Freddie Welsh
| Freddie Welsh | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Real name | Frederick Hall Thomas |
| Nickname(s) | The Welsh Wizard |
| Rated at | Lightweight |
| Reach | 69 in (175.3 cm) |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Born |
5 March 1886 Pontypridd, Wales |
| Died | 29 July 1927 (aged 41) New York City, United States |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 166 |
| Wins | 78 |
| Wins by KO | 32 |
| Losses | 5 |
| Draws | 7 |
| No contests | 81 |
Freddie Welsh (5 March 1886 – 29 July 1927) was a Welsh World lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, and christened Frederick Hall Thomas, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a middle-class background to make a name for himself in America. He turned professional as a boxer in Philadelphia in 1905, and spent the best part of his career fighting in the United States, leaving many in Britain to incorrectly believe he was an exponent of an ungentlemanly style of American boxing.
Welsh spent much of his career chasing the World Championship title, held in turn by Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast and Willie Ritchie, failing through a series of events to meet each until a successful encounter with Ritchie in July 1914, when he finally became World Lightweight Champion. Welsh held the title until 1917 when he lost to Benny Leonard, though he continued to fight sparingly until 1922.
A keen follower of Bernarr Macfadden’s physical culture, Welsh believed in exercise and healthy living and was a non-smoker and a vegetarian. In the years following the end of his career, bad business choices cost him his fortune, and after numerous health problems he died in poverty in 1927.
Freddie Welsh was born in Pontypridd on 5 March 1886, to John Thomas and his wife Elizabeth Thomas (née Hall). In the late 19th century, Pontypridd was a growing coal mining town, which attracted not only those wishing to make a living down the mines, but also middle-class professionals who saw an opportunity to make a living in a thriving community. Welsh's father was one such commercial immigrant, setting up a business on Taff Street as an auctioneer. They moved into 17 Morgan Street in the town, and Welsh was born there. He had two younger siblings, a brother, Arthur Stanley and a sister, Edith Kate. Unlike most boxers of the period, Welsh had a privileged upbringing, at the age of four he attended Mr Mclune's Grammar School in Pontypridd and was privately educated at Long Ashton College in Clifton, Bristol. A few months after Welsh was born, his mother persuaded her husband to buy the Bridge Inn Hotel on Berw Road, and the family moved there. Welsh's mother was the daughter of a hotelier from Merthyr, and the Bridge Inn was her responsibility, as John Thomas was often away from home. When Welsh was ten, his father died, his mother, faced with running the hotel alone, sent Kate and Stanley to an aunt in Merthyr, while Welsh was sent to his maternal grandfather in Radyr. After a year, suffering from homesickness, Welsh returned home to Pontypridd. His mother later remarried, to Richard Williams, an innkeeper from Aberdare.
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