Root and Stokes grind down weary India to stretch lead beyond 100
The extraordinary life of the ‘Tonypandy Terror’
JOHN WIGHT discusses the life and career of Tommy Farr - one of the most illustrious fighters that Wales and Britain ever produced
Heavyweight boxers Joe Louis (left) and Tommy Farr breakfast in London in 1948
YOU won’t find many households with a picture of Winston Churchill on the mantlepiece in Tonypandy, South Wales. For it was here in this once fiercely proud mining town that Churchill deployed the British army to quash an uprising by striking miners in 1910 when he was home secretary.
The Tonypandy Riots occupy a proud place in the history of the British working class and an ignoble one in the history of the country’s ruling class. They also put paid to the cult of Winston Churchill, a man twisted by hatred of those who refused to know their place in the perverse hierarchy of human worth which consumed his being.
In 1913, just three years after the riots, a child was born in Tonypandy who would grow up to become one of the most illustrious fighters that Wales and Britain ever produced. His name was Tommy Farr.
More from this author
Mary Kom’s fists made history in the boxing world. Malak Mesleh’s never got the chance. One story ends in glory, the other in grief — but both highlight the defiance of women who dare to fight, writes JOHN WIGHT
The Khelif gender row shows no sign of being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone involved anytime soon, says boxing writer JOHN WIGHT
When Patterson and Liston met in the ring in 1962, it was more than a title bout — it was a collision of two black archetypes shaped by white America’s fears and fantasies, writes JOHN WIGHT
In the land of white supremacy, colonialism and the foul legacy of the KKK, JOHN WIGHT knows that to resist the fascism unleashed by Trump is to do God’s work
