The Great & Forgotten Tommy West and His Wars with the Barbados Demon

By the sixteenth Walcott looked desperate and he twice shoulder-charged West, who, by far the coolest man in the house, jabbed his man back into position even as the crowd rose as one to claim a foul. Walcott was swinging wildly now whilst West sent in lefts and rights to his unprotected head. In the seventeenth, the incredible realization of the pressure West had brought to bear against his all-time great opponent on just two hours notice seemed near, as West first forced him back, then dropped him to the canvas with a chopping right hand, laying him out “flat on his back” according to The Sun. “It looked like a knockout,” wrote The Daily Eagle, “but Walcott rose weakly and saved himself by staying close until the gong sounded.” The Call wrote that he was “saved by the bell.”


http://www.boxing.com/the_great_forgotten_tommy_west_and_his_wars_with_the_barbados_demon.html

 

The version I had was that it was cut to three due to injury, but perhaps the original injury was concealed.

Senya, have you ever read anything about West being Norwegian?

 

OK. There are some interesting rumours swirling around about that. Maybe nothing.

 

Yeah, still well into it, just been a bit busy recently.

 

Indeed, that's likley. It's also true that he described his ownself as hailing from Wales most of the time - but he occasionally claimed to be "from England" which is interesting for a Welshman. There's also an awful lot of circumstantial evidence linking him with a Norway and a suggestion that he learned to box in the metchant navy rather than the Navy. I think he probably was from Wales but i'm talking to a Norwegian who thinks there's a chance he was actually from Norway originally.


Cheers brownies.

 

Very possibly.