Bill Ladbury (14 October 1891 – June 1917) was an English

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 1908 to 1917. He held the IBU world flyweight title from 1913 to 1914, as well as the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and European flyweight titles in 1913.

Career

Born in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...

, London, in 1891, Ladbury had his first professional fight in November 1908. In January 1910, he stopped

Charles Ledoux Charles Ledoux (27 October 1892 – 21 May 1967) was a French bantamweight boxer who was active from 1909 to 1926. While never capturing a world title, he squared off against the best opposition available to him both nationally and internation ...

in four rounds and in October 1911 he beat Albert Cocksedge to take the English 112lbs title. In November 1911 he fought Ledoux again, this time losing in four rounds, and was knocked out by

Johnny Hughes John "Johnny" Hughes (born 1950) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played as a left wing-back at senior level for the Galway county team. Born in Mountbellew, County Galway, Hughes served his Gaelic football apprenticeship with the lo ...

only 8 days later. In 1912 he had three fights against Joe Fox, winning two and losing the third. After a run of eight straight wins he faced Sid Smith in June 1913 for the British, European, and World ( IBU) flyweight titles. He stopped Smith in the eleventh round to take the three titles. He lost all three titles in January 1914 when he was outpointed over 20 rounds by Percy Jones.Prior, Neil (2014)
Percy Jones' 1914 title began century of Wales' boxing wins
,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 25 January 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2015 Ladbury drew with

Joe Symonds Hubert Toms (28 December 1894 – 4 March 1953), better known as Joe Symonds, Young Joe Symonds, or Young Symonds, was a British professional boxer who competed from 1910 to 1924. He held the IBU world and National Sporting Club’s British fly ...

in March 1914, and beat

Tommy Harrison Thomas Harrison (17 August 1892 – April→June 1931 (aged 38)) born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent was an English professional fly/ bantam/featherweight boxer of the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s who won the National Sporting Club (NSC) (subsequently kno ...

a month later, but in his third fight in eight weeks was stopped in the eighth round by

Tancy Lee James "Tancy" Lee (31 January 1882 – 5 February 1941) was a Scottish professional boxer who competed from 1906 to 1926. He held the IBU world, EBU European and the National Sporting Club’s British flyweight titles in 1915, becoming the first ...

at the end of April. With the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Ladbury joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, initially serving as a private in the

Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Queen' ...

, rising to Lance-Corporal by late 1916. He beat Hughes in December but lost all three of his fights in 1915 including another fight with Jones. His final fight was a win over Bert Clark in May 1917. Ladbury was killed in action in France in June 1917.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

Career record
at boxrec.com
Career record
at boxinghistory.org.uk , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ladbury, Bill 1891 births 1917 deaths English male boxers Flyweight boxers Boxers from the London Borough of Lewisham British military personnel killed in World War I British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from the London Borough of Lewisham Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment soldiers People from New Cross 20th-century English sportsmen