Born in 1896, Pete Herman entered his first professional boxing match at
the age of 16. At 5’2″, Herman was pretty scrappy at the onset, but he made up
for his somewhat slight frame with a killer punch. At 18, promoters took notice
of him in a fight against world bantamweight champion Kid Williams. The 10-round
bout ended in No Decision.

This would be the first of two more bouts against Williams, each time for
the bantamweight title. The first fight would occur just a few days before
Herman turned 20, ultimately ending in a 20-round draw. The second, 11 months
later, ended at 20-rounds with Herman declared the new champion.

During the course of his career, which lasted until 1922, Herman engaged in
149 bouts (winning 71 of them) and was only knocked out once, by Frankie Burns
in 1914. In 1921, Herman lost his title to Johnny Buff and after five more
fights during the next year, he lost his sight in one eye.

After retiring, he would lose his sight entirely. He wasn’t crippled by it,
however, as he went on to run a rather successful cafe in his native New Orleans
until his death in 1973.

Herman was elected to the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1959 and the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997.