by Roy Smith
Thomas James Thomas, known as Tom, was born in 1901 when his parents James Lloyd Thomas and Mabel (née Davies) lived in Dynevor Street, Merthyr Tydfil. They were residing at 7 Park Street, Merthyr by the time of the 1911 census and the family had grown with two additions, namely, son William (known as Billy) age 5 years and 2-year-old daughter Emily. Shortly after the family moved to the village of Deri, in the Darran Valley where James was employed as overman at Groesfaen Colliery.
Tom Thomas first laced on the gloves as a member of the Bargoed Boxing Club and he began building his reputation in that rough but wonderfully efficient school the travelling boxing booth. He toured South Wales and North of England with Bert Hughes’ boxing booth (June 1923-June 1924). “Those were the days. Thirty bob a week and all found, and fighting all day and all night, as long as opponents came forward,” as written by Tom Thomas in a letter to Boxing News.
Rhymney Valley Man In the Limelight – A Clever Deri Lad Making a Name is how the South Wales Echo headlined its report on 8 Sept 1923.“Tom Thomas (Deri) is making a name for himself, notably in England. This is really an extraordinary achievement for a young man of 21 years of age. A feature of his record is the large number of “K.O.’s. Since 1921, his victories include:- won on points over 15 rounds against Pat McAllister (Belfast). Knock-out Dai Morgan (Bargoed) in the fourth round; knock-out Wyndham Whale (Treharris) in the first round; knock-out Con Cushion (Rhymney) in the third round; knock-out Young Keepins, Cardiff, in the first round; knock-out Crad Jones (Treharris) in the first round. Draw with Billy Edmunds (Cardiff) over 10 rounds; knock-out Battling Bartlett (Dowlais) in the fourth round; knock-out Billy Wagstaff (Treharris) in the sixth round; won on points from Harvey Blanch (Hereford) in a 15 rounds contest; won on points from Will Dixon (Porth) in a 15 round contest; knock-out Digger Burns (Burnley) in the second round; knock-out Harry Jones (Hanley) in the third round; knock-out Griff Grifiths (Treharris) in the fifth round; and won on points from Bobby Parker, of Nuneaton, in a ten-round contest. According to South Wales Echo 3 September 1923, by knocking out Harry Jones (Wrexham) in the third round, he had established a record of 23 consecutive victories. On 13 November 1923 at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester he won a 15 round contest over Lawrence Ward (Belfast).
Tom Thomas, booked to face Chris Gorman (Chelsea) on 18 February 1924 at the National Sporting Club (NSC) Covent Garden, went into strict training at Anchorage Farm, Fleet, Hants under instructorship of Bert Hughes. On fight night, Thomas quickly ended his 10 rounds contest with Gorman and won a sensational victory knocking out his opponent in the first round with a right hook. His decisive victory more than pleased his many admirers in the Rhymney Valley. According to the Echo, 5 March in the course of a letter to Mr. Ted E. Lewis (Pontypridd) “Mr. Bettison, manager of the NSC expresses a very high opinion of the fighting qualities of Tom Thomas of Deri. He states that he considers Thomas to be one of the best welter-weights seen at the NSC for many years and that it would take a very good man to beat him.”
Thomas was matched with George Carney the Bermondsey welter-weight over 15 rounds in the chief contest at The Ring, Blackfriars Road, on March 20. The Echo, 21 March 1924 carried the following report “Although extremely plucky and forcing the fighting with great spirit throughout, Tom Thomas (Deri) proved no match for Carney. After being floored on three occasions in the seventh, the Welshman’s seconds did the proper thing in throwing in the towel. Thomas was loudly applauded on leaving the ring.”
Tommy Milligan (left) of Hamilton, Scotland, proved far too good for Tom Thomas in a ten-round contest at NSC Covent Garden on 17 April. This bout was the eliminating contest for the Championship of Great Britain. Tom, from Deri, was K.O.’d in 4½ minutes of actual fighting, but apparently this was a thriller while it lasted and the Boxing News (8 Sept 1967) report read as follows “This was short-lived, though there was more real hard fighting crammed into the two rounds than one will often see in a 20-rounds contest. Right from the gong, they went at it, slamming and pounding away with the utmost vigour. Thomas wanted to score a knock-out and was aiming mainly for the head, but Milligan, forcing his way in close, smashed furiously at the body, and obviously with the greater force. Neither man worried much about defence, all their energies being concentrated on attack, and one felt sure that the affair could not last long at this gait. Milligan appeared to be shaken by a right to the jaw, but came on more furiously than before, and with a succession of body blows, sent Thomas on his back to the boards. It looked all over, but Thomas rose at ‘eight’ and the slamming continued until another drive to the mark sent the Deri man once more to the boards. Up again at ‘eight’ he fought on to the gong, though ‘dropped’ twice more for ‘three’ each time. In the second round Milligan came from his corner with a rush, met Thomas near his own corner, drove a left to the mouth, crossed heavily with his right to the jaw, and driving the Welshman to the ropes simply pelted him with blows until Thomas, overwhelmed, went through the ropes and out of the ring to be counted out.” Milligan went on to become the British and British Empire Welterweight Champion 1924-25; European Middleweight Champion 1925; and British and British Empire Middleweight Champion 1926-28.
According to the South Wales Echo 9 April 1924, “Many boxing critics felt that great indiscretion had been displayed in fixing young Thomas with first-class opponents before giving him sufficient trials with lesser fights. To fix up a young boxer like Thomas at such an early stage of his career against the very best in the country was considered unfair to him, and defeats in such circumstances may tend to discourage him.”
To be continued…..