Considering the varying histories and experiences of the leading Welsh boxers during World War I, the conflict having erupted in a true golden era for the sport in Wales.

Battle of the Somme

• Johnny Basham in World War I
• Dai Davies in World War I
• Jim Driscoll in World War I
• Fred Dyer in World War I
• Llew Edwards in World War I
• Percy Jones in World War I
• Eddie Morgan in World War I
• Dai Roberts in World War I
• Francis Rossi in World War I
• Walter Rossi in World War I
• Freddie Welsh in World War I
• Jimmy Wilde in World War I

The rich, varied and, at times, horrific experiences of Welsh boxers in the First World War reflect both the vibrancy of the country at the time and the glory of the sport in a true golden era for Welsh pugilists.

The heavy industry of south Wales coupled with the diversity and militancy of its workforce was a potent, explosive mix that would burst out onto the world stage in many unexpected forms.

Boxing was undoubtedly one of those forms of expression, and it was a sport that had a tightening grip on the nation.

‘Peerless’ Jim Driscoll was the pride of, not just the Welsh, but the entire British boxing scene, the darling of the National Sporting Club and a man whose classic, upright style epitomised everything that the country valued in the noble art.

Freddie Welsh (centre) prepares for a transatlantic trip

If ‘Peerless’ Jim was coming towards the end of his career when the war started, the ageing hero seemed to have paved the way for an even more glorious generation.

1914, the year that the Great War started, had finally – after many near misses – seen Wales secure its first world champion in Percy Jones, and he was soon followed by the second, Freddie Welsh.

Jimmy Wilde and Johnny Basham already appeared likely to follow in those footsteps, while the likes of Llew Edwards, Fred Dyer, Eddie Morgan, Dai Davies and the Rossi brothers – Francis and Walter – also awaited their opportunities.

World War I would have a varied and profound impact on the lives and careers of all these men.

Some of the more prominent pugilists were able to continue their ring careers at home, with varying degrees of disruption.

The rise of Wilde, for example, continued almost unchecked and his role as a fitness instructor in the army does not seem to have been overly onerous.

Fred Dyer in military uniform

Basham’s fitness and exhibition work for the military seems to have been more taxing and – whilst he was grateful for the privileges he gained in the army – the war may well have stopped him from becoming a world champion and from forging a lucrative career in the States.

Freddie Welsh, as individual as ever, quickly took his newly won world title to the US where he would remain for the rest of the war, a route also taken by title-hopeful Morgan.

Dyer and Edwards continued their careers through the war years in the States and Australia and – while their experiences appear comfortable – each faced losses in their own way.

In simple numeric and financial terms, author Alex Daley says that there were around 8,000 fights a year in the UK in the build-up to World War I.

Trench warfare on the western front

This dropped to around 4,000 a year in 1915-18, then climbed to 7,000 in 1919-25, before peaking at close to 20,000 in 1930, meaning that this golden generation of Welsh fighters missed out on a booming sport in some of the peak years of their careers.

If none of the boxers here were unaffected by the war the true losers were, of course, those sent to fight in the front line.

How many obscure Welsh boxers shared the fate of Caerau’s Dai Roberts?

The little-known welterweight was a prominent sportsman in his day who had fought Wilde and Basham, sparred with Freddie Welsh, and helped in Willie Ritchie’s corner on the night that Welsh took the American’s world lightweight belt. Roberts was killed by a shell in France in July 1917.

Unlike Roberts, both Davies and Jones made it home from the western front. But the injuries they suffered there affected them badly and, in Jones’ case, ended his service, career and, ultimately, his life.

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Marking the centenary of Johnny Basham v Johnny Summers, when Basham won the British welterweight title – but lost most of his canines.

Teeth (Photo: Dauvit Alexander, Flickr)

By 14 December, 1914, 25-year-old Johnny Basham was a veteran boxer with over 60 fights to his name on an increasingly impressive record, but it was only on this date that he got the chance to compete for his first major title.

Facing him was the reigning British welterweight champion Johnny Summers.

The rugged 31-year-old, who had been fighting professionally since the age of 17 and had well over 100 bouts behind him, had held the title for two-and-a-half years and was a big favourite going into the showdown.

Born in Middlesbrough, Summers had been raised in Canning Town and would bring plenty of local support to the National Sporting Club, his loyal fans confident in the granite-like nature of their fighter’s chin and the power-punching advantage he was believed to hold over his opponent.

The pre-fight predictions looked likely to be played out as early as the second round.

The challenger was leaning forward with a left that went badly off target, prompting Summers to sway to the right and smash a left hook into Basham’s mouth.

The Welshman went down heavily but somehow got up at the count of nine and survived the round.

From that moment, though, Basham put on a masterclass, bewildering the champion with his boxing skill and taking complete control.

The brave Summers kept ploughing forward, confident that his opponent lacked the power to really hurt him.

He would be proved badly wrong in the ninth as Basham landed a beautifully timed right hand to the jaw. The champion just about beat the count, but was out on his feet and stopped soon afterwards.

In the immediate aftermath of the bout, Basham claimed that he had not really been hurt in the second round and that some of the obvious mouth trouble he experienced was due to the fact that his teeth had been loosened by a sparring partner in the build-up.

A more accurate description of events seems to be contained in the account he gave to the Empire News in 1929, though, as quoted in Alan Roderick’s book Johnny!: Story of the Happy Warrior:

“Up to this time, I had boasted a set of teeth that would have served well for any dentifrice advertisement,” said Basham.

“But I am sorry to say that that is where my teeth and I went our various ways!

“Some were scattered about the ring, one or two went in the sawdust tub, one I spat out as I fell, and I am thundering sure I swallowed a couple.”

Despite the dental trauma, it’s possible that the evening did plenty of good to Basham’s long-term health.

He was a professional soldier, and when he returned to his barracks in Wrexham he was given a hero’s welcome that may well have helped keep him out of the full horrors of World War I, his superiors keen to exploit his fame for propaganda purposes.

The post The night Johnny lost his teeth: Johnny Summers v Johnny Basham appeared first on Welsh boxers.

Marking the 20th anniversary of arguably the high point of Steve Robinson’s remarkable ‘Cinderella Man’ world title reign, the 1 October, 1994, win over Duke McKenzie at the National Ice Rink, Cardiff.

Steve Robinson earned his ‘Cinderella Man’ sobriquet when he claimed the WBO featherweight title as a late stand-in against John Davison in April 1993.

But it was in the seven defences that followed that he truly earned his reputation as a champion of substance, his victims including Colin McMillan in his second defence and Paul Hodkinson in his third.

Despite such notable scalps, there were still those who were prepared to sneer at the Cardiff man’s achievements, citing McMillan’s shoulder problems and the size advantage that Robinson held over Hodkinson.

Steve Robinson

After the Hodkinson win the champion overcame a more routine challenge from Freddy Cruz in Cardiff before the 25-year-old lined up another major test for his fifth defence, three-time world champion McKenzie.

The Croydon man was approaching veteran status at the age of 31 but was far from a spent force, entering his 41st fight as the British featherweight champion.

More pertinently, he was bidding to become the first British champion to win world crowns at four weights, having previously ruled at flyweight, bantamweight and super-bantamweight.

Of the four losses on the ‘Little Man’s record, three were at world title level and the fourth in a European title challenge in Calais.

Three of the defeats were on points, the only major blemish on his record coming when he lost his WBO bantamweight crown in 1992 in a first-round stoppage defeat against Rafael Del Valle.

Even with his experience, though, McKenzie would have felt the fervour generated by the home crowd, who sang repeated choruses of  ‘I Love You Baby’, the song adopted as an anthem by Welsh football fans in the Terry Yorath era.

The challenger looked classy in the opening round, but a confident Robinson was solid, correct and difficult to get at as he began the process of walking his opponent down.

Steve Robinson (Photo: Steve Robinson, Facebook)

The pattern continued in the succeeding rounds, the champion keeping McKenzie on the outside, imposing control, steadily throwing in heavy shots and shrugging off anything the Londoner sent his way.

There were some suggestions of a change in the seventh, a quieter round for the champion that McKenzie may have edged.

His recovery continued in the eighth, until the challenger had a point deducted for holding – a decision that immediately enlivened both Robinson and the crowd.

In the ninth, though, the champion again appeared rather sluggish, while McKenzie was up on his toes and boxing beautifully… until the final 20 seconds.

In a seemingly innocuous exchange Robinson picked out a perfectly timed left-handed rib shot that rifled in under his opponent’s guard.

McKenzie crumpled to the floor and failed to recover from the single, punishing punch.

“We thought Duke might be too clever for Steve but he just wore him down,” said pundit and former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan.

“You remember that left hook to the body… Steve Robinson was a really good champion.

“Steve and I fought the same way… put them under sustained pressure, never leave them alone.”

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Marking the 50th anniversary of one of the biggest fights in Welsh boxing history, Brian Curvis challenging the great Emile Griffith for the world welterweight title at Wembley’s Empire Pool on 22 September, 1964.

Emile Griffith

Brian Curvis was one of the most capable and talented of the Welsh boxers whose careers fell in the void between Jimmy Wilde losing the world title in 1923 and Howard Winstone winning his country’s next world crown in 1968.

Unfortunately for Curvis – and for Wales’ legions of boxing fans – his only shot at the sport’s ultimate prize came against one of the greatest fighters the world has ever seen, Emile Griffith.

• Watch the full fight

What’s more, the welterweight champion was at the peak of his powers – he would be voted Ring Magazine’s fighter of the year for 1964.

Curvis had certainly earned his shot at the WBA and WBC belts, though. Aged 27, he was the British and Empire welterweight champion and he had won 30 of his 31 fights.

Griffith, 26, was entering his 10th world title bout having lost the title twice, each defeat – against Benny Paret and Luis Manuel Rodriguez – later avenged, making the 26-year-old a three-time champion who had won 40 of his 46 bouts.

In Curvis, though, he would be facing a southpaw for the first time in his career, the main source of hope for those supporting the Swansea man.

The British fans were troubled, though, by New York-based Griffith’s formidable reputation – his brutal 1962 revenge win over Paret had resulted in the death of the Cuban.

Curvis had been in the crowd at Madison Square Garden that night, an experience that the Welshman spoke about in newspaper columns in the build-up to the 1964 showdown.

He mentioned his concern for his new wife, Barbara, a feeling that struck a chord with the enigmatic Griffith.

The unorthodox champion loved to design his own hats, and on his arrival in Britain presented Barbara with one that he had personally made for her.

Virgin Islander Griffith had been lured to London by a £20,000 purse – the challenger received £5,000.

A crowd of 10,000 built a formidable atmosphere and Calon Lan reverberated around the arena before the great Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis was introduced to the crowd.

The 71-year-old was Britain’s last welterweight champion. He had lost that belt in 1919, and no British fighter had challenged for it since Ernie Roderick’s 1939 loss to Henry Armstrong.

Despite the build-up, the champion remained cool and confident, cutting a formidable figure with his sculpted torso.

From the outset he was able to beat Curvis to the punch, his fast hands landing heavily and accurately to body and head.

The challenger had some success in the fourth, and in the following round a huge cheer greeted the referee’s warning to Griffith for use of the head – he had been boring in from the outset, causing damage to Curvis’ left eye.

The challenger also started the sixth well, but Griffith began to rough him up. Right at the end of the round the champion finished a brutal body attack with a whipped uppercut that landed under the heart, dropping Curvis and silencing the crowd.

The softening-up process continued to the 10th, Curvis desperately trying to stave off the body attacks but also picking up a cut near the right eye.

In the 10th he seemed to regain his confidence and began to open up on the champion. The moment he did, though, Griffith fired out a long right hook to the head, followed in a flash by a left hook to the other side of the cranium.

With 30 seconds of the round to go Curvis had to climb off the canvas for the second time. A stoppage looked close, but he survived to hear the bell.

The challenger was back on the attack in the succeeding two rounds, though, a strong showing in the 12th raising the hopes of those who had suggested that Griffith had struggled to make the weight.

Curvis looked even more confident in the 13th, coming forward with big punches – before the street-wise champion slowed his momentum with what appeared to be a low blow.

The Swansea man’s strength seemed to drain from him, and Griffith immediately followed up with a body attack, before switching to the head.

A right to the solar plexus was eventually the punch that sent a desperately tired Curvis to the canvas for the third time.

Fortunately, the blow came close to the end of the round. A spent Curvis was able to see out the final two stanzas, deservedly hearing the final bell before seeing the referee raise the champion’s arm in victory.

The travelling Welsh fans were rightly supportive of their man, their reaction prompting a bemused Griffith to state: “How foreign is this country? How come every time I knocked him down they start singing?”

Curvis remained proud of the performance he put up: “Griffith was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world,” he said in a 1989 BBC documentary. “I don’t see [the defeat] as a failure but a triumph

“There was the greatest pound-for-pound welterweight champion since the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson, and there was I not at my very best, yet he couldn’t stop me.

“There were a lot of things he couldn’t do that night. What he did do, of course, was get the decision.”

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Marking the centenary of Freddie Welsh winning Wales’ second world boxing title with his victory over Willie Ritchie at Olympia on 7 July, 1914.

Willie Ritchie

Freddie Welsh‘s long-awaited shot at the world lightweight title marked the end of an exhaustive pursuit of the crown that had seen the Pontypridd legend criss-cross the Atlantic, maintain an outrageous PR campaign and inject himself into the world of high finance.

The ‘Welsh Wizard’, aged 28 at the time of the fight, had been the leading contender for the title – ranked second in prominence only to the heavyweight crown – for much of the previous six years.

He had been due to face then-champion Ad Wolgast for the title at the Vernon Arena, Los Angeles, on 30 November, 1911, a bout that could have made him Wales’ first world champion.

On the eve of the bout, though, Wolgast was rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis.

Instead of his dream bout, Welsh faced a little-known, last-minute stand-in called Willie Ritchie. Welsh ground out a 20-round victory, but faced criticism for not stopping the San Francisco youngster.

The Pontypridd man had an agreement to fight Wolgast on his return, but the champion repeatedly evaded him. Instead, on 25 November, 1912, Wolgast took what most saw as an easy defence against Ritchie.

It went to script for the ‘Michigan Wildcat’ in the opening rounds, but as the fight wore on the younger, fitter, stronger challenger began to take control.

Ritchie dropped the champion twice before, in the 16th round, a desperate Wolgast was disqualified for two low blows.

It seemed to Welsh that he was the natural challenger for the new champion who he had already beaten convincingly, but Ritchie had other ideas, demanding an outrageously large purse for a potential fight then – every time Welsh got close to meeting his demands – moving the goal posts.

Although he continued fighting and winning at the highest level, both in Britain and the US, the Pontypridd man got little support from the American press, which seemed to hold the view that he was past his best.

Welsh employed a PR agent and worked relentlessly to keep himself in the headlines, his campaign including the concoction of a story that he had been kidnapped in Mexico!

Meanwhile Ritchie’s options narrowed. He was unconvincing in his first four fights after winning the title then, in May 1914, he was lucky to walk away with the belt after barely surviving a 10-round mauling from Charley White in a no-decision bout.

The only acceptable options open to the champion for his next defence were a rematch with White or to finally give Welsh his chance.

The Pontypridd man had been busy courting some of the richest sports-loving Londoners and it was this that would eventually win him his opportunity as he was able to offer Ritchie the largest guaranteed purse.

Welsh had secured an enormous guarantee of $40,000 for a title fight at Olympia. Ritchie was holding out for $50,000… until the debacle of the White fight gave Welsh the opportunity to drop the champioin’s fee to $25,000, plus $1,500 expenses.

Even so, Welsh would make nothing from the fight – he would have to rely on the money he could earn should he become champion. He was happy to make that gamble, boarding the liner Imperator in New York to head to Britain with the line: “I am now entering the final lap of a six-year race.”

He was given a huge reception in Wales as he made his way to his training camp in Porthcawl. Basing himself in Victoria Road, Welsh’s weight preparations were helped by a heatwave as he sharpened up with the support of training partner Boyo Driscoll.

Ritchie, meanwhile, prepared in Brighton, and surprised his opponent’s camp when he agreed on the choice of the popular English official Eugene Corri as fight referee.

Despite his mauling by White, the American press remained firmly behind their champion. Many of them felt that the US had ‘lost’ the heavyweight title when Jack Johnson became the first black man to claim that crown, and to now see the lightweight belt going to a Briton was felt to be unconscionable.

The coming fight was equally hyped in London where it became the main social event of the weeks leading up to the outbreak of World War I.

Excitement in Wales was hardly less intense, and a huge exodus of fans followed the challenger on the train from Cardiff to Paddington.

Welsh’s wife Fanny and his newly born first child Elizabeth were, meanwhile, dashing to join the challenger at ringside, having arrived in Fishguard on the Lusitania at 5am on the morning of the fight – they would reach Olympia in time for the 17th round.

Freddie Welsh (centre) prepares for a transatlantic trip

The crowd of over 10,000 at the arena was a veritable who’s who of the London social scene, with aristocrats filling the expensive seats and Welsh’s legions of female fans causing a stir amongst the boxing fraternity.

American fans were also out in force, helping to make Ritchie an early favourite in the betting before the influx of Welsh supporters saw their man installed as a seven-to-four-on favourite by first bell.

Those same supporters built the fervent atmosphere as Welsh songs filled the arena, something that must have resonated with Dai Roberts.

The well-known Caerau welterweight – who had fought Jimmy Wilde and sparred with Welsh – was serving as a second in Ritchie’s corner.

If he had any thoughts that he was on the wrong side, his unease would have quickly grown after the opening exchanges.

By the end of the first round the challenger had a huge grin on his face. He had been boxing like the master he was, but also bossing the close exchanges, making a mockery of the belief that Ritchie would be the bigger puncher.

The champion was taking terrible punishment from Welsh’s cultured left and was bleeding heavily by the third round.

World welterweight champion Matt Wells – who had defeated Welsh in 1911 – described the challenger’s dominance as being akin to ‘a racehorse challenging a donkey’ (Pontypridd Observer, 22 August, 1914).

There were arguments to be made for Ritchie having won the sixth round and the 13th, but little else. When the two went toe-to-toe for an outstanding final round, there was no doubt over who would go on to claim the verdict.

The inevitable announcement of the new champion was greeted with huge cheers followed by a rousing rendition of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau, before Welsh was carried back to the dressing room on the shoulders of his adoring fans.

Meanwhile, the Western Mail newspaper’s ringside phone relayed the news to huge crowds outside its offices in Pontypridd, Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr, Newport and other south Wales towns.

Ritchie, who would fight on until 1927 and be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1962, was devastated at ringside, but initially took the defeat with good grace.

He did claim, though, that he had been dazzled by the strong arc lights that had been set up for the benefit of the film cameras, an excuse that he felt justified a call for a rematch which he believed he could win as, he said, he had more power than the new champion.

By the time Ritchie got back to the States, he was claiming that he had won the fight and had been robbed of his title – a stance that left a legacy of American boxers who would refuse to defend belts in Britain because they believed Ritchie’s tale.

Welsh, meanwhile, was able to bask in the glory as cables of congratulation came in from all over the world.

He had made no money directly from the fight as the gate did not even cover Ritchie’s guarantee, but he would later profit from the film rights, while offers of magazine articles, books and music hall dates were soon flooding in.

There would later be talk that Ritchie’s guarantee was actually arranged by Arnold Rothstein – the man who had fixed baseball’s 1919 World Series.

If there was money to be made from a betting scam, though, it would seem more likely to have revolved around a defeat for Welsh – who did later claim that he had refused an offer of £50,000 ($250,000) to throw the fight.

The new champion spent a week living the high life at the Waldorf hotel before returning to Wales, where huge crowds cheered his car as it made its way from Cardiff Central to Pontypridd and then on to Merthyr.

Plans to profit from his popularity in Britain would soon be scuppered by the outbreak of the war, though, and Welsh quickly headed back to the US where he would spend the duration of the conflict.

Battle of the Somme

The Americans – who did not recognise the belt held by Wales’ first world champion Percy Jones – initially acknowledged Welsh for his achievement in becoming – as they saw it – Britain’s first undisputed world champion since Dick Burge, whose reign ended in 1896.

Welsh was determined to profit as much as he could from his title, though, and as he exploited the no-decision rule to keep hold of the crown until May 1917 his popularity began to wane.

Given the struggles he had endured to secure the belt, it is easy to sympathise with his pragmatic approach to his reign.

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