Featherweight Joe Bernstein was one of the first great boxers to emerge from New York's Lower East Side. He fought for the featherweight championship three times, but lost all three bouts, often in close matches. Nicknamed "The Pride of the Ghetto" in the 1890s, his championship fights endeared him to newly arriving Jewish immigrants.

Young Corbett II was an American boxer who held the World Featherweight championship. He took the name "Young Corbett II" in honor of James J. Corbett, a heavyweight champion. Corbett was posthumously inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1965 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.