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Ranking the best Welsh fighters of all time!


BoztheMadman
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This small country or principality has given us so many fine, outstanding, gritty fighters. Wales has almost always produced quality boxers ever since the boxing became a professional sport. From Jimmy Wylde, Freddie Welsh and Peerless Jim Driscoll in the old days, to Tommy Farr and Howard Winstone in the less ancient ones, on to Joe Calzaghe, Gavin Rees and Nathan Cleverly in this age. Whew...this isn't gonna be easy! :faint:

 

1. Jimmy Wilde

 

This guy is almost invariably rated at no.1 at the lists of the greatest Welsh boxers I've seen. And there is a reason for it, a good reason. Firstly, he sports a record of 131 and 3 losses, with 98 ko's! Even though this number can vary slightly, Ive also seen 137-4 and 132-3. What is certain is-he was a fighting phantom! Known as "The Mighty Atom", standing at 5'2, he packed one helluva punch and could box as well as anyone in those days. Wilde fought between 1911 and 1923 and first lost in a bid to win world flyweight title, getting stopped by TKO17 against Scotsman Tancy Lee, 25 January 1915. He beat Lee in the rematch by KO11, 26 June 1916, to win the world title and the British title as well. However, he officially became the "real" world champion, the first one at flyweight, when he beat Young Zulu Kid by RTD11, 18 December '16. He made five defenses of the full world title, before losing it by KO7 against Pancho Villa, in what was Wilde's last fight, 18 June 1923 at the Polo Grounds in New York. Including a newspaper decision, he actually has 4 losses in all, and 1 draw, of altogether 143 fights. William James Wilde died 10 March 1969, aged 76. He was an original IBHOF inductee. He was so frail and pale skinned that it inspired a nickname for him "The Ghost with a hammer in his hand".

 

2. Joe Calzaghe

 

The first and so far only great Welsh boxer of part-Italian heritage, Joe Calzaghe was born 23 March 1972 in London, to a Sardinian father and a Welsh mother, and grew up in Newbridge, southeast Wales. Trained by his father Enzo, he won three ABA championships and had a record of 110-10 as amateur, before turning professional in 1993. In 1997, he beat Chris Eubank for the vacant WBO super middle title, knocking him down at the very beginning of the fight and cruising to a dominant victory by UD. He made 21 defenses of that belt, setting a division record, and along the way he defeated fighters like Robin Reid (SD), Richie Woodhall (TKO10), Omar Sheika (TKO5), Charles Brewer (UD), Mario Veit (TKO1), Byron Mitchell (TKO2) and then his two greatest rivals, Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler, both by UD. After defeating Kessler to also win the WBC and WBA belts, Calzaghe moved up to light heavyweight. On 19 April 2008 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, he made history by becoming the first man to defeat Bernard Hopkins at 175, overcoming a first-round knockdown to take control of the fight in the middle rounds, Even thought the result was a split decision, most experts today agree Joe won beyond all doubt. Joe ended his fabulous career by defeating Roy Jones jr by a wide UD, after again suffering a knockdown in the opening round. With that, he retired at the age of 36 and a record of 46-0, with 32 ko's. He is one of select few in history to retire undefeated and I think the only British fighter to achieve that, except for Terry Marsh, who had a far shorter and less decorated career. Calzaghe was a superb technician who could easily adapt to his opponent's game and had fast hands, good chin and could hit hard when he wanted. Problems with hand injuries turned him from a hard hitter into a "slapper" and he concentrated on handspeed from then on. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2014.

 

3. Freddie Welsh

 

Known as "The Welsh Wizard", Freddie Welsh was an outstanding lightweight who won the world title there in 1914 and lost it to the great Benny Leonard later, after making 9 defenses. Welsh was born 5 March 1883 in Pontyprydd and boxed out of New York, after coming to America as a teenager and falling in love with boxing. He was a clever counterpuncher who believed in feinting and shifting his body to draw his opponents out of position. Turning pro at the end of 1905, he won the Euro title against Henri Piet by RTD12, 23 August 1909 in UK. After making one defense, he fought against famous Packey McFarland for the world title, 30 May 1910, but the fight ended a draw. He then made his second defense against fellow Welshman Jim Driscoll and won by a disqualification in 10 rounds, after knocking Driscoll down in the 4th. Driscoll was dq'd for headbutting. He then lost the Euro title on points against Matt Wells, 27 February 1911 at Covent Garden. He reclaimed it in a rematch a year later, winning on points. On 7 July 1914, he fought in what was recognized as the first official world lightweight title fight, and won on points against Willie Ritchie to become a world champion finall. Despite losing several newspaper decision, he made nine defenses as mentioned above and kept it until 28 May 1917, when he lost by TKO9 to Benny Leonard. Before that, he beat Ad Wolgast by DQ11, decisioned Leonard in a non-title fight, and beat Battling Nelson by decision in a title fight, which was his last successful defense. Welsh retired in 1922, after losing his last fight against Archie Walker on points. His record is 74 wins, 34 inside the distance, 5 losses (not counting the newspaper decisions) and 7 draws. Frederick Hall Thomas, as his true name was, died 29 July 1927, only 5 years after his retirement, at 41. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 1997.

 

4. Jim Driscoll

 

Known as "Peerless", Jim Driscoll was a faboulous boxer who only lost 4 bouts and won 55, scoring 36 knockouts. He was the best Welsh featherweight ever. Driscoll was born in Cardiff, 15 December 1880. He turned pro in 1901 and went undefeated in his first 36 fights, before losing to Harry Mansfield on points in 1904, despite knocking Manfield down once. He avenged the loss next year by stopping Mansfield by TKO15, after putting him down twice in the last round. He won the National Sporting Club British title in 1906 against Jack Roberts by TKO7. and defended it twice against Joe Bowker, first on points and then by KO17. In 1908, he also won the Commonwealth title by disqualification in 15 rounds against Charlie Griffin. He started fighting in America after that and won 9 fights, before the reigning world champ Abe Attell agreed to face him-but without his title on the line. Peerless Jim therefore gained nothing but respect when he beat Attell on 19 February in New York, by decision in 10 rounds. He therefore had to settle for defending his Commonwealth and British belts. He stopped Seaman Arthur Hayes by TKO6 and Spike Robson by KO15 in defenses of those belts. Those two fights were also billed as "British version of the world title". As previously mentioned, Driscoll lost in a bid for Euro title when he was disqualified for butting in round 10 against Freddie Welsh, 20 December 1910. He did win the featherweight version of the Euro title by knocking out Jean Poesy in June 1912.He finally lost the Euro title in his last fight, 20 October 1919, against Charles Ledoux, when he retired in his corner after 16 rounds. He died 31 January 1925, at the age of 44, of pneumonia. He was inducted into the IBHOF.

 

5. Howard Winstone

 

Another great featherweight and a very popular fighter who won a world title at the end of his career. Howard Winstone stood 5'5 but was equally known for his never say die attitude as his boxing skills. Born and raised in Merthyr Tydfil, the birthplace of several other outstanding boxers, Winstone was the 1958 ABA champion and won the gold medal at the British Empire Games that same year. He turned pro in 1959 and went 34-0, winning the British title by TKO11 against Johnny Morrissey, and then the European title by TKO14 against Alberto Serti, both in 1963. He lost for the first time to the slick Don Johnson from California, when he was cut over the eye and lost on points in 10 rounds, 28 January '64. A year later, he beat the 24-0 Yves Desmarets, a very capable technical fighter, by UD10 in a defense of his European title. He tried himself at the undisputed world champion Vicente Saldivar first 7 September '65, but lost by a clear decision at Earls Court in Kensington. He made 3 more defenses of the Euro title and also avenged the loss to Don Johnson when Johnson got disqualified in 4 rounds. He then rematched Saldivar at Ninian Park in Cardiff, 15 June '67, and this time gave him a much harder fight. Winstone outboxed the even shorter Saldivar for the first eight rounds, but then started to tire and was put down in round 14. Saldivar closed strong and won by a paper-thin decision from the scoring judge. The controversial result prompted a third fight, but this time in Mexico. It was 14 October that same year, at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City when Winstone was stopped for the first time in round 12, after being down once and then pounded into submission. On 23 January next year, Winstone would finally realize his great goal when he took on the Japanese contender Mitsunori Seki for the vacant WBC title and pounded him into a bloody defeat in 9 rounds. After winning one non-title fight, Winstone lost the title in his first defense against Jose Legra, 24 July that year; Winstone was down twice in round 1 and stopped on a badly swollen left eye in round 5. It was his last bout and he retired with a record of 61 wins, 27 by ko, and 6 losses, 3 to the same man. He died from a kidney disease at the age of 61, 30 September 2000. A year later, he was honoured with a bronze sculpture of him in Merthyr Tydfil.

 

6. Tommy Farr

 

The greatest Welsh heavyweight and still the only one that fought for a world title, Tommy Farr was known as "Tonypandy Terror" and that's precisely what he was. He was born Thomas George Farr, 12 March 1913 in Clydach Vale in South Wales. Tommy's father was a bare knuckle brawler originally from Cork, Ireland. His family's troubles with poverty and his father's paralysis made him turn professional at already 13, in 1926! It is therefore he early on lost a lot of bouts, until he started improving. 21 July 1931, he won the BBBofC Welsh Area light heavyweight title by PTS15 against Randy Jones. 26 March 1934, he fought in an eliminator for the British light heavy title and won by another PTS15 against Jim Winters, then 24-1-2. In the final eliminator however, he was disqualified in 3 rounds against Eddie Phillips. He again fought Phillips, this time for the British title, but lost to him on points, 4 February 1935. 15 January next year, he got an unpopular decision over Tommy Loughran in London. He then beat the former world lhw champion Bob Olin on points. On 14 September, he beat Jim Wilde by KO7 to win the Welsh heavyweight title and with that the right to fight for the British one. 15 March 1937, he beat the noted contender Ben Foord of South Africa in 15 rounds on points to win the Commonwealth and British heavy title. Only a month later, 15 April, he scored his perhaps greatest victory when he beat Max Baer, beating him up and bloodying him before winning on points. He then knocked out the German Walter Neusel (who beat Farr's countryman Craig Petersen twice) by KO3 before fighting Joe Louis for the world title. The fight was held at the Yankee Stadium, 30 August 1937 and Farr gave Louis one of his toughest fights yet, in the end losing by decision. He would lose all the rest of his important bouts, but by close decisions. First to Jim Braddock by SD10, then to Max Baer by UD15 and finally to Lou Nova by PTS15. In his last fight on 9 March 1953, he was stopped by Don Cockell by TKO7. He had been fighting for 26 years! His record is 86 wins, 24 inside the distance, 35 losses and 19 draws. He has only been stopped 6 times. He died on 1 March 1986, aged 72.

 

7. Gavin Rees

 

One of the best recent fighters to come out of Wales, Rees stands only 5'4 and thus was always the smallest guy fightng lightweights and light welterweights. But, he made up for it with his incredibly clever boxing style and grit. Born in Newport but living and fighting out of Newbridge since he was trained by Enzo Calzaghe, Rees turned pro in 1998, aged 18. At first he was a super featherweight, but also won WBO Inter-Continental feather title by TKO4 against Vladimir Borov. In 2002, he started campaigning at lightweight and then super lightweight. After going 26-0, he was given a chance to win the WBA super light title against Souleymane M'Baye, a very good boxer who was 35-1-1 back then. Rees the underdog took advantage of the opportunity and outboxed M'Baye in Cardiff International Arena on 21 July 2007 ton win by a wide UD and thus become the first Welsh world champion at 140. He was then mandated to fight Andriy Kotelnik because Kotelnik had lost a disputed decision to M'Baye previously. It was 22 March at the Cardiff IA when Rees experienced his first loss after getting stopped by TKO12. He took a year off from the ring and then returned in August 2009. On 4 December that year, he won the Prizefighter tournament by beating Colin Lynes on points in the final. Soon thereafter however, he decided to move back down to lightweight. He stopped John Watson by TKO11 to win the British title in November 2010 and in June next year he beat the undefeated Andy Murray by UD to become the European lightweight champion. His first defense against Derry Matthews ended in a technical decision after 4 rounds, when Matthews suffered a broken nose after a head clash. Rees was ahead on the scorecards. 2012 would prove a good year for Rees, as he first stopped Anthony Mezaache by TKO7 in a second defense and then fought Derry Matthews again in the third and this time halted him by TKO9 after dominating the taller Liverpudlian and putting him down in the ninth. He was then chosen as Adrien Broner's opponent in Broner's defense of the WBC title. Early on, Rees did well and landed more punches than it was expected, but Broner had an edge in power and size and stopped him in 5 rounds after putting him down twice. It was the first fight of 2013 for Rees, which proved less good, as he also lost to Anthony Crolla next by MD12 in a close fight and then nexr year he first lost to Gary Buckland in an even closer fight by SD, but came back to win the rematch, also by SD. He retired after that, with a record of 38 wins, 19 by ko, 4 losses and 1 technical draw. Enzo Calzaghe has stated that Rees is perhaps even more clever than his son.

 

8. Percy Jones

 

The first Welshman to win a world title, Percy Jones won 3 titles in one fight: the IBU world one, the European one and the British one. He did it by beating Bill Ladbury by decision in 20 rounds, 26 January 1914. He first lost a non-title bout against Eugene Criqui, but then beat Criqui in the title fight by PTS20. He then lost his Euro belt by RTD18 to Joe Symonds. Also in 1914, he fought against the famous Scotsman Tancy Lee and had to retire after 14 rounds, in a fight where his IBU and British titles were not at stake because he failed to make the weight. His enlistment in the army to fight in World War 1 in 1916 ended his career abruptly. Jones died at only 29, on Christmas Day in 1922.

 

9. Steve Robinson

 

"Cinderella Man" was his fighting alias and Robinson did virtually come out of nowhere to conquer a world title. This native of Cardiff was 13-9-1 when he was controversially chosen as the opponent of John Davison for the WBO feather title, 17 April '93. Robinson had taken the fight on 48 hours' notice and ended up with the belt in his hands after getting the nod in a split decision. What followed was a surprisingly long and distinguished reign. He beat Colin McMillan by UD, knocked out Paul Hodkinson in 12, knocked out Duke McKenzie in 9 and made seven defenses altogether. He finally lost the title in 1995 to Naseem Hamed, by TKO8. He managed to win the Euro title after that by beating Manuel Calvo on points, in 1999. He defended it twice before losing by KO11 to Juan Carlos Ramirez in a fight for another title in 2000. Robinson was now past his prime and lost the rest of his fights, among others to Cassius Baloyi on points and Steve Harrison by TKO3. He retired in 2002, with a record of 32 wins, 17 inside the distance, 17 losses and 2 draws.

 

10. Enzo Maccarinelli

 

The best Welsh cruiserweight and another part-Italian famus boxer from Wales. Enzo Mac comes from Swansea and at 6'4 was always a tall cruiser, but had serious power and could box well when needed. He only suffered from a weak chin and his defense could have been better. He too often went all out when he could have been more patient, but that is why the audience loved him. He became a pro in October 1999 and lost an early fight to Lee Swaby by KO3, before he got better. In 2003, he won the WBU title by TKO4 against Bruce Scott and then defended it with two first-round knockouts. He defended it 7 times and also beat the noted Dane Jesper Kristiansen by KO3. On 7 August 2006, he won the interim WBO title by stopping the former world champion Marcelo Fabian Dominguez by RTD9. He then won the full title on 14 October against Mark Hobson-and by a knockout in 1 minute and 11 seconds! He also impressively stopped Bobby Gunn by TKO1 in his first defense and then produced a good boxing clinic against Wayne Braithwaite, another former world champion, to win by a wide UD, 21 July 2007. In his third and last successful defense, he beat the 22-0 Mohamed Azzaoui by TKO4, stopping him with a body shot. And then came the big unification fight against David Haye, who held the WBC and WBA belts. It was at the O2 Arena on 8 March 2008 when, after a tentative first round, Mac found himself on the canvas after being stunned by a right hand and then put down with another one. He failed to beat the count and the fight had ended sooner than he or most others had expected. In 2009, he tried to win back the interim WBO belt but was stopped by Ola Afolabi and knocked out in 9. He was also stopped in 3 by Denis Lebedev that year, but won the European title in 2010 by another TKO1 against Alexander Kotlobay. However, he lost the title in his first defense later that year, when after dominating the fight, he was caught by a left hook and knocked out, against Alexander Frenkel. He then tried to reinvent himself as a light heavy, but after stopping Ovill McKenzie by TKO11 to win the Commonwealth title in 2013, he was beaten by corner retirement in 5 by Juergen Braehmer, in a fight for the WBA title in 2014. In his last fight in 2016, he was blown out by Dmytro Kucher in 1 round and then retired. His record is 41 wins, 33 by ko and 8 losses, all by ko.

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