Boxing weight classes – except for natural growth – is rarely a recipe for success, as the aged maxim was revealed, “good” UN always beats a good diminutive “Un”. In October 1937, a 21-year-old warrior from Deptford mentioned Tommy Martin He decided to overthrow the general principle.

Less than two years earlier, Tommy was a welterweight. But now he was tailored to a heavyweight with Jim Wilde of Swansea, who weighed as much as 15. 5 pounds. According to press reports, Martin was two lighter, but his actual weight could be even lighter. “In the best part of my career I have never been more than in medium weight,” he said later. “I used to wear a belt around the waist equipped with lead weights to look heavier.”

Even more surprising is that Tommy was successful as a ponderous weight, winning the nickname “Great Britain Brown Bomber”, of course, a great bow to Joe Louis. Jim Wilde was heavily outlined by 10 rounds in Empress Hall to give Martin the first of many wins in ponderous weight. Tommy would prove that he is one of the best in the country in delicate and ponderous weight, but unfortunately as a man with a mixed race he could not box the British title due to the absurd “colorful bar” BBBOFC, which required the players from the players born in Great Britain with two white parents.

Born in reading in January 1916 in the White English Mother and Jamaican Father, Tommy moved with his family to Deptford in South London in 1917. At the age of 14 he escaped from home and got a job as a boy from boxing Billy Stewart, ultimately becoming a fighter. This and later experience at the Billy Wood stand gave Martin precise knowledge about boxing.

He had his first official professional in 1933, at the age of 17 and quickly developed a great CV won, from time to time a failure. His scalps in Welter and Middle Weighing included high -quality men, such as Harry Mason, Jack Lewis, Paul Schaeffer, Bill Hardy and Moe Moss. Until 1938 and 1939, Tommy’s Fighting Wage oscillated between a delicate and ponderous weight when he gathered a 15-handing series of wins with wins on how Frank Hough, Jack Hyams, Tino Rolando, Al Robinson and the future British heavyweight champion Jack London (to whom he gave the third Stone).

At the beginning of 1940, Tommy went to America for a campaign organized by manager Harry Levene. He made his debut in Los Angeles in April against the highly rated Bob Nestelle, who stopped Lee Ramage and King Levinsky. Martin shook his knee in the fight and lost points, but a month later Ko’dell in return. Another noteworthy victory from Tommy’s brief spell in the USA was Pat Valentino, who later challenged Ezzard Charles about the world -heavy crown. However, Martin’s most impressive victory was above Buddy Knox (then 102-11-8), who defeated the former world king Bob Olin. Tommy developed Knox in September 1940, but was overtaken in return.

Martin’s career seemed to sail on her American route. He had only three fights and lost them all: a point defeat in returning with Jacek London, stopping Freddie Mills and KO in the first round at the hands of the previous victim of Al Robinson. Tommy’s concentration turned to the war service. He served with RAF and then to a sales jacket, but was wounded by a torpedo explosion and hospitalized in Montreal. He lost, and then, after two operations, he regained his sight before he joined American maritime infantry soldiers. After leaving the services, Tommy moved to Hollywood and founded the gym, but later qualified as a physiotherapist and opened his practice in Novel York. After the wedding, he settled on the Virgin Islands, where he worked as a prison governor until his retirement. He died in 1987.

Marco Antonio Barrera in PTS 12 Johnny Tapia~
November 2, 2002; MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
This is not classic, but it is worth visiting again as a reminder of these two irresistible fighters. Barrera was probably the best at that time, while taping, try his best, he could not conjure up his highest form. Perhaps this partly applies to Barrera’s perfection, so natural, so bright in the ring, which did not allow the aging taps to be abutment. But Tapia, winning his first seven -digit payment day, showed a lot of classes. Ultimately, Barerra won the results of 118-110 twice and 116-112 to preserve his world championships in a featherweight.

Do you know? At the back of the shorts, Barrera was the name “tapia”. It was not, as it was often, a tribute to Johnny, but instead a tribute to his mother, whose maiden name was tapia.

Watch out for: Changing tactics from both. Tapia effectively falls into the opening round only so that Barrera changes the attack line. In the second half of the competition Tapia, a witness that it is sent, forces the exchange inside to refer to a larger (but not sufficient) success.

Jacek Bodell’s record as a lithe weight in 1962–1967, when he challenged the British and the community of the weighty community against Henry Cooper, is unusual because he fought no less than 49 times in these five years. At that time it was a fairly enormous number for every professional, especially in lithe and weighty. The reason he did this can be explained by the fact that his manager was George Biddles from Leicester.

Venerable George in the corner of Jack can be seen during Bodella’s last fight against Danny Mcalinden in 1972. George has been in boxing for over 50 years and was, together with Alex Griffiths, probably the most influential central, involved in the game. He was known that his boxers were working. It is no accident that two men who fought most often in the British history of the Ring, Len Wickwar and George Marsden, were managed by George. The cynic would argue that the more times his boxers fought, the more commission he could take. There may be some truth in this, but many boys asked George to manage them because they knew that they could also earn more on him.

Take, for example, cases of Jeff Tite, Ric Sanders and Roy Davies. All three were vigorous in the overdue 1940s and in the 1950s, and all three competed around the same weight. Tite boxed 82 times in five years, Sanders 109 times in the same number of years, and Davies had 106 competitions in seven years. Between them they won 187 of these 297 matches, so they were not cups, and yet only one of them won the area title. They were such fighters who were biddles bread and butter. They often fought with the same bill, because the breakthrough George was well known to the promoters at the time that they could provide productive, well -conditioned boxers, often in a low time where you can rely. George had a stable full of such boxers.

I am lucky that I have some biddles journals and notebooks in my collection from this period. For example, I see that on June 7, 1948 he matched all three boys on the account in Northampton, and Sanders earns 65 pounds for eight -sized Eric Hall, and both Davies and Tite earned 40 pounds for supporting eight runes against George Frost and Jackie Hart. It was good money in 1948, when the average weekly wage for a working man was about 7 pounds. Biddles, who would accompany three warriors in his car and worked with the house with the house, did not do so badly with his 25 -month commission.

Boxing was the life of George and conducted his operation from his snack bar, properly called the “ring” in Belgrave Gate in Leicester, his hometown. His father, in medium weight, had a decent career as a professional before the First World War during the service in the LeiceStertershire regiment. George was alone in 1924, twice in boxing in Leicester, winning and losing. In 1927 he founded as a manager, initially dealing with Siku Culton from Mansfield, who in a real Biddles style had 157 competitions in nine years as a professional. Over the next 50 years, George could be seen at shows throughout the country, but he had to wait until 1957 before he had his first world champion, Hogan Bassey from Nigeria, providing George with this honor.

If it was a job and experience that you wanted as a warrior, along with constant income, then George was your man. There were only 11 British fighters who fought 300 times, and three of them managed Biddles. For those who want to learn more about this extraordinary man, his life story has been discussed in detail Bn From July to December 1978.