BRENNER, TEDDY

BRENNER, TEDDY (1917–2000), U.S. boxing matchmaker, member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Widely acclaimed as the greatest matchmaker in boxing history, Brenner promoted many fights at Madison Square Garden, including the historic Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier match in 1971. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Brenner was first exposed to boxing as a teenager, working the corner of a friend at the 1934 Golden Gloves. After serving with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, Brenner started working as a matchmaker in New Brunswick, N.J., Laurel Gardens in Newark, N.J., Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway arena, Manhattan's St. Nicolas arena, the Coney Island Velodrome, and Long Beach Stadium in New York before moving full-time to Madison Square Garden. Brenner worked on and off at the Garden from 1947 to 1978, before joining Bob Arum's Top Rank in 1980. "A matchmaker is a guy who starts fights and then gets out of the way," is how Brenner defined his occupation. His philosophy for arranging matches was simple: Would he buy a ticket, and was the public interested? "The best kind of match you can make," he said, "is one where you yourself wonder which is the better man." While this conflicted with managers who preferred their boxers to take on easy competition, it nevertheless made for hundreds of exciting fights that fans were willing to pay to see. His matches included headliners such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, and George Foreman, but also amateurs in whom he saw potential, like the young Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, and Wilfred Benitez. "There is Teddy Brenner, and there is everybody else – he was clearly the best," said Arum, adding: "He was honest to a fault. He was a dead-honest guy. Everybody knew they could take Teddy's word. In a business that has so many sleazy people, Teddy's word was all you needed." Brenner received the Boxing Writers' Association of America's James J. Walker Award for "Long and Meritorious Service to Boxing" in 1971; he is the author of Only the Ring Was Square (1981). (Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)