Boxing News – June 27, 2019

LEEDS EBA is one of the oldest in the

country – maybe the very oldest – so I

was delighted to hear from Secretary Paul

Abrahams as follows: “After numbers had

dwindled to single figures we are now

getting over 20 attendees each meeting.

The officials are still President Allan

Richardson [former British featherweight

champion], Chairman Michael Daniels

and myself as Secretary/Treasurer. We

also now have a working committee of

three to look into ways to promote the

Association further. We were able to make

a generous donation to the Ringside

Rest and Care charity after a successful

boxing show at the Queens Hotel in

Leeds. Twelve Leeds EBA members will

be heading to Blackpool for the NBF Gala

Weekend at the end of this month.”

That’s all good to hear. As I say, Leeds

has been going a long time – one of

the founder-members was the late Lew

Taylor, who was a regular correspondent

(and occasional visitor to the BN office)

when I was editing the Old Timers

column in the 1970s. Incidentally, the

NBF Gala is this coming weekend ( June

28-30) at The Sheraton Hotel – this is

always a good event, and I hope it goes

well this time.

Allan Richardson has been a fine

ambassador for Leeds, and the EBA

movement generally, for many years.

I saw him box several times – he always

gave 100 per cent, and I was delighted

when he won the British title in 1977,

halting former conqueror Vernon Sollas in

eight rounds.

The current Leeds newsletter includes

an interesting article on Joe Fox, the

city’s first pro champion. Between 1909

and 1925, Fox won the British crown at

both bantam and featherweight, and

campaigned successfully in the USA,

Canada and Australia. Leeds’ meetings

take place on the first Sunday of the

month at The Anglers Club, 75 Stoney

Rock Avenue, Beckett Street – starting at

11.30am.

Home Counties EBA hold their

Summer Barbecue on Sunday July 7.

Doors open at 12 noon, and the meeting

starts at 1pm. Champions who have

already confirmed they’ll be attending

include Alan Minter, Tony Sibson, Herol

Graham, James Cook MBE, Francis

Ampofo, PJ Gallagher, Billy Schwer, Andy

Till, Rocky Kelly and Gary Hobbs. Venue is

the Bricketwood Social Club, Oak Avenue,

St. Albans, Hertfordshire – and this too is

always a good day.

My thanks to Wynford Jones for

letting me know of some changes to the

44 lBOXING NEWSlJUNE 27, 2019 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net

YESTERDAY’S HEROES

Simon

Euan-Smith

simonoldtimers

@googlemail.com

EBA

correspondent

Alex

Daley

@thealexdaley

Historian

& author

ON THE UP

Leeds EBA are

posting positive

numbers at their

monthly meetings

headed to Paris for a brace of fights and

Jack followed him there. After KO’ing

London’s Jewey Smith and Australia’s Bill

Squires in the French capital, Burns was

tempted into travelling to Australia for

a return fight with Squires and a bout

against another Australian, Bill Lang.

Aussie promoter Hugh D. (“Huge

Deal”) McIntosh paid Burns handsomely

for these two easy defences and set

about raising the $30,000 Tommy asked

for to face Johnson. With the funding

in place, McIntosh wrote to Johnson

in London and offered him $5,000 to

challenge Burns for the world crown in

Sydney. While Jack resented having to

accept one sixth of what the champion

was to get, the opportunity was too

good to turn down.

They met on Boxing Day in 1908, in an

open-air stadium originally built for the

Burns-Squires bout. Twenty-thousand

fans were seated inside the stadium

and around 30,000 lingered outside,

some climbing trees or telegraph poles

for a glimpse of the action. The event

enthralled the world – it was the first

time a black man had fought for the

world heavyweight crown – but it proved

a complete mismatch. In reality, the 5ft

7in, 167lb Burns had no hope of beating

his infinitely better-skilled 6ft, 192lb

challenger.

After a prolonged, one-sided

drubbing, Tommy was saved from

further punishment when the police

halted the bout in the 14th round.

Johnson was declared the winner and

became boxing’s first black heavyweight

world titlist. Though initially conceived

as a temporary structure, the Rushcutters

Bay Sydney Stadium was later enlarged

and roofed over. It remained an iconic

boxing and entertainment venue until its

demolition in 1970.

Ten-thousand miles away, another

plaque has been erected in Pimlico,

London, to honour Olympic boxing

champion Harry Mallin. It is fixed to Peel

House where Mallin spent most of his

working life as a policeman. Arguably

Britain’s greatest ever amateur, Harry left

the sport with an unbeaten record after

more than 300 bouts. He won Olympic

gold in 1920 and 1924 and captured five

ABA titles in a row (1919-23).

After leaving the ring, Harry stayed

involved with boxing. He managed the

British boxing teams in the 1936 and

1952 Olympics and was a life vice-

president of the ABA. He stayed with

the Metropolitan Police for five years

beyond the normal retirement age,

leaving the force in 1952 with the rank of

sergeant-instructor.

The Harry Mallin plaque was put up

by English Heritage last year. It makes

a worthy addition to the growing list of

monuments that commemorate Britain’s

boxing heroes.

T says much for the

social significance

of boxing that

monuments are

being unveiled

around the world

to honour the fistic

greats of the past 100-plus years. The

latest is a plaque to commemorate the

world heavyweight title fight between

Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson. It stands

on a footpath in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney,

Australia, near the former site of the

Sydney Stadium, where the bout was

held in 1908.

Johnson had chased Burns around the

world to get the fight. As a black man

in the early 20th century, his greatest

battle was outside the ring, combating

widespread racism, and this made the

job of securing a shot at sport’s greatest

prize a gargantuan one.

Jack had followed Tommy to London,

where the latter picked up some soft

fights, flattening outclassed Brits Gunner

Moir and Jack Palmer. Upon his arrival,

Johnson visited Arthur “Peggy” Bettinson

at Covent Garden’s National Sporting

Club, and Peggy offered to stage a world

title fight between him and Burns for

a $12,500 purse. Burns, though, found

the offer laughably low and demanded

$30,000 to defend against Johnson.

After obliterating Wexford’s Jem

Roche inside a round in Dublin, Tommy

PRESERVING THE PAST

Tommy Burns/

Jack Johnson

and Harry

Mallin have

been honoured

with plaques

I