Pat Thomas (boxer)

Pat Thomas

Personal information
Nationality	Saint Kitts and Nevis   United Kingdom
Born	(1950-05-05) 5 May 1950 (age 75) Saint Kitts
Weight	Light-middleweight Welterweight
Boxing career
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	57
Wins	35
Win by KO	14
Losses	18
Draws	3
No contests	1

Pat Thomas (born 5 May 1950) was a Light-middleweight boxer, originally from Saint Kitts and Nevis, who took British citizenship and won two British boxing titles in the 1970s and 80s. After leaving Saint Kitts, Thomas settled in Cardiff in Wales, and is recognised as a Welsh fighter taking the Welsh light middleweight Championship in 1977. ^[1]

Boxing career

Thomas' first professional bout was at welterweight, fought in Manchester against Ray Farell, himself a fairly novice boxer with only two professional matches to his name. Thomas won by knockout in the second round, and this started a nine match unbeaten run, though none of his seven wins after Farell coming through knockout. His first defeat was a points decision to Alan Reid at the end of 1971, a fighter who he had faced and beaten six months earlier.

Thomas' next bout was in 1972, against Jimmy Fairweather in Walworth, saw Thomas now fighting in eight-round matches. A win over Fairweather was followed by victories over Mickey Flynn and Phil Dykes, before being disqualified in an encounter with Charlie Cooper. At the start of 1973, he beat Des Rea, the Irish Welterweight Champion by a points decision; this was followed by two more wins before he faced Rea again, this time beating him by technical knockout in the fourth round. 1973 ended just like the previous two years, with a defeat, a narrow points loss to Trevor Francis at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The next year saw Thomas begin one of the most successful periods of his career, going on a twelve match unbeaten run. On 15 December 1975, Thomas faced Pat MacCormack for the vacant British Welterweight title. He knocked MacCormack down twice, before winning by knockout in the thirteenth and in the process became the first immigrant fighter to win the British Welterweight title. ^[2]

After a win over Jim Devanny in February 1976, Thomas fought Italian Marco Scano in Cagliari, for the vacant European Welterweight title. Thomas was outclassed losing by knockout in the second round. This was followed by Thomas' second overseas match, facing Jørgen Hansen in Denmark; Thomas lost by technical knockout in the third. Back in Britain, Thomas successfully defended his welterweight title against Trevor Francis, but then lost the belt when he was knocked out by Henry Rhiney in Luton.

After losing the welterweight title, Thomas went up a weight division, now fighting at light-middleweight. He began in the new division by taking the Welsh Light-middleweight title from Dave Davies, who had beaten Thomas three times in the amateurs, ^[3] in early 1977. Despite the encounter being for a Welsh title, the match took place at The Stadium in Liverpool, the fight being part of the undercard for John Conteh's WBC World Championship bout with Len Hutchins. ^[4] Thomas' light-middleweight career was far more chequered than his time as a welterweight, losing to Larry Paul, before beating Rhiney and then drawing with Tony Sibson. In 1978 Thomas spent much of his time fighting outside Britain, but with little success. He fought twice in Netherlands, a win and a loss, which were followed by three straight loses, against former Olympic Lightweight Champion Chris Clarke in Canada, then French Champion Claude Martin and finally Spanish fighter Andoni Amana in Bilbao.

His fortunes changed on British soil, with wins over Salvo Nucifero and Robbie Davies, before losing to Kenny Bristol in a fight for the vacant British Empire Light-middleweight title by a unanimous points decision. ^[5] The very next fight was another title decider, this time for the British Light-middleweight belt on 11 September 1979. In that encounter he beat Jimmy Batten in the ninth round to take his second British title; though Batten later stated that he felt he had given the title away as he wasn't in the correct frame of mind due to personal problems. ^[6] Thomas defended his title successfully twice, knocking out Dave Proud in the seventh and then stopping Steve Hopkin in the final round with a badly cut eye. His third defence ended in defeat, losing to Hensol Graham by points. This was the start of a six-round losing streak that only ended with his retirement from boxing in 1984.

Professional boxing record

35 Wins (14 knockouts, 21 decisions), 18 Losses (4 knockouts, 14 decisions), 3 Draws, 1 No Contest
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	7-0	Chris Pyatt	PTS	10	15 Mar 1984	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Loss	11-0	Graeme Ahmed	PTS	10	31 Aug 1982	Buddy's Night Club, South Shields, United Kingdom	98-98.5.
Loss	13-3-3	Brian Anderson	PTS	10	21 May 1982	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, United Kingdom	96.5-100.
Loss	7-2-1	Darwin Brewster	PTS	10	26 Apr 1982	STAR Centre, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom	96.5-99.5.
Loss	33-0	Nino La Rocca	TKO	4	13 Nov 1981	Rome, Italy
Loss	16-0	Herol Graham	PTS	15	24 Mar 1981	Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title. 143-150.
Win	14-1-2	Steve Hopkin	TKO	15	16 Sep 1980	Wembley Conference Centre, Wembley, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:25 of the 15th round.
Win	9-6	"Fighting" Jim Richards	PTS	8	3 Jun 1980	Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom	80-76.5.
Win	28-3-1	Dave Proud	KO	7	11 Dec 1979	Bletchley Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title.
Win	28-3	Jimmy Batten	TKO	9	11 Sep 1979	Wembley Conference Centre, Wembley, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:15 of the ninth round.
Loss	9-0	Kenny Bristol	UD	15	29 Jul 1979	National Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana	Commonwealth Light Middleweight Title.
Win	9-1	Robbie Davies	PTS	12	5 Apr 1979	Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title Eliminator. 118-117.
Win	9-3	Salvo Nucifero	TKO	1	27 Nov 1978	Civic Sports Centre, Kettering, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Loss	17-0	Andoni Amana	PTS	10	5 Oct 1978	Bilbao, Spain
Loss	25-3-1	Claude "General" Martin	PTS	10	23 Sep 1978	Saint-Malo, France	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:25 of the 15th round.
Loss	13-0	Chris Clarke	UD	8	1 Aug 1978	Halifax Metro Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win	4-0	Agamil Yilderim	PTS	8	29 May 1978	Rotterdam Ahoy Sportpaleis, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Loss	8-0	Marijan Benes	PTS	8	16 Jan 1978	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Draw	17-0	Tony Sibson	PTS	8	18 Oct 1977	Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Win	25-10-6	Henry Rhiney	PTS	8	14 Jun 1977	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, United Kingdom
Loss	28-6-1	Larry Paul	DQ	5	27 May 1977	Digbeth Institute, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Light Middleweight Title Eliminator.
Win	6-6-2	"Boxing" Dave Davies	TKO	8	5 Mar 1977	Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom	BBBofC Welsh Light Middleweight Title.
Loss	22-9-6	Henry Rhiney	TKO	8	7 Dec 1976	Luton Caesar's Palace, Luton, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Welterweight Title.
Win	20-8-6	"Boxing" Trevor Francis	PTS	15	22 Sep 1976	Hilton Hotel, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Welterweight Title. 147.5-147.
Loss	40-9	Jørgen Hansen	TKO	3	3 Jun 1976	K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Loss	33-3-2	Marco Scano	KO	2	9 Apr 1976	Palazzo Dello Sport, Cagliari, Italy	EBU Welterweight Title.
Win	16-8-5	Jim Devanney	TKO	8	16 Feb 1976	Arden Sporting Club, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Win	30-17-1	Pat McCormack	KO	13	15 Dec 1975	Manor Place Baths, Walworth, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Welterweight Title.
Win	7-3-1	Peter Scheibner	PTS	8	8 Jul 1975	Double Diamond Club, Caerphilly, United Kingdom	79.5-76.5.
Win	7-1	Jeff Gale	TKO	11	2 Jun 1975	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Welterweight Title Eliminator.
Win	9-9	Jim Montague	KO	5	28 Apr 1975	Albany Hotel, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Win	13-4-2	Henry Rhiney	PTS	8	4 Dec 1974	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Draw	10-4-2	Kenny Webber	PTS	10	25 Sep 1974	Midland Sporting Club, Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Win	11-3-1	Henry Rhiney	PTS	8	25 Jun 1974	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Win	21-15-1	Mickey Flynn	PTS	8	22 Apr 1974	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Win	15-14-1	"Scottish" John Smith	PTS	8	18 Mar 1974	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Win	29-33-5	Des Rea	TKO	4	27 Feb 1974	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Win	16-9-5	Les Pearson	KO	1	21 Jan 1974	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Loss	9-3-1	"Boxing" Trevor Francis	PTS	8	21 Nov 1973	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom	78-78.5.
Win	29-31-4	Des Rea	TKO	4	5 Oct 1973	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Win	16-8-3	Les Pearson	PTS	8	26 Sep 1973	Midland Sporting Club, Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Win	19-15-1	Amos Talbot	PTS	8	12 Mar 1973	Anglo-Welsh Sporting Club, Caerphilly, United Kingdom	39.75-38.5.
Win	27-25-2	Des Rea	PTS	8	15 Jan 1973	Double Diamond Club, Caerphilly, United Kingdom
Loss	10-0	Charlie Cooper	DQ	7	22 Nov 1972	Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, United Kingdom
Win	7-11-1	Phil Dykes	TKO	3	19 Sep 1972	King's Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	13-8	Mickey Flynn	PTS	8	15 May 1972	Mayfair Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	39.5-39.
Win	5-7	Jimmy Fairweather	PTS	8	20 Apr 1972	Manor Place Baths, Walworth, London, United Kingdom
Loss	4-6-1	"Boxing" Alan Reid	PTS	6	11 Oct 1971	Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	4-2	Johnny Shields	PTS	6	17 May 1971	Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	7-8	Tony Bagshaw	PTS	6	3 May 1971	Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Draw	3-10	Mohammed Ellah	PTS	6	20 Apr 1971	Newport, Monmouthshire, United Kingdom
Win	4-3-1	"Boxing" Alan Reid	PTS	6	29 Mar 1971	Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	10-10-2	Tony Burnett	DQ	4	23 Mar 1971	Newport, Monmouthshire, United Kingdom
No Contest	7-7	Tony Bagshaw	NC	4	22 Feb 1971	Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	3-9	Mohammed Ellah	PTS	6	9 Feb 1971	Newport, Monmouthshire, United Kingdom
Win	7-5	"Boxing" Keith White	PTS	6	12 Jan 1971	Shoreditch Town Hall, Shoreditch, London, United Kingdom
Win	1-0-1	Ray "The Dart" Farrell	KO	2	14 Dec 1970	Manchester, United Kingdom

See also

• List of British welterweight boxing champions

References

1. Pat Thomas johnnyowen.com
2. Pat Thomas boxing profile boxrec.com
3. North Wales' top-10 boxers of all time Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine Daily Post, 22 June 2009
4. Professional boxing, The Light Heavyweight Championship of the World John Conteh V Len Hutchins bfi.org.uk
5. Commonwealth contenders and champs Stabroek News, 9 February 2009
6. Jimmy Batten Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine boxingnewsonline.net

External links

• Boxing record for Pat Thomas from BoxRec (registration required)