compiled from his own scrapbook and supplemented by the author's Internet research. The result is not a biography but a chronicle, written largely as round-by-round commentary with a few notes of "color" here and there. Dandy's shooting star of a boxing career was brief: he began at age 16 and hung up his gloves at age 23. An epilogue tantalizingly covers the remainder of his life; there is a full biography yet waiting to be written. Each chapter is illustrated with a photograph or piece of boxing ephemera, all of great interest. Fans of Jewish boxing will be glad to learn about Dandy Dillon, and at $5.99 the price is right for the Kindle version.