Boxing News — January 11, 2018

the summer of 1948 they featured on

most of the shows held at Birkenhead

Drill Hall, and Sollas became the first

of them to box at the famous Liverpool

Stadium when he outpointed Albert

Fielding of Wrexham in early August.

By the end of the year the stable had

seen action in Belfast, Morecambe,

West Hartlepool, Northampton, Perth,

Glasgow, Halifax and Blackburn. Sollas

and Hazel stood out as the best, and

between them they won most of the 100

or so bouts that they took part in over

the next five years.

Sollas boxed at bantamweight and

featherweight, and he beat the likes of

Sammy Fisher, Jimmy Stewart, Tommy

Madine and Jackie Horseman, before he

settled in Edinburgh, where in 1954, one

year after his retirement, he had a son,

who he named after himself.

After finishing with the game in 1953,

Sollas became a trainer with Madison

BC, one of the best clubs in his adopted

city. He took his son along to the club to

teach him the game. He taught him well.

After a highly successful amateur

career, young Vernon, aged 18, turned

pro in 1973. I can remember the

sensational way in which he blazed his

way through the featherweight rankings

so quickly. Within his first year he had

won 10 of his 11 contests and was

ranked number four in Britain. The loss,

a six-round stoppage at the hands of

hard-punching George McGurk, was a

serious one, however, and it was an early

warning of what was to come.

Sollas won the British feather title

in 1975 by knocking out Jimmy Revie,

and he became the second youngest

British title-holder in doing so. The world

appeared to be at his feet, before a 1976

challenge for the European belt ended

dramatically when he was stopped in the

14th round by Elio Cotena.

He fought three more times in 1977

and lost all of them inside the distance,

and he quit the game at 22. Scans

revealed that he had suffered bruising

to the brain quite early on in his career

and this had led to him suffering

seizures while in the ring. He was bitterly

disappointed that his career had come to

such a sudden and unexpected end, and

so he channelled his efforts elsewhere

and went on to become a successful

businessman and a well-respected

trainer.

His success, both inside and outside

the ring, pays testament to the hopes

and dreams of the 492 individuals, his

father among them, who stepped down

the gangplank in Tilbury 70 years ago.

Mortimer Martin and his lads were the

trailblazers for the generations that

followed them, and they have made a

huge impact, not only on British boxing,

but on British sport and society as a

whole.

N June 22, 1948, the

Empire Windrush

arrived at Tilbury

Dockyard in

London’s East End,

carrying 492 men

and women from

the West Indies. They were the first of

the post-war immigrants to come to the

UK, hoping to start a new life and to

give future generations the best chance

possible. Included among them were

five boxers and their manager. The son

of one of these boxers would go on to

become British featherweight champion

26 years later.

As the boxers prepared to leave the

vessel, they had their picture taken by

a press photographer. They are, from

the top downwards [pictured on facing

page], Charles Smith, Ted Ansell, Ezzie

Reid, John Hazel and Vernon Sollas.

Standing on the deck, to the right, is

their manager, Mortimer G Martin. All

five of the new arrivals were reasonably

well-established professionals in their

homeland, and they arrived in Britain at

a fortuitous time, as only six days later

Dick Turpin became the first black boxer

to win a British title under BBBofC rules.

The ‘colour bar’ had finally been lifted

just a few weeks before this contest.

Martin established his base in

Liverpool and within a fortnight his lads

were boxing competitively. Throughout

named after Smiler Perkins, one of our
past secretaries.
“I think it’s vitally important that EBAs
support clubs at grass-roots level, as a
way of putting something back into the
game – not to mention the possibility of
gaining the odd new member!”
That’s so true – and there’s also the fact
that, by giving this kind of support, EBAs
are showing that they’re not rooted in
the past but certainly care about, and are
involved in, boxing today.
Croydon EBA were sorry recently to
lose long-time member Teddy Gardner,
who had been battling dementia for
some time.
Teddy boxed as a welter and
middleweight between 1952 and 1963,
taking part in 31 contests. After retiring,
he stayed involved in the game as a
manager and later a referee.
I recall seeing Teddy in action as a
ref at Grosvenor House in June 1993.
Crawley’s Michael Alldis – who would
later become British and Commonwealth

super-bantam champ – was up against

Adey Benton, and looking to score his

fifth straight win. But Benton was floored

in the third by an accidental low blow,

and Teddy disqualified Alldis.

He confided afterwards that he wasn’t

happy about it – he knew Alldis hadn’t

fouled his man deliberately – but rules

were rules, and he had to abide by them.

I respected him for that.

Teddy and his wife, Jean, were regulars

at Croydon EBA for years. They moved

to Great Yarmouth for a while, but kept

in touch with their friends from Croydon,

and later moved back, and started

attending meetings again. Sadly, Teddy

lost Jean to cancer some years ago –

an illness she battled bravely, without

complaint.

Teddy’s funeral will be held at Croydon

Crematorium this coming Monday

( January 15), at 12 noon.

[email protected]

with your ex-boxer association news.

O

MOMENTOUS DAY

When Sollas

and co hit UK

shores, the

face of the

sport changed

for the better

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net JANUARY 11, 2018 lBOXING NEWSl 45

BEFITTING THE MAN:

Mitchell’s grave has been renovated, thanks to Benson and Mellis

Miles

Templeton

Boxing

historian