Thomas Nicholls

Thomas Nicholls (born October 12, 1931 ) is a retired English boxer . He won the silver medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and was European champion of the amateurs in 1955 in the featherweight division.

Career

Tommy Nicholls, who came from a large family and had six sisters and one brother, started boxing at Sankeys BC (Boxing Club), Wellington , Shropshire in 1946 when he was 15 . He played his first fight on November 22, 1947 as a junior, which he won against T. Davies from Ironbridge on points. In 1949 he won his first championship title. He became Junior Champion with a win over D. Lightfood of Bridgenorth Midland Counties.

He won this title in 1950 with a victory in the bantamweight division over R. Joyce from Coventry . In the same year Tommy Nicholls, who had meanwhile entered the Royal Air Force , also played his first international fight. In a comparison battle between the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force, he won over Jacques Dumesnil on points. In another match between the Royal Air Force and the Danish national team of amateur boxers, he also won against Ihler Nehls from Copenhagen on points in the same year .

In 1951 Tommy Nicholls won the bantamweight championship of the Royal Air Force with a victory over D. Flack and was also English bantamweight champion (ABA champion) in April 1951 with a victory over Tommy Icke from London . Shortly afterwards he lost in an international match between England and Ireland against the Northern Irishman John Kelly , who was one of the best bantamweights in Europe, just on points. He then started at the European Championships in Milan in 1951 and met John Kelly again in the first round. He gave this one a good fight, although he was very nervous and was not at his best. Kelly was the point winner and took 2nd place in the final bill. Tommy Nicholls was eliminated after the first round of the tournament.

In April 1952, Tommy Nicholls was again English bantamweight champion by a knockout victory in the first round over Cliff Salter. He was then sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki . He met the Finnish favorite Pentti Hämäläinen in the bantamweight division again in the first round , against whom he lost 3-0 judge votes and who then became Olympic champion.

In 1953, Tommy Nicholls, promoted to featherweight, lost in the final of the English Championship to Alan Sillett by disqualification for headbuttons in the third round. After this defeat he was not nominated for the 1953 European Championship in Warsaw . Towards the end of the year, however, he had two more wins. He defeated on November 11th in London Dave Charnley , a future European professional champion, safely on points and won on November 27th in Dublin in the international match between England and Ireland against Frank Teidt on points.

1954 Tommy Nicholls could not take part in the English championship because of an injury. But that he was now one of the best European featherweights among amateurs, he proved on November 17, 1954 in London, when he defeated Hans-Peter Mehling , who was third in the European Championship in 1953, on points during the international match between England and the Federal Republic of Germany .

The year 1955 did not start very well for Tommy Nicholls, because on January 27th he had to give up in Glasgow in the international match England against Scotland against Bobby Neil in the third round because of a serious eyebrow injury. Recovered, he won his third English championship title on April 29, 1955 in featherweight with a point victory over Jim Swan. Tommy Nicholls was in excellent shape at the European Amateur Boxer Championship, which took place in West Berlin at the end of May / beginning of June this year . He defeated Ján Zachara from Czechoslovakia , Antoine Martin , Spain , Pentti Hämäläinen and in the final Alexander Fedosejewitsch Sassuchin from the Soviet Union on points and was deservedly European champion .

1956 saw Tommy Nicholls again as English champion. He won that title on April 27 with a points win over Arthur Devlin. During this year he was also victorious in several international matches. The most notable victories he achieved on May 6th and 8th in Warsaw and Gdansk over the Poles Kazimirz Boczarski and Jan Brychlik and on June 20 in Moscow over the Soviet athlete Mikhail Papasjan. Finally he won again on June 27th in Helsinki against Olympic champion Pentti Hämäläinen on points. Strengthened by these victories, he also expected a lot at the Olympic Games in Melbourne this year . He did not disappoint either and fought his way into the finals at featherweight with wins over Shinetsu Suzuki from Japan and Pentti Hämäläinen. There he was defeated by the completely unknown Soviet athlete Vladimir Safronov , against whom he found no attitude in the first two rounds and only had some good scenes in the third round, on points and had to be content with the silver medal . Still, it was a great success for him.

On February 22, 1957 Tommy Nicholls denied in Wellington against Tommy Edge, whom he defeated on points, his last fight. The exact number of his fights was never recorded, but should be between 180 and 190 fights. There are 139 wins out of 20 defeats. Tommy Nicholls never turned professional as a member of the Air Force.

International fights or other comparative fights with Tommy Nicholls

• 1950 in Henlow , Royal Air Force versus French Air Force, points winner over Jacques Dumesnil ,
• 1950 in London , Ireland against England , point defeat against Ken Lawrence,
• 1950 in Copenhagen , Denmark against Royal Air Force, points winner over Ihler Nehls,
• 1951 in Copenhagen, Denmark / Sweden against Royal Air Force, points winner over Niels Persson,
• 1951 in Glasgow , Scotland against England, points winner over P. Meewan,
• 1951 in Dublin , Ireland against England, point defeat against John Kelly ,
• 1951 in Vienna , Austria against Royal Air Force, knockout winner 3rd round over E. Fischer,
• 1951 in Klagenfurt , Austria against Royal Air Force, points winner over A. Ercher,
• 1951 in London, England against Golden Gloves Champions USA, points winner over Ernest De Jesus,
• 1951 in London, England against Italy , points winner over Vincenzo Dall'Osso,
• 1952 in London, England against Scotland, points winner over Tommy Thompson,
• 1952 in Dublin, Ireland against England, point defeat against Paddy Kelly,
• 1952 in Cork , Ireland against England, points winner over T. O'Neill,
• 1952 in Copenhagen, Denmark against the Royal Air Force, knockout winner 3rd round over Kaj Johanson,
• 1952 in Malmö , Sweden against the Royal Air Force, KO winner 2nd round over Ove Nilsson,
• 1952 in Cardiff , Wales against England, points winner over Richie Jenkins,
• 1953 in Dublin, Ireland against England, points winner over Fred Teidt,
• 1953 in Belfast , England against Ireland, points winner over R. McAvoy,
• 1954 in London, England against Scotland, points winner over Ben Lyall,
• 1954 in Porthcawl , Wales against England, point defeat against Malcolm Collins,
• 1954 in London, England against FRG , points winner over Hans-Peter Mehling ,
• 1955 in Glasgow, Scotland against England, 3rd round demolition defeat against Bobby Neill,
• 1955 in London, England against Golden Gloves Champions USA, KO winner 3rd round over Harvey Lancour,
• 1956 in London, England against Scotland, points winner over George McMillan,
• 1956 in Warsaw , Poland against England, points winner over Kazimirz Boczarski,
• 1956 in Danzig , Poland against England, points winner over Jan Brychlik,
• 1956 in Moscow , USSR against England, points winner over Michail Papasjan,
• 1956 in Helsinki , Finland against England, points winner over Pentti Hämäläinen

literature

• Box Sport trade journal from 1950 to 1957,
• Boxing Almanac 1920-1980 , published by the German Amateur Boxing Association, 1980,

Web links

• Thomas Nicholls in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Website "www.amateur-boxing.strefa.pl",
• Website "www.sports123.com",