Eddie Thomas – A True Boxing Man

Eddie Thomas was born in Merthyr Tydfil, on 27 July 1925. Obviously, no one realised at the time the impact this newly born baby would one day make in the world of boxing, be it a participant inside the ring and as a manager.

Thomas had proved to be a successful amateur before joining the punch for pay code. His professional debut taking place at the Harringay Arena, London on 4 June 1946 against Ivor Simpson which he won on points over the duration of 4 rounds. The contest revealed that Thomas was a competent boxer who had a bright future in front of him. True, it was early days yet and in the fight game anything can happen, but nevertheless even when taking that fact into consideration the Welshman looked set for championship honours down the line. There are no shortcuts in boxing, class and dedication are necessary to succeed along with talent and Thomas appeared to have these attributes in abundance.

1946 came to a close of which Thomas added another five winning fights to his resume. The new year started well for the man from Merthyr Tydfil when on the 20 February 1947 he knocked out opponent Jimmy Brunt in the 6th stanza of a contest scheduled for the duration of 8 rounds, the bout taking place in Cwmbran. However, the winning run for Thomas came to an end in his 11th bout on 8 September 1947 when his Russian born opponent Yrjo Piitulainen stopped him in the 3rd session of a bout scheduled for 8 due to a badly cut eye. The contest took place at the Harringay Arena. A defeat is always a disappointment, but Thomas put this loss behind him and was back in action on the 3 November 1947 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The opponent being Algerian born Kid Marcel who retired in the 4th stanza in a fight set for the duration of 10 rounds.

Thomas followed the Marcel victory by winning a further 2 bouts all of which were impressive, and it seemed that he was back on the road to success heading towards a possible title tilt of some description. However, on 16 March 1948 he suffered his 2nd defeat at the hands of fellow Welshman Gwyn Williams losing a 10 round points decision at Harringay Arena, London. This was a disappointment but not a disaster. Thomas gave a good account of himself during the contest, and it was obvious that he still had the potential to reach British title status at the very least.

Thomas put another 3 victories on his record after the Williams defeat and on 26 July 1948 he had the toughest test of his career to date. At the White City Stadium, London he stepped into the ring to confront Liverpool’s Ernie Roderick. This was not going to be easy. Roderick was an experienced fighter who had fought 136 times winning 112 bouts losing 20 with 4 drawn while Thomas had a resume of 17 fights with 2 defeats. Roderick was also a former British middleweight and British and European welterweight king. Roderick had also challenged for the World welterweight crown on the 25 May 1939 against American titleholder Henry Armstrong at the Harringay Arena, losing a 15 round point’s decision. This was no disgrace since Armstrong was an outstanding fighter, a man who is considered to be one of the greats in the world of boxing. It was true to say that the prime years of Roderick were behind him but nevertheless he was still capable of defeating Thomas. The contest went the full duration of 8 rounds which the Welshman won on points. This was without doubt a good win for Thomas.

Thomas stepped back into the ring on 21 September 1948 to challenge Gwyn Williams for the Welsh Arena welterweight title at the Harringay Arena. This was a chance for Thomas to not only win the title but to gain revenge for a defeat he suffered against Williams earlier during the year. At the end of an absorbing 12 rounds Thomas became the new champion. The success for the man from Merthyr Tydfil continued. He fought another 7 times, all wins, which saw him meet the reigning British welterweight champion Henry Hall. The bout took place on 15 November 1949 at the Harringay Arena. Thomas looked a good bet to take the crown from Hall since the Welshman had previously defeated him on the 26 January 1948 by way of an 8 round point’s decision. At the end of the 15 round encounter Thomas repeated the win and became the new British welterweight champion, much to the delight of his many fans who witnessed the event. There were no other titles to win and Thomas had his sights firmly set on them.

Thomas won a further 5 fights before making the first defence of his British title and it was against fellow Welshman Cliff Curvis in a contest which took place on 13 September 1950. It was only fitting for the bout to take place in Wales, the venue being St.Helens Ground in Swansea. After 15 rounds of boxing Thomas remained Champion on a points decision. Thomas was clearly on a high but in his next bout against Emmanuel Clavel of France on the 14 November 1950 at Earls Court, Kensington, London he suffered a slight blip when held to an 8 round draw. A clear win over the Frenchman prior to the bout was expected for Thomas.

On 27 January 1951 the British Champion was given the opportunity to contest the vacant Commonwealth (then

by Ralph Oates

From left to right Eddie Thomas, Ken Buchanan and the then Prime Minister Edward Heath plus Reg Gutteridge Image courtesy of Derek Rowe. called Empire) welterweight title against Pat Patrick. Thomas looked to have every chance of collecting this title, the only disadvantage being he had to venture into his opponent’s country South Africa to do so. It is a known fact that when fighting on the home fighter’s turf it is always a difficult task to gain victory since few favours are given to the visiting fighter. The contest took place at the Wembley Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng. Thomas ensured that the contest did not run the full distance of 15 rounds when he knocked out his opponent in the 13th stanza of the contest. This certainly enhanced the Welshman’s profile and would open the door to even more title chances.

In his very next contest Thomas did indeed have the opportunity to add to his title collection when on 19 February 1951, he challenged reigning European welterweight king Michele Palermo of Italy. The contest took place at the Market Hall in Carmarthen and to the delight of the Welsh spectators in attendance Thomas boxed his way to a 15 round points decision. On 24 April 1951 Thomas won a 10 round bout against Spain’s Antonio Monzon at the Harringay Arena. At this stage everything was looking fantastic for Thomas career-wise. However, on 13 June 1951 he made the first defence of his European title against Charles Humez of France. There was no getting away from the fact that the Frenchman was a tough opponent who would not be easy to defeat. Thomas had taken part in 37 fights winning 34 losing 2 with 1 drawn while Humez had a record of 49 fights consisting of 46 victories with 2 defeats and 1 no contest. The bout took place at the Coney Beach Arena in Porthcawl and at the end of 15 rounds Thomas became a former champion of Europe when Humez was given the points decision. The loss of the title was a setback of course, yet Thomas was still the British and Commonwealth champion and there was still the chance that he would bounce back after getting a few more wins on his record. Thomas won two more bouts before he put his British and Commonwealth belts on the line against Birkenhead’s Wally Thom, a win here would ensure that he was still a major factor and a chance to regain his European title might well take place at a later date. Thom however spoilt any plans that Thomas and his team may have had when at the Harringay Area on the 16 October 1951 he won the titles with a 15 round points decision.

Thomas had a further 7 fights after his defeat to Thom which resulted in 4 wins 2 defeats with 1 drawn. His last contest took place on the 10 December 1954 at the King’s Hall, Belle Vue in Manchester which saw him lose an 8 round points decision to Ron Duncombe.

Soon after Thomas decided to hang up the gloves. He left the sport with a record of 48 bouts winning 40 losing 6 with 2 drawn.

While Thomas may have retired from participating inside the ring, he wasn’t finished with the sport. He later became a successful boxing manager, taking Howard Winstone to the WBC World featherweight title and Ken Buchanan to the undisputed World lightweight championship, and also guided other fighters in his stable to various titles. Thomas later had the honour of being awarded the MBE in 1984 and was elected Mayor of Merthyr in 1994.

Eddie Thomas sadly passed away on 2 June 1997, and will be remembered as a man of dignity who served the sport of boxing well.