John Richard Owens was a Welsh professional boxer who fought under the name Johnny Owen. His seemingly fragile appearance earned him many epithets, including the "Merthyr Matchstick" and the "Bionic Bantam". He began boxing at the age of eight and undertook a long amateur career, competing in more than 120 fights and representing Wales in competitions. He turned professional in September 1976 at the age of 20, winning his debut bout against George Sutton. Owen beat Sutton again in his sixth professional fight to win his first title, the vacant bantamweight title in the Welsh Area.
Freddie Welsh was a Welsh World lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a working-class background to make a name for himself in America. He turned professional as a boxer in Philadelphia in 1905, and spent the best part of his career fighting in the United States.
Howard Winstone, MBE was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.
Edward Thomas MBE was a Welsh professional boxer and boxing manager. He was born in Merthyr Tydfil. After a highly successful amateur boxing career, he turned professional in 1946. He won the Welsh welterweight title in 1948 and the British welterweight title in 1949, becoming the first Welsh fighter to hold the belt for more than 30 years. He won the European welterweight title in 1951, retaining it for only four months. He held the British Empire title for a period in the same year.
Johnny Summers was an English boxer who competed from 1901 to 1920. He was a British and British Empire (Commonwealth) welterweight champion.
John Michael Basham was a Welsh boxer who became British and European champion at both welter and middleweight. His professional career spanned over 20 years, from 1909 to 1929, and after being stationed in Wrexham through military service, he fought most of his bouts in nearby Liverpool.
Llewellyn "Llew" Edwards was a Welsh boxer who fought professionally between 1913 and 1922. He is most noted for winning both the British and the British Empire featherweight boxing titles in 1915 and for an outstanding winning record with a nearly 50% knockout ratio. He took the Australian lightweight title against Herb McCoy in 1916.
Boxing is a popular sport in Wales, and since the early 20th century Wales has produced a notable number of professional boxers including several World Champions. The most notable boxers include Wales' first World Champion Percy Jones; Jimmy Wilde, who is seen as pound-for-pound one of the World's finest boxers and Joe Calzaghe, who ended his career an undefeated World Champion.
Pat Thomas 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.
Ronnie James was a British Lightweight boxing champion. Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff for the NBA Lightweight title, but lost the contest in the ninth round.
Thomas Glanville Davies was a Welsh Middleweight boxer. Davies was Wales middleweight champion from 1943 until his retirement in 1949. He successfully defended his title on four occasions. Davies was considered a serious contender for the British Middleweight title, but a string of three fights against Vince Hawkins during 1944 robbed him of his chance of a title fight.
Freddie William Evans is a British professional boxer fighting in the 69 kg welterweight category. As an amateur, he won gold at the 2007 World Cadet Championships in Hungary and won gold for Wales at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Ankara. He was the first Welsh boxer to achieve the feat in 86 years.
Mervyn Bennett was a professional lightweight boxer from Wales. Born in Cardiff, Bennett was notable for becoming the Welsh lightweight champion in 1993. He successfully defended his title on one occasion before retiring from the sport in 1996.
Phineas Gladney John (1910–1985) was a Welsh professional boxer who fought from 1927 and 1940. John ended his career as a featherweight, but in his early professional bouts, he fought as a flyweight before increasing to bantamweight. Soon after he turned professional John competed for area titles, taking the Welsh flyweight belt in 1928 and then the Welsh bantamweight in 1929. After 1929 John failed to pursue any further titles, but continued fighting across the United Kingdom, ending his career with at least 242 professional fights.
George Sutton, Sr was a Welsh boxer who held the Welsh flyweight title on two occasions. His brother, Jackie Sutton, also held a Wales boxing belt and his son, George Jr, contested the British Bantamweight title. Sutton later on in life married his wife Margaret Sutton who then had his children Gary Sutton, George Sutton and his five daughters
Billy Waith was a Welsh welterweight boxer. He made an unsuccessful challenge for the British Welterweight title in 1978 against Henry Rhiney and became Wales Welterweight champion in 1982, holding it until his retirement from the sport in 1984.
Johnny Houlston (1917–1962) was a Welsh welterweight and middleweight boxer. Houlston was Wales welterweight champion from 1938 until he relinquished the belt with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Houlston decision to join the Merchant Navy in 1939 resulted in him engaging in no professional bouts until he left the service in 1946. On his return to professional boxing after the war, Houlston switched to middleweight and made one unsuccessful attempt at the Welsh title. His boxing career lasted from 1935 to 1949. He was predicted to be a World Middleweight Champion before the war.
Chris Jenkins is a Welsh professional boxer who held the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles between 2019 and July 2021.
Harry Stone, born Harry Seifstein and nicknamed Hop Harry Stone, was an American boxer who competed primarily in Australia. Stone's nickname of "Hop Harry" originated from a fight against Tommy Uren in which he employed a hopping motion that resembled the movement of a kangaroo. He would become known for using this technique in his subsequent fights, as a trademark and in a small part to entertain his audience. He had an effective left jab which became another signature trait.
David Griffiths was a British boxer. He competed in the men's light welterweight event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, reaching the third round. He turned professional after the Games and won the Welsh super light-welterweight title in January 1988 and defended the title the following year.