Tommy Farr - The Welshman who fought Joe Louis by David Statham Oct 4th 2008

The flat-cap wearing gentlemen surrounded America's legendary heavyweight Joe Louis, who had announced his decision to retire from boxing a year after defending his championship for the twenty-fifth time. ‘‘Do you think anybody could talk you in to fighting again?'' His reply was accompanied with a slight smile, but his words were laced with apparent certainty. ‘‘No, I don't think so, I don't think so, I think I'm all through.'' Sixty years have passed since the ‘Brown Bomber' knocked-out Jersey Joe Walcott in the final fight of his amazing world heavyweight reign. Throughout his championship - disrupted by World War Two - Louis stopped twenty-two of his opponents inside the distance. Eleven of his victims left the ring inside of the first five rounds. In his eleven year eight month campaign, in which he remained unbeaten, only three men had the required skill and endurance to hear the sound of the final bell. One of those (the other two being Arturo Godoy and Jersey Joe Walcott) was Britain's Tommy Farr, the man who challenged Louis in the autumn of 1937. Farr, from Tonypandy, in Wales, began his boxing career as a middleweight before winning the Welsh light-heavyweight title and taking the elevator to the top floor in world boxing. The ex-coalminer, who began boxing at twelve, had chipped his way into the heavyweight scene by beating Ben Foord to win the British and British Empire heavyweight titles in March 1937; a victory, over fifteen tough rounds, that gave him a shot at America's former world champion Max Baer. Baer, who had won the title against Italian giant Primo Carnera but lost it in his first defence, was expected to dismiss the little-known challenger within the early rounds. But in the contest at the Harringay Arena in London, he played to the audience believing he could finish the contest at any time with his lethal right hand. But it didn't happen. Farr boxed, working off his left-jab, and got the decision. Two months after beating Baer, Farr stepped into the ring and unexpectedly knocked out German star Walter Nuesel. Defying all odds, the rugged Welshman had got a chance at the world heavyweight title. Despite repeatedly proving his ability, many commentators and fight fans regarded the contest on August 30th as an easy one for Louis, who had lost once in thirty-one bouts. Indeed, fight reports suggest that only one journalist out of around two hundred at ringside in the crowed Yankee Stadium, New York, thought the 24-year-old had a chance against the explosive champion. While Farr carried the Welsh colours through America's Stars and Stripes, his supporters in his homeland, who had altered shifts and changed plans to get behind their man, listened to the live commentary being played through BBC Radio for the first time. Sat at ringside were American heavyweights Jack Johnson, Gene Tunney and James Braddock, who witnessed a close first round as the enthusiastic and confident Farr kept on his toes and landed his left jab. Louis, carrying his usual style, took small methodical steps around the ring putting together powerful combinations. At the end of the second round Farr was cut on his right cheek; an old wound, caused in sparring, had reopened. But his performance in the opening five rounds had been convincing. In the seventh Louis worked inside the smaller mans defence and landed a solid combination of uppercuts and left hands, trademark shots that, as the commentator described, ‘didn't travel very far, but burst like bombs on an opponent'. But Farr fought back and in the eighth landed a left and right that had Louis with his back to the ropes. The general consensus, held outside of Britain, was that the man from the Welsh valleys wasn't good enough to challenge the elite fighters. But as the fight entered the final five rounds, Farr still maintained his work rate, keeping on his toes, flicking out his left jab. The ‘Brown Bomber' had only been twelve rounds once before (a loss to Max Schmeling) but he looked comfortable in the thirteenth, as he landed a left right and moved away from the incoming attacks. The contest was close throughout and tough to score, but the final two rounds easily went to the champion who picked his punches and moved away from the exhausted challenger. As the bell sounded at the end of the fifteenth round, the managers and trainers of both teams stepped between the three ropes and clapped their fighters. Both camps believed their man had won. The decision, announced on the hanging microphone, was greeted with a loud chorus of discontent from the thirty thousand fans, the majority of whom were American. The world heavyweight championship was still in the hands of the ‘Brown Bomber'. Louis, though, would later comment that Farr had been his toughest opponent. Sitting after the fight, before his trainer, friend and manager, the battered and bruised Welshman spoke gamely about his heroic, but unsuccessful, world championship attempt. ‘‘Well, I'd like to say, first, ‘hello' Britain and I'm very sorry that I lost. I can assure you that I tried my very best, but the officials thought my best wasn't good enough. ‘‘I was hurt plenty as my eyes will show you, and my hand give out on me in the fifth round. But I don't want to make any alibis.'' The final words, and perhaps the most poignant, were left to his manager Ted Broadrib who thanked the Americans for the good treatment he and his team had received throughout their stay before commenting on the fight. ‘‘I really think that if Joe Louis had been handicapped with two bad eyes the same as Tommy, there would be a new champion of the world today.'' In 1950, after a remarkable career, Louis answered the question posed to him in a year earlier, being forced out of retirement for financial reasons. Farr, too, had another spell in the ring after initially retiring a rich man in 1940. However, boxing fans will remember Joe Louis for his incredible world championship campaign and, perhaps more importantly, his quiet revolution on society's attitude towards black fighters. British boxing fans will remember Tommy Farr for the incredible night he fought Joe Louis.

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