| Joseph Shears | |
| Occupation: | Boxer |
| Nationality: |  Canadian |
| Nickname: | Little Joe, Joey Shears |
| Weight: | |
| Birth Place: | Poland |
| Death Place: | Montreal, Quebec |
Joseph "Joe" Shears (born 1892 - November 25, 1957), also known as Joe Schulman, was a former boxer.
When Joe Shulman was a year old, his family relocated from Poland to London, England.[1]
Shears was the fighting moniker of Joe Schulman, and it was taken on by his son Jerry and the rest of the family.[2]
Shears fought in England, Canada, and the United States before the First World War.
In 1908, he defeated George Jones in the first professional boxing match conducted in Belleville, Illinois.[3] He competed in a match at New Bedford's Sharpshooters Hall in 1913.[4]
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Shears enlisted as a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.[5] After sailing to England in 1916, "Little Joe" Shears became the bantamweight champion of the Allied forces in France and England.[6] In November 1916, English artist Laura Knight was commissioned to paint the physical training at Witley Camp in Surrey where the 156th Canadian Infantry Battalion was stationed.[7] Knight painted over 9 paintings which included a final large canvas, titled "Physical Training at Witley Camp" which featured Joe Shears.[8]
Shears escaped a German prison camp by crawling through a sewer.[9]
After the war, in 1919, he went back to boxing in Montreal.[10]
Jerry, Phil, Max, Al, and Joe Jr. were his five sons, all of whom became amateur boxers by imitation.[11]
Joseph Shears died on Monday, November 25, 1957.