Dallen Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 When Welsh boxing is discussed not many people no about Tom Thomas,they talk about Wilde,Driscoll,Welsh, and Tom is rarely mentioned.But Tom could have been the greatest of them all,except Tom fought his whole career suffering from Rheumatism. Tom was born on April 9th 1880 at Deinol Farm Clynathan in Cardingshire Wales,born into a large family of 2 brothers 3 sisters and 3 step sisters.Tom in his life never leaving the farm working the land as a young man.Which is the reason Tom suffered with Rheumatism,being outside come rain or shine.But working the land gave a tremendous physicical body,at 5ft 63/4 and around 11st 4lb . Tom started fighting on the booths run by Harry Cullis which toured around the countryside in Wales back in them days.He started to fight professional in 1904 and quicly climbed to become the leading Middleweight in the country.He won the 1st British Middleweight Lonsdale Championship belt on May 28th 1908 from Pat O`Keefe on points over 20 rounds. Trouble with Tom as his Rheumatism got worse he started to change his style due to the worsening stiffness in his body.Also Tom was self managed and self trained,and he did not train in the conventional way.He done a lot of horseback riding on the farm also [Dont Laugh]spared with the farmyard bull.And Tom was a real tight so and so he would never catch a tram he would rather walk in all weathers.So i would think being self managed was down to his tightness,not having a manager taking a cut of his ring earnings. Tom defended his British Title against James Tiger Smith winning by KO in 4 rounds in 1908.Then he Ko2 Charlie Wilson in his second defence in 1909,but by then Tom was having bouts of Rheumatic Fever which was destroying his body.Then in 1910 he lost the Title to Jim Sullivan on pts over 20 rounds. Tom passed away on August 13th in 1911 aged 31 years old from a weak heart brought on by the rheumatics which was increasing in its strengh saping way.He was buried at Llamrescalm Churchyard. His ring record is uncomplete but what has surfaced is as follows, 63 bouts Won 35 inside the distance Won 7 on points Won 1 on disq 1 no decision 21 exhibitions Lost 1 points Lost 1 disq. When Tom was being laid to rest it was reported that the farmyard bull started to kick up a storm outside the farmhouse.And stayed there all day and refused to be moved from the spot. The great Jim Driscoll sent a reef saying on the card to the best Wales has seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheelchair Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Shame he died so young. Thanks for the article mate! clap// Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshDevilRob Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I'd honestly never heard of him til Dallen mentioned him the other day. 1st winner of the Middleweight Lonsdale belt is some achievement and will keep his name in boxing history books forever. To fight with Rhuematism must have been very difficult and shows that he must have had alot of heart and determination. Thanks for your article, Dallen and the great info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dai chips Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Tom was without doubt one of the greatest middleweights in Britain at this time, and would probably have gone on to fight Papke for the world title. The horse riding didn't help Tom's cause either, and caused him to stiffen up. Although he was a gentle man outside the ring, he was a hard hitting two handed 'terror' inside it. A little known fact is that he once sparred with the (then ancient) 'Father of modern boxing', the bareknuckle champion Jem Mace. Tom is briefly touched upon in a new book on early Welsh boxers and mountain fighters available soon : Mountain Fighters, Lost tales of Welsh Boxing, features tales of the long forgotten old time boxers and bare knuckle mountainside fighters of South Wales. The book covers heroes and villans of the old welsh prize ring from Cardiff, Newport, Merthyr, Swansea, and every inch of the South Wales coalfields in-between. The book will be available from gwales.com and directly from Peerless Press of Cardiff from November 2011. For more information see below : http://www.gwales.com/bibliographic/?isbn=9780957034204&tsid=22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallen Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Thanks Dai for the information on the book coming out on Mountain fighters,sounds very intresting i will spread the word to my boxing pals.I have ordered a copy and shall look forward to reading,its a subject that has not had a lot of exposure before Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsnell Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I am going to order this also as its sure to be a very interesting read. After its published i would like to post info and a review on my boxingbiographies site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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