On This Day: The Fighter Who Put His Money Where His Mouth Was

In the early days of boxing, a fighter’s smile was often the first thing to go. Before 1913, boxers would go to extreme lengths to protect their teeth, clenching everything from sponges and wood to strips of orange peel between their jaws.

That changed on 6th October 1913, when Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis became the first professional boxer to use a custom-fitted mouthguard in a major bout. It was an innovation that would eventually become mandatory in almost every contact sport in the world.

The Dentist and the ‘Aldgate Sphinx’

Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, a Jewish Londoner known as the ‘Aldgate Sphinx’, was a relentless, aggressive fighter. However, his style meant he often suffered from painful lip lacerations caused by his own teeth.

The solution came from his friend, a London dentist named Jack Marks (some records also credit Woolf or Philip Krause with early designs). Marks, who was a former fighter himself, took a mould of Lewis's teeth and fashioned a "gum shield" out of a gutta-percha resin. Unlike the messy sponges used by other fighters, this was a reusable, moulded device designed specifically for the heat of battle.

A "Dirty" Advantage?

While Lewis began using the device in 1913—the same year he became the youngest-ever British featherweight champion, it wasn't always welcomed by the boxing establishment.

In a famous 1921 match against his great rival, Jack Britton, the opposing corner complained that the mouthguard gave Lewis an unfair advantage. They argued it was a "foreign substance" and that it helped Lewis absorb punches to the jaw more easily. The referee actually agreed and forced Lewis to remove it during the fight.

Saving the Sport

It took several more years for the "gum shield" to lose its stigma. The turning point came in 1927 during a high-profile fight between Jack Sharkey and Mike McTigue. McTigue was winning until a chipped tooth sliced his lip so badly that the fight had to be stopped.

The sporting world realized that mouthguards weren't just for comfort, they were essential for safety. By the 1930s, the equipment was common practice, and by the 1940s, dentists began using transparent acrylic to create the modern, comfortable guards we see today.

A Lasting Legacy

Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis is remembered as one of Britain’s greatest pound-for-pound fighters, winning titles in three different weight classes. But his greatest contribution to sports might be the simple piece of rubber that has saved millions of teeth, and likely many lives, over the last century.