James William Carruthers (5 July 1929 – 15 August 1990) was an Australian boxer, who became the Undisputed Bantamweight World Champion in 1952. Jimmy was the 2009 Inductee for the

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame The Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame which was founded in 2001 and began inducting boxers into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Since then annual induction dinners have been held across Australia. Inductees are nominated ...

Veterans category.

Amateur career

Carruthers's boxing career started as an Australian representative at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In his first-round match of the bantamweight competition, he fought Fred Daigle of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and won on points. He defeated

Arnoldo Parés Arnoldo Parés (born 1922) is an Argentine boxer who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics in the bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a ban ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in his second match. However, he had sustained an eye injury during his bout with Parés, and had to withdraw from the quarter-final match with the eventual gold medalist

Tibor Csík Tibor Csík 2 September, 1927- was a bantamweight professional boxer from Hungary, who won the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was born in Jászberény into a poor family. He began boxing in featherweight and later changed to b ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

.Jimmy Carruthers
. sports-reference.com

Professional career

Carruthers joined the professional ranks in 1950, and was an immediate success. By then, he was being managed by Dr. Jim McGirr, and trained by "Silent" Bill McConnell. He won the Australian Bantamweight title in 1951 and then the British Commonwealth and Bantamweight Championship of the world the following year. Carruthers became Australia's first universally recognised boxing world champion when he knocked out the guy who had been crowned

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's first world champion himself,

Vic Toweel Victor "Vic" Anthony Toweel (12 January 1928 – 15 August 2008) was a South African boxer and former Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion. He was the first South African to hold a world title. Personal Victor Anthony Toweel was born on 1 ...

, in the first round. Great Australians of the past—including Young Griffo, Mick King, and

Les Darcy James Leslie Darcy (28 October 189524 May 1917) was an Australian boxer. He was a middleweight, but held the Australian Heavyweight Championship title at the same time. Les Darcy was the 2003 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall ...

—had all won world titles, but they had not received international acceptance at the time of winning their respective crowns. After defending his newly won world bantamweight title by knocking out Toweel in the tenth round of their rematch at

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, and then against the American Henry "Pappy" Gault in Sydney, by a fifteen-rounds decision, it was found that Carruthers was carrying a 30-foot-long

tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass being Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Ce ...

. He was matched for a world title bout against the New Zealand Bantamweight Champion

Lyn Philp Lyn Philp (1924-1981) was a New Zealand professional boxer, and New Zealand's Bantamweight Champion from 1947 - 1954. *Ranked fourth best bantamweight New Zealand all-time greats. With his punching power, speed and elusive style, Philp soon be ...

. For unclear reasons the fight never went ahead. After a non-title bout in Sydney, and a further title defence against

Chamroen Songkitrat Chamroen Songkitrat (Thai: จำเริญ ทรงกิตรัตน์), born as Samroeng Srimadi, was a Thai boxer and policeman. Songkitrat was a champion Muay Thai fighter in Thailand with over 50 fights before becoming an orthodox box ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Carruthers retired on 16 May 1954. Among the fighters he defeated were South African Vic Toweel (twice);

Pappy Gault {{wiktionary Pappy is another name for father. Pappy is a nickname of: People * Pappy Boyington (1912–1988), American Flying Tiger and fighter ace in World War II * Fred Coe (1914–1979), American television producer and director * Pappy Daily ...

; Bobby Sinn and Chamroen Songkitrat. He made a brief comeback in Melbourne and Sydney in the early sixties in non-title fights, with his last fight in Wellington New Zealand in 1962 where he lost to Jimmy Cassidy.

Personal

He worked on the Sydney docks as a wharf labourer in the 1950s. Carruthers was married to Myra (née Hamilton) until his death and is survived by four children - Boyd, Ginna, Dimiette and Lukas. During the 1950s he owned the colourful Bells Hotel in Sydney's

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1.5 kilometres east of the central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low-lying, former dockla ...

. After that he had a number of businesses, including several vegetarian takeaway and juice bars in Sydney. In his last years Carruthers suffered from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. He died on 15 August 1990. In 1995 he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

* NYSAC

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

champion (118 lbs) * NBA (WBA) bantamweight champion (118 lbs)

''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' bantamweight champion (118 lbs)

Regional/International titles

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

bantamweight champion (118 lbs) * Commonwealth bantamweight champion (118 lbs)

Undisputed titles

* Undisputed bantamweight champion

References

External links

*
Jimmy Carruthers - CBZ Profile
* https://titlehistories.com/boxing/wba/wba-world-b.html * https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-b.html * https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_Bantamweight--1940s {{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Jimmy 1929 births 1990 deaths Bantamweight boxers Boxers from Sydney Olympic boxers for Australia Boxers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Commonwealth Boxing Council champions Australian male boxers Australian waterside workers Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen