By Miles Templeton
John Vail, a very generous man, recently contacted me. He had manually in the color of a photograph of a long -term warrior, Gammy Smith from Cambridge, whom he wanted to go to a good home. Gammy was an venerable friend of Father John, and when Gammy died in 1988, he did not leave his family to convey a photo, so John wanted to give it to me.
For a long time I think that there should be a national boxing museum in the area, just like in football, and if there was such a place, it turns out to be a natural location for a attractive song that you can go to. When I get time, I’m going to check if you can do something in these lines.
Hand -colored photos were also very popular. Colorful photography, when Gammy was in 1920, was practically non -existent and only in the 1960s. This process became normal in the case of personal photographs. That is why all photos of venerable great ones, such as Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and even Rocky Marciano, are in black and white. For a adolescent boxer from Cambridge in 1927, to ask the artist to hand the colors of his black and white photo, it was quite unusual, but that’s what Gammy did, and the created portrait is quite attractive. Although I knew the name of Gammy Smith and examined his struggle record, I didn’t know much about him or the details of his ring career. I think it is right now to decorate this color, so uncommon, with a miniature look at its exploits.
Gammy was in medium weight and a great member of time. In the 1920s, most adolescent boys were all shorter than today, and the stones were lighter. Times were hard and the diet was not good, especially for boys from the working class. Most professionals in Great Britain in 1927, when Gammy was taken, weighed no more than nine and a half stone, and most of them ran between the fly and lightweight.
This made Gammy stand out and did not have to fight next to countless little boys to bet. He was part of the so -called “Cambridge School”, a group of fighters from the city who all emerged at the same time and who all trained together at the boxing school. Gammy together with Archie Allen and Brothers Ed and Gilbert Stubbings were the spine of the “school” and completed the bills for the exchange of corn in their hometown in the 1920s. He had 20 professional competitions, of which only eleven were reported on the pages Bn.
There was so much boxing around, and BN, grabbing most of them, still skipped a huge amount. That is why boxers’ careers from this period are so hard to examine. At the beginning of his career, Gammy suffered two losses in Bedford, going down to Johnny Seamarks, a very good warrior and Harold Bass by knockout. Then he packed several times in Ipswich, winning one and losing, then restored with a long series of victories to exchange corn.
His first 15-runder took place there in 1928 against Londonian Mick Harris. It was a return because Gammy beat him six months earlier within 12 rounds. Harris was dissatisfied with the sentence during the first meeting, and Gammy was too content to meet him again. They both fought in front of the packed house and Bn The report states that Gammy has clearly won this competition. In his next competition, Gammy knocked out a Canadian in five rounds, and then followed this good victories over the Canons Bert and Bill Softley.
Gammy Boxled at the Blackfrires a few time before the Głębocie in 1930, with a record 11-9. He is forgotten now, but this picture is proud. Thanks, John!