Len Wickwar (11 March 1911 – 1 June 1980) was a British
boxer who fought between 1928 and 1947, mostly as a
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing.
Boxing Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...
. He fought more verified professional fights than any other boxer in history at 473 with 4,020 rounds fought in his 19 year career.
Career
Born in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, Wickwar turned professional in 1928 at the age of 17 and made his debut on 23 October at
flyweight
Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight.
Professional boxing
The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...
, knocking out Jim Young Shepherdson in the fourth round at Leicester's Spinney Hill Club.
[Uncrowned King of the Ring]
, ''Leicester Mercury
The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...
'', 4 March 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2014[Bozeat, Matt (2018) "Record Breaker", ''Boxing News'', 18 January 2018] He had been discovered by manager George Biddles at a gym above the Friar Tuck public house on Woodgate.
Biddles also managed the
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
featherweight
Tish Marsden.
Starting his career fighting in small clubs, Wickwar would fight up to three times in one night.
In 1934 alone he had 58 fights.
In December 1937, Wickwar beat then British lightweight champion
Jimmy Walsh in a non-title fight at
Granby Halls. By 1938, Wickwar was an "official contender" for the British lightweight title then held by
Dave Crowley. Although he never got a shot at the title, one of his biggest fights was at
Welford Road Stadium in July 1939 in front of a crowd of 14,000, in a non-title fight against reigning British champion
Eric Boon, who had taken the lightweight title from Crowley eight months earlier;
Wickwar was knocked out by Boon in the ninth round.
His boxing career was put on hold during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
; He returned to boxing after the war but only fought four more times before retiring.
In his final fight he was knocked out in the fifth round by Danny Cunningham in a
welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
contest on 6 February 1947.
He fought a total of 470 professional fights, which is the highest amount by any boxer, including 340 victories.
After retiring from boxing, Wickwar lived in the
New Parks area of Leicester and worked for local company Bentley Engineering as a packer and labourer.
Wickwar and Marsden died on the same day in 1980.
Professional boxing record
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickwar, Len
1911 births
1980 deaths
Boxers from Leicester
English male boxers
Lightweight boxers
20th-century English sportsmen