Johnny Williams (boxer)

Johnny Williams
Data
Birth Name	John Williams
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	British
birthday	December 25, 1926
place of birth	Barmouth , Wales
Date of death	January 29, 2007
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.85 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	75
Victories	60
Knockout victories	38
Defeats	11
draw	4th

Johnny Williams (born December 25, 1926 in Barmouth , Wales , † January 29, 2007 in Bitteswell, Leicestershire ) was a British boxer .

Career

Johnny Williams grew up in rugby . His parents were farmers. As a child, he started boxing at the age of 10, but later became involved in athletics before starting boxing again at 16. He also competed in some amateur fights without achieving great success in this profession. By the age of 19, however, he had grown into a young man who was 1.85 m tall and weighed around 85 kg. Because of this excellent physical condition for a boxer, he was recommended to the well-known manager Ted Broadribb, who signed Johnny Williams at the end of 1945.

On February 12, 1946, he played his first professional fight against Billy Rhodes as a good nineteen year old in Leicester , which he won on points. Over the next two and a half years, Johnny Williams fought 28 fights in England , which were more or less all development fights. Of these 28 fights, he won 25, lost one and fought twice. He was coached in those years by Freddie Mills , a British ex-light heavyweight champion. Because of its speed, Johnny Williams was nicknamed the Welsh Blitz in those days.

On May 18, 1948, in Coventry, he met the first known opponent, Don Cockell , as he was an aspiring young boxer who was also eager to make the leap into the top English league. Johnny Williams lost this fight on points. On July 27, 1948, however, he was able to take revenge against Don Cockell in Birmingham with a technical knockout victory in the second round.

On August 17, 1949, Johnny Williams entered the international boxing scene. In Porthcawl , Wales he won over 10 rounds safely on points over the Belgian champion Piet Wilde and three weeks later in London he also beat the French champion Stefan Olek on points. After these victories, Johnny Williams appeared in the European ranking of heavyweights for the first time among the top ten boxers.

On July 17, 1950, Johnny Williams fought against Jack Gardner , who was almost the same age, in the final for a fight and the British Empire Heavyweight Title. Jack Gardner won this fight over 12 rounds due to his stronger physique against the better technician Johnny Williams. On December 12, 1950, Johnny Williams suffered a premature defeat in the fight against Bill Weinberg. He entered this fight with an arm injury, but still won each of the first five rounds. In the 6th round he was sent to the ground by Weinberg up to "9" and then gave up this fight.

On June 5, 1951, Johnny Williams celebrated a knockout victory over the former Austrian European champion Joe Weidin ( Josef Weidinger ), who had lost his title to Jack Gardner. On October 14, 1951, he boxed for the first time outside of England. In Dortmund he met the German Heinz Neuhaus , who was on the way to number "1" in Europe and saw in Johnny Williams an easy victim. Heinz Neuhaus was taught otherwise by him. Johnny Williams delivered the best fight of his career so far against Neuhaus and it was only thanks to the composition of the jury that the fight was considered a "draw". Ted Broadribb was so angry that he threatened not to let the boxers in his stable compete in Germany again.

On March 11, 1952, the fight for revenge against Jack Garnder took place in London. It was about the British Empire Title and the British Heavyweight Championship. Johnny Williams was in great shape and won these titles with a convincing points win after 15 rounds. After successfully defending his title on October 13, 1952 against Johnny Arthur , whom he knocked out in the 7th round, Johnny Williams lost his title on May 12, 1952 to Don Cockell, who had become European light heavyweight champion, but switched to heavyweight in 1953 . Before that, on February 15, 1953, Johnny Williams had to get to know the bitterness of a knockout defeat when Heinz Neuhaus, back in Dortmund, sent him on the boards prematurely in the 9th round.

From 1954 it became clear that Johnny Williams had passed the zenith of his productivity. Although he won in Germany at the beginning of 1954 against the European light heavyweight champion Gerhard Hecht by knockout in the second round and shortly afterwards defeated Hugo Salfeld on points in Dortmund , but was then won by Jack Gardner on June 6, 1955 knocked out in the final round of the British Empire Title in the 5th round. Then he fought against the German ex-European light heavyweight champion Willi Hoepner on February 4, 1956 in Frankfurt am Main . On August 27, 1956 he lost in Cardiff against Joe Erskine in the fight for the British heavyweight championship on points and on November 16, 1956 against Joe Bygraves in the 6th round by technical knockout.

He then resigned and worked as a farmer for the rest of his life.

Championship fights from Johnny Williams

• March 11, 1952, points victory against Jack Gardner in the fight for the British Empire Title and the British Heavyweight Championship
• October 13, 1952, points victory against Johnny Arthur in the battle for the British Empire Title
• May 12, 1953, point defeat by Don Cockell in the fight for the British Empire title and the British Heavyweight Championship
• August 27, 1956, lost point to Joe Erskine in the fight for the British Heavyweight Championship

Web links

• Record from Johnny Williams