Given its size – with a population only 3.1 million – Wales is phenomenally good in showing high -quality boxers. From the time of Jim Driscoll, Freddie Welsh and Jimmy Wilde to the era of Joe Calzaghe, Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees, Nathan cleverly and Lee Selby, the country consistently produced warriors who showed them back. In addition, there were many British and European masters, whose Wales is rightly proud. There are also outstanding talents that for various reasons did not win the title, but deserve recognition. Some were thwarted by the campaign in the highly competitive era, others were victims of improper management or ordinary unlucky.
A few years ago, an experienced journalist and broadcaster Gareth Jones took up the task of the Chronicle of the Life and Career of Each Fared Welsh boxer, including a series of Ringmen, which may not be associated with Wales, but in fact he was born there. Placing so many stories in a book form was a high order, but Jones did a admirable job. He just published the seventh and last installment in his Boxers of Wales series. This latest volume concerns fighters from the North, Central and West Wales. Read as a series, books include fighters from every corner of Wales.
According to his previous volumes, the latest Jones are full of engaging stories, covering over a century of the history of the ring and containing known names and others, which are long forgotten.
Contemporary men like Dale Evans who went with Bradley Skeete and Sam Eggington in the British Welter Honors auction are placed along with unjustified ring heroes, such as Danny Evans, Welsh Hitter and the average weight of the weight of the 1930s.
The differences between eras are clearly observable because the profiles of fighters are read. Scott Gammer, an excellent master of amateurs and British heavyweight in 2006-07, fought for recognition in the era when our national heavyweight list was no longer a home brand. “Perhaps this was a reflection of the boxing landscape, in which the best bulky in the country often bypassed the once desired Lonsdale belt in search of international glory,” writes Jones, “but a man from the Pembroke dock deserved better. As someone said, you can only overcome what is before you.”
While Johnny Williams [pictured above]who won the British heavyweight titles and Empire from Jacek Gardner in 1952 and lost them with Don Cockell 14 months later, he did not have such a struggle for recognition, taking into account the recognition of the British crown at that time.
Most of the boxers after World War II in the book were relatively well managed, but the fighters of pre -war years, when the rules and sports regs were miserably loose, they often fought with surprising regularity. Nipper Pat Daly (whose biography, Born to Box: The Extraordinary Story of Nipper Pat Daly, the author) is a great example. He changed with a professional at the age of 10 and was burned and retired at the age of 17, after over 100 fights. Although he was a Londonian, he was included in the book because he was born in Abercrave in southern Wales, towards the Welsh mother and English father.
The opponent of Daly’s, Jim Crawford of Wrexham, is another warrior whose career was destroyed by improper management. As Jones writes: “Unfortunately, the people leading James Henry Crawford were stunned by the possibilities of regular payments and ignored advice – among others the legendary Jimmy Wilde – from time to time to put the brake foot.”
This last edition of the Boxers Wales series, read in Tandem with other Jones books, contains a detailed picture of the Welsh and more broadly British boxing scene from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. I highly recommend books that are available in www.st-davids-press.walles.
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