[Rocco Del Sesto]

So, going to focus visiting month by month journey through my collection of The Ring, looking at the Big Men of boxing (naturally this thread has always been about primarily the heavyweights), focus of course on the heavyweights but looking some at the light heavyweight division and some of the major players there. I've collected back complete years to 1940 of the Ring now my aim being I was interested in digging into more history of boxing from the time of the origins of World War Two and see the effects of that upon the world of boxing. Joe Louis was at the early prime to prime of his career as were there we many others. Those 6 years from late 1939 thru the summer of 1945 had some major implications on how Louis and others' careers played out in the later 1940s.

I have also some collections of the UK publication, Boxing News for a number of years starting with 1946, so when I someday reach the year 1946, I want to dig into that great boxing news publication and the wealth of great boxing history it lends. That is of course if I'm still breathing by then!

Working through this I want to look at not all the minor players of the Big Men divisions, but the Major players. The guys who Ring and other sources were ranking each month along with looking at any Big Men that may have been mentioned in that monthly issue. See if it digs up any new gems to look at rating but also shed any new light on the many fighters we currently have in TB. Some I may look at in more detail than others looking into accounts about the fighter in newspapers online. Others I may just look through more just other online sources. My big aim will be to just try and update fighter personal info and bio info as much as possible from what was originally offered in the files offered by different sources that I have in my data base and bring them up to date more and if I feel there's a concrete reason to do so offer a breakdown of the file I have into other weight classes the boxer fought at. I've done this with a number of fighters I've redone and offered up here on this site.

First case of that was the great Welsh heavyweight of the 1920s on into the early 1950s, Tommy Farr. He was one of the first heavyweights was introduced to starting my reading through the January 1940 Ring. There was an article that talked about some of the better-known UK fighters of the time that by that January 1940 issue publication, had found themselves in military service. some even before the start of the war, Tommy Farr was one of those. The article had mentioned that Farr had gotten permission to take a leave from his service duties to fight Manuel Abrew at the Theatre Royal in Dublin on November 10, 1939. Looking at Farr's record and information on line, you can see where his career breaks down to fighting as a Light Heavy up through 1935, but then his fight with Tommy Loughran in January 1936 is basically the dawn of his move into the heavyweight division.

Tommy Farr - LHW/HW - Wales
Career Record: W86(KO 24) / L35(KO 6) / D19

TITLES:
BBBofC Welsh Area Light Heavyweight Title
Welsh Heavyweight Title
BBBofC British Heavyweight Title
Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title


Unknown information has been left blank.

A Website, sites.google.com/sites/tjsmithers/ shows a family tracing that a Terry Smithers had done, found that Thomas George Farr was linked by marriage to a great-aunt of Smithers mother. Smithers goes on in the article traced Farr's birth certificate which placed his birth on 12th March 1913 at 3 Railway Terrace, Blaenclydach, Rhondda, Wales. His father a haulier in a coal-mine. The full extent of Smithers tracing of the family, he sums up that Tommy Farr's full name was Thomas George Farr, born on 12th March 1913, contrary to some claims his name was Thomas George Paul Farr (as BoxRec shows) , born in 1914.

'www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-21697971 notes that Farr retired in 1940, but bad investments cost him his fortune and he was forced to return to the ring.

In March 1934 won a 15 round decision over Jim Winters in an eliminator bout for the British Light Heavyweight Title. Then in June, he lost by 3rd round disqualification against Eddie Phillips in the final eliminator.

Lost a 15 round decision to Eddie Phillips in February 1935 for the vacant BBBofC British Light Heavyweight Title that had been vacated by Len Harvey.

In Jany 1936, Farr fought former world lightheavyweight champion Tommy Loughran who was now fighting in the heavyweight dvision and defeated Loughran in a 10 round decison. This would mark eccentially Farr's transition to the heavyweight division.

Farr's career record would appear then to breakdown as follows by LHW and then HW.
LHW W61(KO 15) / L25(KO 4) / D18 NC2
HW W25(KO 9) / L10(KO 2) / D1 NC0

After winning the Welsh Heavyweight Title which was an eliminator for the British Heavyweight Title in September 1936, Farr then won the BBBofC British Heavyweight Title along with the Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavyweight Title in a 15-round decision over Ben Foord in March 1937. Victories then over Max Baer and Walter Neusel in April and June 1937 set up Tommy Farr's chance at the NYSAC World Heavyweight Title against Joe Louis in August 1937, loss to Louis a 15 round UD.

Next up I'm looking at Pat Comiskey. A first article in the January 1940 Ring interview with Mike Jacobs and his plans for the heavyweights he plans to stage fights for, one of them, Pat Comiskey. The article talks also of Lou Nova, Max Baer, and Bob Pastor all ranked heavyweights at the time. Started looking at Comiskey on line newspaper articles. Started fighting when he was 18 and I can't believe the hoopla he started generating after just a handful of fights into his career.