Two brothers are unusual, winning the British title, and even more so because they won the same British title.

Dick and Harry Corbett were the first two brothers who won the British title, Dick in Bantam and Harry in Feather, at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s. Dick and Randolph Turpin were the first brothers who won the same title, respectively in the average weight in 1948 and 1950. The first two cousins ​​who won the same British title were Pat and Les Mcaateer, also in medium weight. The Curvis brothers from Swansea, Cliff and Brian also won the title of British welterweight, but their paths were clearly different.

Their actual name is Nancurvis and came from the fighting family. Cliff claimed that the great grandson of their mother, Shamos Warner, was a champion of the Welsh, Welsh hill at the turn of the 20th century and that their father, Dai, was a very good boxer during service in the First World War in the First World War.

Cliff, who was born in 1927, was almost 10 years older and stood Pro for 16 years in the last years of World War II. He had no benefit of a high -level amateur career, but he did a box at a time when the stage was very dynamic in Wales, and the boy could gain experience, fighting with many shows that took place in Pit Villages of South Wales Valleys. After only six competitions and still at the age of 17 Cliff put down the marker, defeating Cliff Anderson in an eight round at the Queensberry Club in Soho. Then he was annihilated by Al Phillips in the British eliminator of the featherweight title at the end of 1946, so he went slight weight in 1947 and 1948, after which he settled as Welter in 1949. The following year he lost his affair with Eddie Thomas. Finally, in 1952, Cliff knocked out Thom in nine rounds in a rematch at the Liverpool stadium to pick up the British crown. Within eight months he left the game for good, at the age of 25, he exhausted the years of generating weight and arduous fights. When approaching his own path, he showed perseverance, immunity and determination.

Brian, also Southpaw, had a shiny amateur career. He won the title of ABA welterweight in 1958, and he was also Welsh and the champion of the army. He took part in the Empire Empire in Cardiff in 1958, where, strangely, he represented England after he was rejected by Welsh selectors. Professional documents were signed in 1959 with Cliff as his trainer, and when he debuted at Empire Pool, Wembley, he did it, wearing an aged cliff’s boxing shorts. There was no stop.

Curvis won the title of the British Empire in his 14th competition, and then, three fights later, the British. Bn He did not make any bones about how good he was and who was responsible for his success: “Cliff is who led Brian through a brilliant initial career to two titles, all within 17 fights. He made his level, how best not to let Brian hurry, but the adolescent Swansea Southpaw attracts titles when the jar jam attracts a fly. “

When Brian defeated Wally Swift to receive the British title, the judge was nothing but Wally Thom, a man whom Cliff defeated for the same title just eight years earlier.

Brian maintained the British title until 1966, won the Lonsdale Pas belt and fought for losing the Battle of the Great Emile Griffith for the title of the World Wale in 1964. Two brothers were heroes in their hometown, and they are not both now, Cliff traveled in 2009 and Brian in 2012.

The first professional boxing tournament that will take place in Finland took place on May 16, 1935 in Messuhalli, Helsinki. British boxing under Queensberry began 64 years earlier, and the United States, Australia and France are becoming significant players in a professional game before the First World War. In the 1920s, the sport was firmly founded in Italy in Spain, in Scandinavia and in part of Latin America. Finland came to the game quite overdue, but when it happened, it depended on one man.

Gunnar Barlund won the European Amateur Championships in 1934 in heavyweight, eliminating the entry of Great Britain, Pat Floyd. He also took part in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It was natural that he should become a professional, but without the possibility of doing it in his hometown he made his debut in Sweden. His first opponent was a decent British heavyweight with Windsor, Jeff Wilson, a veteran 64 duels. Wilson was a decent journeyman, he used to go full distance, but Barlund blew him up in one round. After three times in boxing in Gothenburg and for the first time he established a good start to his career for the first time. Helsinki fans saw how Arno Koelblin knocked out, a very good German scale in eight rounds.

In the next Gunnar competition for the first time in Great Britain, beating South Africa, Ben Foord, at points at six rounds at the Wembley stadium at Undercard of the second competition between Walter Neusel and Jacek Petersen. Bn He commented that “Barlund was always a painful man of them. He continued the non-stop attack with a immense variety of blows, and Foord held a bit. Foord was a better boxer, but his defense was quite uneven to keep Finn at a distance. “

Foord was a real opportunity, and this win was perfect. The next fight of Barlund, return to Gothenburg, was against another British warrior, Charlie Smith from Deptford, and Finn again founded his knockout to send Smith on the fourth. After another seven wins, Barlund returned to Great Britain to get the Irish Pat Marrinana in two rounds in Royal Albert Hall. Until now, it would be normal for Barlund to look for a European title, but because Finland is not yet associated with EBU, Barlund turned to the United States, where you should earn real money. Arriving in Fresh York in the overdue summer of 1936, Barlund won his first three duels convincingly, all in Fresh York. Before he was re -adapted, both the world champion in ponderous weight, Jimmy Braddock, and number two pretender, Joe Louis, came to see what this confusion is about.

. Ring The magazine stated that his opponent, Tom Beaupre, gave him several problems and quickly put on the name of Barlund directly under the name of Max Schmeling and Joe Louis, as three charges for the title of world heavyweight. In retrospect, this was underestimated.

Barlund did not defeat anyone from a real note and as electrifying as he might seem, he soon found out. There were losses for Nathan Mann and Bob Olin, and when Barlund returned to Great Britain to face the Fresh Zealander, Maurice Strickland at the Earls Court, he lost again, this time due to disqualification. . Bn The “Strickland Bursrs the Barlund Bubble” reader and it was true, because Barlund has never regained his fists heights to which he was used to. It took place until 1948, winning 56 of his 87 competitions, but he managed to put his native country on the fist map and paved the way with another Finnish great, including Elis Ask, Risto Lukkonen, Olla Maki and Erkka Meronen. Recently, Robert Helenius and Eva Wahlstrom maintained the flag.

Gunnar died in 1982, and Helsinki honored him with a statue.

The Second World War was a decisive moment in British history. For many years later, “pre -war” and “post -war” phrases strongly resonated with a general population. The war ended almost 80 years ago and so, over time, these terms seem a bit venerable -fashioned. A significant number of high -quality fighters died in conflict, fighting for their country, but other unspeakable horror movies took place in concentration camps.

I owe this to my good friend, Rex, for realizing the fate that Befell Johann Trollmann, a long -term German warrior from the 1930s. His story reminded me of Victor Perez from Tunisia, the world champion in the flyweight in 1931 and 1932. Both men conducted campaigns in campaigns fully and effectively as professionals, and they both met the same end, from the hands of Nazi guards in terrible concentration camps in Eastern Europe.

Trollmann is less known from these two. He was “Sinti”, a group of Roma residents from India, who settled in Germany in the Middle Ages. In 1929 he became a professional and quickly became a leading delicate in a bulky department. For some time he was allowed to play an vigorous role in sport and go to the top.

However, when Adolf Hitler took control in 1933, everything changed dramatically. Trollmann won most of his competitions before this date and was locked in a triangle of duels among themselves, Adolf Witt and Hein Domgoergen for supremacy at the top of the German title tree, and he kept his own.

Within three months of taking over Hitler, Trollmann was adapted to WITT in the competition for the German bulky title. He was on his way to a clear victory over the opponent, when Nazi officials intervened and demanded that the competition be considered a lack of competence. They were not satisfied with the view of the Roma warrior showing clear dominance over the Aryan opponent. Two men broke through the other rounds without the winner’s announcement. From then on, Trollmann’s career was harassed by problems, all of which caused by the political regime and his career was thrown away. In 1934 he had enough and packed for good, ending with 31 victories and 19 losses in his career 64.

During the outbreak of the war, Trollmann signed a contract with the fight for the Wehrmacht and after three years of service the rules changed, and suddenly stated that he was an alien. Due to his Roma origin, he was arrested and thrown into the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he was forced to solve all and entertainment for the entertainment of the guards. After defeating one of them in a fair fight, he was beaten to death with a shovel, becoming one of six million victims of the Holocaust. In 2003, the German boxing federation finally recognized him as the German master of bulky weight of delicate due to victory in 1933 over Witt.

Perez was a much more significant warrior. At the end of the 1920s, he caused his name to fight in Paris and the surrounding area, and in 1931 he knocked out the American, Frankie Genaro, in two rounds in Palais des Sports in Paris to win the title of World Flyweight.

He was a sensation and hero in the Paris suburbs, in which tunzians, Algerians and Moroccans celebrated him with one of the first African world champions. He is well remembered in this country for losing to Mickey McGuire, Geordie, who knocked him out in two rounds in the up-to-date ST James Hall in Newcastle in 1932, in a match made for two pounds above the flying weight limit. A week earlier, Perez lost the title of world champion in Jackie Brown from Manchester. In January 1945, he was shot by the Nazis during the death march from the Auschwitz concentration camp after he was perceived by the distribution of bread to other prisoners.

It may be a long time ago, but we should never forget.