Boxers of North Mid & West Wales
By (author) Gareth Jones
Publication date:
28 October 2021Publisher
St David's PressISBN-13: 9781902719986
Casual observers of the Welsh boxing scene might well think that the best practitioners of the sport have all hailed from the valleys and coastal cities of the south. But the rural counties have contributed their share to the nation's fistic history. In the high-profile heavyweight division alone, the area covered by this book has produced two British champions and another who contested the title. Others have worn and challenged for Lonsdale Belts at lower weights. The first British boxer ever to win a medal at the world amateur championships can be found between these covers, along with the incredible youngster who was ranked in the world's top 10 by the American Ring magazine when he was just 16 years old. This volume, packed with photographs - many published for the first time - profiles more than 50 boxers from the bare-knuckle era to stars of the present and future. It is a must-read for any fight fan, whether from Wales or further afield.
‘It comes as a bit of a surprise to learn how many top fighters have emerged from beyond the traditional southern hotbeds. The final book in Gareth Jones's outstanding Boxers of Wales series pays them due tribute, while also revealing that a Cockney ring legend was in fact a Welsh-speaking Welshman!’
Gareth A. Davies, Daily Telegraph
‘There is surely no writer with a deeper knowledge of Welsh boxing than Gareth Jones. Coming from Pembrokeshire myself, it is great that his latest book tells the stories, not merely of my county's British heavyweight champion, Scott Gammer, but old-timers such as Ocky Davies, the fighting milkman of the 1930s, and a rising star of the present day, Mickey McDonagh. This latest volume is a characteristically detailed study of the noble art in our country.’
Riath Al-Samarrai, Daily Mail