Syd Worgan

Syd Worgan (1917 – 9 July 1996) was a professional boxer from Wales. Born in Llanharan Worgan was notable for becoming the Welsh featherweight champion in 1944.

Syd Worgan
Statistics
Weight(s)featherweight
Nationality British
Born1917
Llanharan, Wales
Died9 July 1996 (aged 78–79)
Boxing record
Total fights51
Wins20
Wins by KO2
Losses21
Draws10
No contests0

Personal history

Worgan was born in Llanharan in 1917 and was one of six brothers. A coal miner by occupation, he worked at the local pit, Llanharan Colliery. In 1959 he and his wife Dilys became owners of the Bear Inn in Llantrisant and kept the establishment until his retirement in 1985.[1][2]

Boxing career

Although Worgan had no history of boxing in his family, he became interested in the sport when he was given a pair of boxing gloves by his only sister, Elizabeth.[3] He turned professional at the age of 18 and in his career is reported to have fought in approximately 150 bouts, though as of 2010, BoxRec has only 51 recorded contests.[4] He began training in the small Turberville room on Chapel Road just off Llanharan Square, before moving to the High Corner yard.[4] His trainers at this time were Billy Watkins and Bert Harris.[4]

On his way to his 1944 challenge for the Welsh featherweight title, Worgan met several of Britain's best fighters. He lost to two lightweight ex-champions, Len Beynon in 1939 and Cuthbert Taylor in 1940, but he also took wins over George Pook, a future South-West featherweight champion and Warren Kendall who would become Welsh lightweight champion in 1948. Worgan made headlines in 1941 when he faced the World number two Ritchie "Kid" Tanner of British Guyana, beating him on points.[1] In 1942 Worgan, now under the management of ex-fighter Billy "Kid" Hughes, faced his most notable adversary Nel Tarleton. Tarleton was the Commonwealth champion who in 1934 lost on points to Freddie Miller for the NBA title in 1934. The match was held at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March and was scheduled for eight rounds. The match went the distance with Worgan losing on a points decision. Despite being beaten Worgan later commented that 'Nel was one of the greatest in the game.'[4] Worgan faced Tarleton on another two occasions, losing both on points decisions, in Liverpool in 1942 and Nottingham in 1943.

On 11 November 1944, Worgan fought Tommy Davies from Nantyglo for the vacant Welsh featherweight title. The fifteen-round match was contested in Newport, south Wales with Worgan taking the bout on points. Worgan continued fighting until 1949 with irregular results. Boxing News wrote of him, "Worgan is worth while watching; he has the uncanny sense of timing. His punches and all his movements are harmonious without being theatrical".[4]

Notes
  1. Witts (1988) p. 219
  2. Llantrisant:Public houses Llantrisant.net
  3. Lee (2009) p. 245
  4. Witts (1988) p. 218

Bibliography
  • Lee, Tony (2009). All in My Corner: A tribute to some forgotten Welsh boxing heroes. Ammanford: TL Associates. ISBN 978-0-9564456-0-5.
  • Witts, T.J. (1988). The Forgotten Years, volume 2: a history of Llanharan & district. Llanharan: Diary Publishing. ISBN 1-871691-00-1.
gollark: Did you know? Certain apioforms have been found to flee your presence.
gollark: You could try laser eye removal.
gollark: GTech™ bee neuron data.
gollark: I realized that there were no good archive formats and all was bee some time ago.
gollark: My backup thing is vaguely accursed. I have some tar-based incremental backups which I stopped using after deciding tar was bad, some sqlars for some reason, rsynced and utterly uncompressed directories of big stuff, and live replication of important data to other devices.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.