Howard Winstone’s statue in Merthyr Tydfil
The Welsh Boxing Hall of Fame contains fighters, trainers, promoters, writers and other contributors who have made outstanding contributions to the sport in Wales.
The general rule for inclusion is if a fighter has won a title at world, European, Commonwealth/Empire and/or British level, but other factors will be taken into account, including amateur records.
Your thoughts and suggestions for inclusion are gratefully received in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
See also the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Full details of the Welshmen included in these international lists can be found here.
Welsh Boxing Hall of Fame
Jamie Arthur
Arthur made his mark as a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, then battled through a difficult start to his professional career.
Eddie Avoth
Avoth won British, Commonwealth and European titles, and many feel that illness cost him a world crown.
Albert Barnes
Barnes stands in history as one of Wales’ most distinguished amateur boxers.
Johnny Basham
The brilliantly named Basham is one of the stand-out figures from the first golden age of Welsh boxing.
Billy Beynon
Beynon enjoyed a highly successful 192-fight career before getting out of the game unscathed, only to die in a colliery accident at the age of 41.
Tony Borg
Borg was an effective boxer who has achieved greater prominence as a top-class trainer.
James Brimmell
Brimmell was a long-serving Welsh boxing official who worked as a referee and judge at some of boxing’s biggest nights.
Gary Buckland
Buckland took a difficult road to rise to domestic honours.
Enzo Calzaghe
Calzaghe has a truly great life story that can compete with anything from boxing’s rich history.
Joe Calzaghe
Calzaghe is undoubtedly the greatest fighter produced by Wales since the war, and arguably the finest from the UK.
John Graham Chambers
Chambers is amongst an elite group of Welshmen to have earnt induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Read more on John Graham Chambers…
Nathan Cleverly
Cleverly has earnt his place in the Welsh Boxing Hall of Fame, but only time will tell how his legacy will be remembered.
Jason Cook
Cook’s power and skills took him to a European title, but weight and discipline problems stopped him going further.
Brian Curvis
Curvis was the most talented member of Swansea’s most famous fighting family, and one of the greatest boxers produced by Wales’ second city.
Cliff Curvis
Curvis’s fine skills took him to British and Commonwealth glory, and he went on to manage his brother, Brian.
Nipper Pat Daly, aka Patrick Clifford Daley
The remarkable Daly defeated three British champions, a European champion and the reigning national champions of Italy, Germany and Belgium in his 120 bouts – then retired aged 17.
Gipsy Daniels, aka Billy Daniel
The well-travelled Daniels was a stalwart of the British, European and US scene in the 1920s and ’30s and could boast of a first-round knock-out win over Max Schmeling.
Dai ‘Chips’ Davies
Davies’s main claim to fame as a boxer was his three fights against his Tylorstown neighbour, Jimmy Wilde.
Robert Dickie
Dickie’s considerable skills saw him join the select group of Welshmen who have won British titles at two different weights.
Dai Dollings
Dollings was one of the great Welsh boxing managers and trainers who has been described as the Freddie Roach of his day.
Dai Dower
Dower was a flyweight whose outstanding skills raised hopes in Wales that he would be the country’s first world champion since Jimmy Wilde.
Boyo Driscoll
Driscoll enjoyed a fine reputation in both the UK and the US, where he was a renowned crowd pleaser.
Jim Driscoll
‘Peerless’ Jim is regarded as the finest proponent of the classical, upright style of boxing and as one of the greatest pugilists never to have won a world title.
Fred Dyer
The multi-talented Fred Dyer was renowned as an outstanding boxer, singer and swimmer, but a knee injury prevented him from realising the full extent of his sporting potential.
Llew Edwards
Edwards rose from the Rhondda to become British and Empire featherweight champion and the lightweight champion of Australia.
Joe Erskine
Erskine was one of the most talented and popular heavyweights Britain has ever produced, but his weaknesses came in his lack of power and fragile skin.
Craig Evans
Blackwood’s Craig Evans followed a hard road to the European lightweight title.
Fred Evans
St Mellons’s Evans is the most successful Welsh Olympic boxer of all time.
Ralph Evans
Evans won light-flyweight bronze at the 1972 Munich Olympics, making him the first Welshman to ever claim an Olympic boxing medal.
Sydney Evans
Evans was a prominent Welsh boxing promoter, also known as ‘Evans the Shrewd’.
Tommy Farr
Despite an amazingly long, colourful and accomplished career, Farr will always be remembered for one night – his 1937 challenge for Joe Louis’s world heavyweight crown.
Cyril Gallie
Gallie was born between the wars and – had it not been for World War II – many feel that he would have won an Olympic medal and/or a world title for Wales.
Scott Gammer
Gammer was a late starter in the professional game who ended Wales’ long wait for a British heavyweight title.
Dai Gardiner
Gardiner is one of Wales’ most prominent boxing trainers and a man who will always, sadly, be associated with one of the most tragic nights in the country’s sporting history.
Joe Gess
Gess was a long-serving boxing-booth proprietor in south and west Wales who played a huge role in the early careers of fighters like Tommy Farr.
Neil Haddock
Haddock was a talented amateur who overcame a woeful start to his professional career to reach unexpected heights.
Jay Harris
Hailing from a famous Swansea fighting family, Harris has already claimed the Commonwealth flyweight title.
Peter Harris
Harris made the most of his talents to win the British featherweight title and challenge at European level.
Floyd Havard
Havard was an outstanding domestic super-featherweight champion who came up just short when he moved up to world level.
Kerry Hope
Hope was a hard-working, determined fighter whose career seemed hounded by bad luck – before he seized an unlikely chance to win the European middleweight title.
Benny Jacobs
Jacobs was a Cardiff-born boxing manager and bookmaker, whose career was colourful even by the standards of those lively trades.
Ronnie James
James was amongst the finest fighters produced by Swansea and was involved in the first world title fight ever to be held in Wales.
Barry Jones
Jones’s hard work and talent took him to a deserved world crown, but he was cruelly denied the opportunity to cash in on his belt.
Colin Jones
Hammer-hitting Jones is one of the finest British boxers never to have won a world crown, coming up just short in three brave shots at the title.
Percy Jones
Jones was Wales’ first world champion, but weight problems and the devastation of World War I prevented him entering the popular consciousness alongside the country’s early boxing greats.
Gary Lockett
Lockett knew the highs and lows in his career, winning considerable domestic success but coming up short at world level.
Enzo Maccarinelli
Maccarinelli’s career has been a true rollercoaster, a thrilling ride that took him to the world cruiserweight title and to one of the biggest British world title fights of the new millennium.
Read more on Enzo Maccarinelli…
Sean McGoldrick
McGoldrick became the fourth Welshman to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal for boxing – but he had to wait for his prize.
Neville Meade
Meade was a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and British champion, but the suspicion is that the laid-back heavyweight could have made even more of his talents.
Glen Moody
Moody was a Welsh middleweight and light-heavyweight champion but – beyond his boxing skills – he was a stalwart of the Welsh boxing scene throughout his life.
Frank Moody
Moody is one of the forgotten greats of Welsh sport and was the first Welshman to win British titles at two weights.
Eddie Morgan
Morgan was one of the outstanding performers from the first golden age of Welsh boxing.
Dai Nancurvis
Nancurvis was a famous Swansea boxing man who – as a trainer – guided his sons Cliff and Brian to title glories.
John O’Brien
O’Brien was unofficially recognised as the best middleweight in Britain in the period 1891-5.
Johnny Owen
Owen was one of the purest sportsmen produced by any country, but his life and career is forever overshadowed by its tragic end.
Charlie Pearson
Pearson’s 36 years as a boxing trainer earned him multiple, deserved plaudits on his retirement in 2006 at the age of 71.
David Pearce
A game, heavy hitter, renowned for his left hook, Pearce’s talents took him to the British heavyweight title.
Jack Petersen
Petersen was one of Britain’s finest heavyweights, who could have probably achieved far more had he stuck at light-heavyweight.
Nicky Piper
Piper was a well-respected Commonwealth light-heavyweight champion who fell short in three brave tilts at world titles.
Dennis Powell
Powell was a hugely popular mid Wales fighter whose career highlight was claiming the British light-heavyweight crown.
Bradley Pryce
The talented Pryce is a former Commonwealth champion whose career could have led to so much more.
Denis Reardon
Reardon (b. 1917) holds the distinction of being the first person to win an Empire Games gold medal for Wales in any sport.
Gavin Rees
The talents and achievements of Rees have arguably been more overlooked than those of any other modern Welsh sports person.
Robbie Regan
Regan is a man who came closer than most to becoming Wales’ first two-weight world champion, but medical conditions prevented him from making the most of the title status he had fought so hard to achieve.
Dick Richardson
Newport’s rough-house brawler Richardson enjoyed the most colourful of ring careers and fought some of the biggest names of his day.
Steve Robinson
One fight took Robinson from being a journeyman to a world champion, but he then showed the determination to ensure that was just the beginning of his journey.
Francis Rossi
Rossi was a classy lightweight who operated on both sides of the Atlantic before settling in the famous fight town of Brockton.
Walter Rossi
Rossi campaigned successfully in the US before World War I before returning to serve and continuing boxing at a high level.
Archie Rule
Rule fought in both Britain and US, but is best known as one of the UK’s leading trainers of the 1950s.
William Samuels
William Samuels was an infamous Swansea brawler, boxer and booth owner of the late nineteenth century who shared a ring with John L Sullivan.
Jack Scarrott
Scarrott was one of the most famous of the boxing booth owners who did much to shape the careers of the greatest names in Welsh boxing from its first golden era.
Andrew Selby
Barry’s Selby has built a formidable reputation as a high-class amateur.
Lee Selby
Selby rose from obscurity to win the British, Commonwealth, European and world featherweight titles, and a glorious future could await the Barry man.
Steve Sims
‘Sammy’ Sims is a fighter who came from nowhere to become Newport’s own ‘Cinderella Man’.
Kelvin Smart
Smart is a former British champion whose outstanding early career record was spoiled by its end.
Tiger Smith, aka James Addis
Smith’s claim to boxing fame rests on the fact that he shared a ring with the great Sam Langford.
Neil Swain
Swain was a talented boxer whose reputation as a bad boy followed him from the amateur to the professional ranks and beyond.
Cuthbert Taylor
Taylor was a fighter who was good enough to compete at world level, but who was denied championship opportunities because of the colour of his skin.
Dan Thomas, aka Dan Pontypridd
Thomas was a bareknuckle champion of the 1850s who held a formidable reputation.
Eddie Thomas
Thomas was a boxer of substance whose pursuit of titles captivated Wales, but who went on to even greater glory as a trainer and manager.
Pat Thomas
Two-weight British champion Pat Thomas rose from poverty and fell into obscurity after retirement, but his career was memorable.
Tom Thomas
Thomas is one of the great names of the first golden age of Welsh boxing and the country’s first winner of a Lonsdale Belt.
Robbie Turley
Title glory looked set to pass the Cefn Fforest hard-man by, but opportunity came late in his career…
Ned Turner
Turner, whose parents were from Newtown, is one of the great names of early nineteenth-century pugilism.
Freddie Welsh
Welsh was one of the greatest lightweights of all time and a man whose remarkable life story has been cited as an inspiration for the Great Gatsby.
Tommy West
West is one of the forgotten greats of Welsh boxing and a man who could have been the country’s first world champion.
Jimmy Wilde
Wilde is arguably the greatest fighter ever produced by the UK, and a boxer worthy of consideration on any all-time list of the greatest pound-for-pound champions.
Gwyn Williams
Williams could boast wins over Eddie Thomas and Cliff Curvis, but he probably lost his best years to World War II.
Johnny Williams
Williams was a cautious and classy operator whose under-spoken skills took him to British and Empire heavyweight titles.
Lennie ‘the Lion’ Williams
Williams was an excellent featherweight of the 1960s whose career burnt short and bright.
Liam Williams
Rhondda’s Liam Williams is a Commonwealth champion and there may be much more to come…
Mac Williams
Williams was a Cardiff boxing manager who – from humble beginnings in the 1960s – built probably the biggest professional stable in the UK.
Howard Winstone
Winstone ended Wales’ 45-year wait for a world champion to succeed Jimmy Wilde, but his road to that moment of glory was epic and heartbreaking.
Where and when is there a welsh induction into your hof ? Thanks d
Hi David, thanks for the comment. I’m afraid it’s not that official (although it’d be nice to have a party like they have in Canastota!). The rules for inclusion are a little arbitrary but are as set out at the top of this page: “if a fighter has won a title at world, European, Commonwealth/Empire and/or British level, but other factors will be taken into account, including amateur records”.
Hi my brother won a number of a British aba titles and numerous welsh and a medal in the European championships he boxed at heavy weight and super heavy weight and he is not listed here. Think time frame 1986 until about 1992 his name is Kevin Patrick McCorMack
i do remember kevin mcCormack good boxer. boxed round about the same time as nicky piper i watched him box in the welsh abas
Top boxer, top man and a good team mate and captain. I have the greatest of respect for big kev and what he achieved in boxing. Great Welsh ambassador for amateur Boxing…
Wheres Lynsey Holdaway in all this? Cant believe shes not mentioned in any of this website? do you all know what she has achieved for the welsh valleys? The young welsh girl has even gone down in history. shes even in cyfarthfa museum with all the famous boxers.Come on give us women a chance will you!! xx
kevin evans, pat thomas,
Where is my Dad Tony Wynne, who at 77 is still working with WABA as OIC and Director and Chair of South Division and Chair of Refs and Chair of Performance Committee. He has given nearly 60 years service to WABA including 30 years as AIBA Official. He boxed 17 times for Wales and was Featherweight Champ in 1967/8. He is still an acting referee covering 99% of tournaments all over Wales.
Very proud to see my dad is on there Kelvin smart 🙂
my grandfather was Frederick Andrews , a boxing referee and involved with youth boxing in Cardiff and the sons of the Marquis of Bute?
Parry Dando was Welsh Champion, he’s still alive.
My Dad’s cousin was Ginger Ward also known as Dai Ward. He is in the mueseam at Merthyr Tydfil. He won loads of medals and cups . He was in the Royal Navy in WW2
Hi Sean,
As a lifelong boxing enthusiast I’ve just noticed that from your comprehensive list of Welsh title held professional boxers that, probably as an oversight, the well known and locally established Merthyr Tydfil born and bred WBF Intercontinental Cruiserweight Champion of 2001Dean Williams (aka: Welsh Road Warrior) is not currently present in your list of former Welsh pro successfully titled boxers, especially so as Dean Williams’ success has been at pro world competition level.
Just to mention, Dean Williams originally began his early amateur career training and successfully fighting, for a number of years, out of the then, one of many, Merthyr Tydfil based Abercanaid ABC gym – from where he represented his immediate local club many times from a young age and was also successful in holding a teenage amateur Welsh Championship title too.
For your benefit, I have left a link below to Dean’s BoxRec registration for you to view (may require login), for the possible consideration for addition to your list of successfully titled professional Welsh boxers.
Dean’s official BoxRec.com record lists an accurate and comprehensive account of his full professional record and world title held. It also confirms the origins of Dean’s Welsh, Merthyr Tydfil (Abercanaid) based roots.
http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/49751
I would also like to add that somehow or other Dean has seemed to have been overlooked with regards to leading a successful professional world boxing career. So much so that Dean’s success as a Welsh and Merthyr Tydfil professional boxer of origin title wise dwarfs that of the much renowned Merthyr Tydfil listed boxer Kerry Hope.
Of note: Dean Williams still continues to contribute to the sport of boxing by training others at both amateur and professional level.
So in recognition to his success as an international Welsh boxer along with his continued living contribution to the sport of boxing, it would be ideal if his successful career could be recognised by being listed and noted on your site of successfully titled professional boxers of Wales.
Best regards,
JS
Hi, I’m trying to find out about my relative Samuel Galliver who I understand from family legend was an amateur champion in approximately 1890-1900. He came from Cardiff and apply used to fight around Tiger Bay. I believe he worked in the dockyards. Has anybody ever heard of him or know where I can go to find out? Any info gratefully received. Thank you.