Great Boxers From Wales # 6 Tommy Farr

Tommy Farr
The Tonypandy Terror

(1913- 1986)

Clydach Vale

Heavyweight

Total fights 126 Won 81 (24) Lost 30 Drawn 13 No contests 2

 In the 94 years that separated the reigns of Bob Fitzsimmons and Lennox Lewis no one came closer to bringing the World Heavyweight Championship to Britain than Tommy Farr.
 On August 30th 1937 at New York's Yankee stadium Farr took Joe Louis the distance but lost on points.

It was an unpopular decision, roundly booed by the crowd of 50,000 at the stadium, and still hotly disputed seventy years on.

One  wet Saturday night shortly after Mr Farr died I was watching a re run of the fight on a TV through the window of a chip shop .  An old man in a colourless raincoat and flat cap, doubtless one of the thousands of my countrymen who had listened to the fight on the 'wireless' nearly half a century before, paused to  give the screen a cursory glance, and hurrying on, to save me the bother of having to watch, said, still smarting from disappointment,  'he loses, you know...'

Great Boxers From Wales # 5 Gipsy Daniels

Daniels (right) with Schmeling.
Gipsy Daniels

(William Daniel)

(1903-1967)

Llanelli

Light Heavyweight

Total fights 141 Won 86 (33) Losses 43 Draws 12

When Billy Daniels allowed himself to be promoted in the USA as 'Gipsy' he aroused the disapproval of his father (a former Welsh rugby international) , who felt that the family reputation was being tarnished.

Daniel, who briefly held the British and Empire Light- heavyweight title in 1927, did not achieve the heights that the other boxers in this selection did, but his record does include one remarkable victory. In February 1928 he achieved a first round ko of Max Schmeling in Frankfurt.

Great Boxers From Wales # 4- Jimmy Wilde

Jimmy Wilde

The Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand

(1892- 1969)

Pentwyn Deintyr (Quakers Yard)

Flyweight

Total fights 152 Won 137 (100) Lost 4 Drawn 2 No contests 8

World Flyweight Champion 1916- 1917

The tiny Jimmy Wilde didn't even have to take off his overcoat for weigh ins. At 5'2" and  84lbs he was one of the greatest pound for pound punchers  in the history of the prize ring. His ratio of wins by knock out was extremely high, and in 2003 he was placed at 3 on the Ring Magazine's 100 Greatest Punchers list.

Wilde was hardened by work in the pit and  the fairground boxing booths. He estimated that if these early fairground bouts were taken into account he had fought over 800 times in his career.

Great Boxers From Wales # 3- Freddie Welsh

Freddie Welsh

(Frederick Hall Thomas)

(1886- 1927)

Pontypridd

Lightweight

Total fights 166 Won 78 (32) Lost 5 Drawn 7 No Contest 81

World Lightweight Champion 1914-1917

When I think of the size of our little country, and then think again how small that portion of it is that we call South Wales, I am lost in wonderment and filled with pride at the recollection of the things that have been done by the men of our race.

Freddie Welsh's fascinating life story is well worth a browse. Being middle-class and privately educated he didn't conform to the stereotypes of the boxing world, and was one of the few vegetarian world boxing champions. He began his career in the USA.

Great Boxers From Wales # 2- Percy Jones

Percy Jones
(1892 – 1922)
Porth
Flyweight
Total fights 52 Won 46 (25) Lost 3 Drawn 3.
World Flyweight Champion 1914 (Wales’ First World Champion).

Percy Jones lost his leg serving in The First World War, and died of the combined effects of poison gas and Trench Fever.

Great Boxers From Wales # 1- Jim Driscoll

Jim Driscoll

'Peerless Jim'

(1880-1925)

Cardiff

Featherweight

Total fights 74 Won 56(39) Lost 3 Drawn 6 No Decision 9*

In 1908 Driscoll fought World Champion Abe Attell in New York. At Attell’s insistence the ‘no decision’ rule was in operation, which meant that Driscoll could only claim the title by knocking Attell out. Driscoll dominated the fight, but there was no knockout.

Ignoring the chance of a lucrative rematch (without the ‘no decision’ rule in place), Driscoll promptly returned to Cardiff to fulfil a prior engagement, appearing at a charity show for orphans.

*Records from this era are notoriously inconsistent.