Eligio, better known as "Kid Chocolate", the dazzling Cuban, will attempt to prove he can give away ten pounds and still whip Bergman, otherwise known as Jeck 'Kid' Berg, a jewish boy from the Whitechapel area of London and one of the best and busiest of the lightweights.
If the jury has any preconceived opinion it is that Chocolate can't do it. The odds for their ten-round tilt stand at 6 to 5 on Berg.
Never beaten in 67 professional or amateur bouts, Chocolate has flashed sensationally in two years of American campaigning. He is considered the uncrowned featherweight champion, a natural 126 pounder, an ebony marvel of boxing ability and speed afoot, and a puncher besides. He has been held only once to a draw, and holds a decision over Al Singer, the present lightweight champion, as a result of an open-air duel here last summer. He is considered unbeatable at his own weight.
But in Berg the Cuban licorice stick is tackling a rough and rugged lightweight who has beaten back the best of the 135 pounders and was considered a more logical contender for the lightweight title held by Sammy Mandell than Al Singer, who finally cornered the crown holder and knocked him out in a round. Berg and Singer have never met but the Whitechapel hebrew has whipped an imposing crop of the divisions best, including Tony Canzoneri, the Italian sharp-shooter.
Berg did his last boxing today in preperation for the battle, going two fast rounds with Nel Tarleton and two with Al Tipoli. He will work out here again tomorrow but will confide his efforts to shadow-boxing, rope skipping, bag punching and calisthenics."
(St. Petersburg Times - Aug 5, 1930)
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"A battered little bundle of ebony fighting machinery sat huddled in his corner at the Polo Grounds last night after ten of the most furious rounds of slam bang boxing New York has witnessed in many a moon. As Joe Humpries walked towards him, white official slips in hand, Kid Chocolate leaped in anticipation of being proclaimed the winner, only to stumble back and fall into a sobbing heap in his corner as Humpries suddenly checked himself and turned and lifted the hand of Jackie 'Kid' Berg in the token of triumph.
In those few dramatic moments, pulse-stirring the crowd of 25,000 that had been thrilled by a sensational battle of little fellows, the winning streak that Chocolate appeared to have kept intact was brought to a sudden end.
Entirely on the strength of his tireless agressiveness Berg won by a two to one vote from the officials.
So close was the battle and so partisian was the symapthies of the crowd that the decision, plus the announcers initial uncertainty, provoked a big demonstration of disapproval.
Cocolate, led tearfully from the ring, recieved an ovation that drowned out the cheers for Berg. So heated was the scene that impromtu fights broke out around ringside and in the stands. It was fully five minutes before order was restored by the police.
Among the ringside experts a sharp division of opinion existed. On the Associated Press score sheet Chocolate was given six rounds to Berg's four. Chocolate seemed to have the edge in the first three rounds as well as the sixth, seventh and eighth. Berg holding margains in the fourth, fifth, ninth and tenth. Chocolate landed the cleaner, more effective blows, he had Berg somewhat groggy with a sensational attack in the third round, the most exciting of the entire fight. The flashy ebony kid was also the faster, better boxer whenever he could keep away from the crowding, mauling Englishman.
Berg was unceasingly the agressor. His punches were seldom damaging but they were more persistant and landed more often.
The gate was estimated at $160,000, around the same as that for the Singer-Mandell lightweight title fight recently at Yankee Stadium.
(The Day - Aug 7, 1930)
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Berg was barely 20 when he snapped the long unbeaten run of Kid Chocolate at the Polo Grounds in Harlem that night in June 1930, in what was a huge, if sometimes forgotten, fight. He received a purse of $66,000, a massive payday at the time, and one that set him up for life.
On July 18, 1932 Kid Chocolate would meet Kid Berg in a return match (pictured)...again Berg was able to pull off a close decision, the time at Madison Square Garden.
