Battling Levinsky

Barney Lebrowitz (June 10, 1891 – February 12, 1949), better known as Battling Levinsky, was the world light heavyweight champion from 1916 to 1920. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Levinsky as the #12 ranked light heavyweight of all-time, while "The Ring Magazine" founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #9. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Levinsky as the 20th best light heavyweight ever. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1966, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000.
Early life.
Born in Philadelphia on June 10, 1891 of Jewish immigrant parents from Russia, he shined shoes and sold newspapers after school to contribute to his family. In his earliest boxing days, he sold jewelry during the day, but boxed in the evening at the clubs in Philadelphia, probably to hide his fledgling boxing career from his parents.
Boxing career.
Career beginnings.
Battling Levinsky began his boxing career under the name Barney Williams. He fought his first recorded match in 1910 at Philadelphia's Diamond Lew Bailey's Broadway Athletic Club, with a first round knockout of his opponent, Mat Ryan, who outweighed him by over sixty pounds. He received little attention until he took on “Dumb” Dan Morgan as his manager in 1913, who changed Barney’s name along with his boxing fortunes. He was known for possessing incredible defensive skills, not frequently winning by knockout, but often leaving the ring at the end of a fight without having received a truly damaging blow.
Morgan came up with his name of "Battling Levinsky" to obscure the fact that Barney's boxing style was actually more defensive than aggressive in order to give his opposition the impression that he was an aggressive puncher.
Because Levinsky first entered the pro ranks as Barney Williams around 1906, many of his fights between 1906 and 1910, when he became "Battling Levinsky", were not recorded by boxing publications, particularly Nat Fleischer's "Ring Record Book". He did not officially become "Battling Levinsky" until 1913. In his first 100 fights between 1910 and 1914, he lost only three of his bouts.
Between 1914 and 1918, Levinsky fought 127 times, averaging an impressive 37 fights a year, even for his era. Levinsky fought 37 times in 1914 — 9 times in the month of January alone. In January 1915, he began the year with two 10-round bouts on New Year’s Day — 1 each in Brooklyn, New York City and 12 round bout in Waterbury, Connecticut.
World light heavyweight champion, 1916.
After two title-match losses to world light heavyweight champion Jack Dillon, (April 1914 and April 1916), Levinsky finally wrested the crown from him on October 24, 1916 in a twelve round points decision in Boston. The new champion was believed by many to have won every round but the fifth which was even. Levinsky had around a three inch advantage in height, a few extra inches in reach, and as much as a ten pound weight advantage. Though he was not known as a strong puncher, his defensive skills were considered exceptional, and they weighed heavily in his victory. His better blows were landed with his left, often to the jaw and body of Dillon. Fatigued by the fifth, Levinsky carried the match after the sixth, landing blows to the face, jaw and body of Dillon, who landed only a few blows that usually lacked steam. The referee's decision was met with approval by the fans. Some reporters speculated that Dillon's hands were still sore from his bout the previous night with Larry Williams, a very capable light heavyweight, in Philadelphia. Many of Dillon's blows were body punches, but he tried to go to the face or jaw on several occasions, often missing due to Levinsky's fluid defense. Dillon's dangerous right, which landed on a few occasions in the second, usually glanced off Levinsky's face for the remainder of the bout, as the Philadelphia fighter showed his ability to move away from Dillon's most valuable blow, while occasionally countering with rapid left jabs. 
Harry Greb defeated Levinsky in a somewhat close six round newspaper decision of a no decision bout on August 6, 1918 at Philadelphia's Shibe Park. Though the "Wilkes-Barre Times Leader" had Levinsky winning four of the six rounds, the majority of local papers had Levinsky winning the battle. In their ten round bout in Buffalo on February 17, 1919, Levinsky countered and blocked well against Greb's characteristic aggressive two handed attack, and the "Pittsburgh Post" wrote that the contest was "one of the most brilliant big glove exhibitions ever staged", but many local papers agreed with the "Buffalo Enquirer", that "Greb won by his aggressive attack." 
Levinsky met future champion Jack Dempsey on November 6, 1918 and lost in Philadelphia from a third round knockout administered by a left to the jaw. Dempsey connected on several occasions in the first two rounds, landing short rights and lefts that seriously affected his opponent. Dempsey was particularly effective with his left, which he often followed with a right to the body. Dempsey had an advantage in height, weight and reach, which he used to his benefit throughout the match. He was not bothered by Levinsky's frequently used left jabs, and set a very fast pace for Levinsky who at twenty-seven was a critical five years older. By most records, it was the first time, Levinsky had ever lost a match by knockout. 

Francois Pienaar

Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa (the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.
Early life and education.
Pienaar was born in Vereeniging, South Africa, into a working class Afrikaner family, and is the eldest of four boys. After completing high school at Hoërskool Patriot Witbank, he won an athletic scholarship to the Rand Afrikaans University, where he studied law.
Playing career.
He made his provincial debut for Transvaal Province in 1989 before being selected for the South Africa squad in 1993. He was appointed Springbok captain from his first test and remained captain until his last, and remains one of the most successful South African captains of all time.
In 1993 Transvaal won the Super 10, Currie Cup and Lion Cup under Pienaar. In 1994, Transvaal retained the Currie Cup under his captaincy and he was voted international player of the year by Rugby World magazine.
1995 World Cup.
Pienaar is most famous for being captain of the first South Africa team to win the World Cup. Prior to the World Cup in 1995, the Springboks were only seeded ninth and were not expected to dethrone the incumbent champions Australia, who had not lost a game in the preceding 12 months.
During the tournament, South Africa defeated Australia, Romania, Canada, Western Samoa, and France. They then met New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final at Ellis Park Stadium. Pienaar led the Springboks to a three-point victory with a drop goal from Joel Stransky.
During the remarkable post-match presentation ceremony Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey bearing Pienaar's number, presented him with the Webb Ellis Cup. During his acceptance speech, Pienaar made it clear that the team had won the trophy not just for the 60,000 fans at Ellis Park, but also for all 43,000,000 South Africans.
Pienaar is portrayed by Matt Damon in the film "Invictus", released in December 2009, which focuses on the story of the 1995 World Cup.
Later career.
Within a month of the World Cup's conclusion Pienaar had a stand-off with SARFU after he led South African players in threatening to join their Australia and New Zealand counterparts to play professionally for the World Rugby Corporation (WRC). Pienaar had convinced numerous Springbok players to sign with the WRC, but Louis Luyt eventually dissuaded them from breaking with the SARFU. During this standoff, Pienaar offered the black Springbok player Chester Williams less than other contemporary South African players. In purely marketing terms, Williams was second only to Jonah Lomu.
Subsequently, Springbok players were given contracts and the International Rugby Board (IRB) voted in favour of professionalisation. Pienaar was instrumental in negotiating the deal between SANZAR and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation that turned rugby into a fully-fledged professional game. Some of the older generation rugby administrators branded him a traitor for selling out South African rugby to professionalism.
In 1996, Pienaar was controversially dropped from the Springbok side, after 29 caps, by coach Andre Markgraaff, who accused him of feigning an injury during a match.
Pienaar subsequently left for Britain, where he became player-coach for Watford-based club Saracens. Under his leadership, they defeated the London Wasps to win the Pilkington Cup and also finished second in the Zurich Premiership. During the next two seasons, they secured third and fourth spots in the Zurich Premiership, thereby qualifying for the European Cup on consecutive campaigns.
Pienaar captained the Barbarians in his only appearance for the club against Leicester at Twickenham in 1999.
Test history.
 World Cup Final
Retirement.
In 2000, Pienaar retired as a player and became Saracens’ CEO. As a consequence of the club's lack of success during the two following years, Pienaar stepped down as coach and CEO in 2002. Piennar is one of 3 directors of Saracens as of 5/20.
In 2002 he returned to Cape Town, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Nerine Winter and two sons, both had Nelson Mandela as a godfather. 
Pienaar wrote his autobiography "Rainbow Warrior" with Edward Griffiths in 1999. In November 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hertfordshire.
Pienaar was also involved in South Africa's failed bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup in 2005.
He was a pundit for ITV Sport during the Rugby World Cups of 2007, 2011 and 2015.
Depictions in media.
Pienaar and Mandela are the subject of a 2008 book by John Carlin, "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation", that spotlights the role of the 1995 Cup win in post-apartheid South Africa. Carlin sold the film rights to Morgan Freeman. The 2009 film "Invictus", based on the book, was directed by Clint Eastwood, and starred Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Pienaar.