Jimmy Carruthers
| Error creating thumbnail: Carruthers after defending World Bantamweight title against Gualt on 13 November 1953 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | James William Carruthers 5 July 1929 |
| Died | 15 August 1990 (aged 61) |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Weight | Bantamweight |
| Boxing career | |
| Reach | 67 in (170 cm) |
| Stance | Southpaw |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 25 |
| Wins | 21 |
| Win by KO | 13 |
| Losses | 4 |
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 Veterans category.
Amateur career
[edit | edit source]Carruthers's boxing career started as an Australian representative at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. In his first-round match of the bantamweight competition, he fought Fred Daigle of Canada and won on points. He defeated Arnoldo Parés of Argentina 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 of Hungary.[1]
Professional career
[edit | edit source]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.[2] Carruthers became Australia's first universally recognised boxing world champion when he knocked out the guy who had been crowned South Africa's first world champion himself, Vic Toweel, in the first round.[1] Great Australians of the past—including Young Griffo, Mick King, and Les Darcy—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, 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.[3]
He was matched for a world title bout against the New Zealand Bantamweight Champion Lyn Philp.[4] For unclear reasons the fight never went ahead.
After a non-title bout in Sydney, and a further title defence against Chamroen Songkitrat in Bangkok, Carruthers retired on 16 May 1954. Among the fighters he defeated were South African Vic Toweel (twice); Pappy Gault; 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
[edit | edit source]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. 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 and Parkinson's disease. He died on 15 August 1990.[3] In 1995 he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Professional boxing record
[edit | edit source]| 25 fights | 21 wins | 4 losses |
|---|---|---|
| By knockout | 13 | 1 |
| By decision | 8 | 2 |
| By disqualification | 0 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Loss | 21–4 | Error creating thumbnail: Jimmy Cassidy | DQ | 8 (10) | Jun 18, 1962 | Error creating thumbnail: Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand | |
| 24 | Win | 21–3 | Australia Johnny Jarrett | TKO | 2 (12) | Mar 29, 1962 | Australia Woodville, South Australia, Australia | |
| 23 | Win | 20–3 | Australia Louis Magnifico | KO | 2 (12) | Mar 9, 1962 | Australia Adelaide, South Australia, Australia | |
| 22 | Loss | 19–3 | United States Don Johnson | TKO | 5 (12) | Dec 15, 1961 | Australia Festival Hall, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | |
| 21 | Loss | 19–2 | Australia Wally Taylor | PTS | 12 | Nov 20, 1961 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 20 | Loss | 19–1 | Italy Aldo Pravisani | PTS | 12 | Sep 11, 1961 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Thailand Chamroen Songkitrat | PTS | 12 | May 2, 1954 | Thailand National Stadium Gymnasium, Bangkok, Thailand | Retained NBA, NYSAC, and The Ring bantamweight titles |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Australia Bobby Sinn | PTS | 12 | Mar 29, 1954 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | United States Pappy Gault | UD | 15 | Nov 13, 1953 | Australia Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | Retained NBA, NYSAC, and The Ring bantamweight titles |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Union of South Africa Vic Toweel | KO | 10 (15) | Mar 21, 1953 | Union of South Africa Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa | Retained NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Union of South Africa Vic Toweel | KO | 1 (15) | Nov 15, 1952 | Union of South Africa Rand Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa | Won NBA, NYSAC, Commonwealth British Empire, and The Ring bantamweight titles |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | United States Johnny O'Brien | PTS | 12 | May 12, 1952 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Australia Ray Coleman | PTS | 12 | Apr 7, 1952 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Australia Taffy Sammy Hancock | TKO | 7 (12) | Mar 13, 1952 | Australia Leichhardt Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Mexico Luis Castillo | PTS | 12 | Nov 26, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | United States Enrique Morales | TKO | 7 (12) | Aug 27, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Australia Elley Bennett | PTS | 15 | May 14, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | Won vacant Australian bantamweight title |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | United States Billy Herbert | TKO | 10 (12) | Apr 2, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | French protectorate of Tunisia Bobby Scrivano | KO | 1 (12) | Mar 5, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Australia Bluey Wilkins | PTS | 12 | Jan 22, 1951 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Australia Jim McFadden | TKO | 9 (12) | Dec 11, 1950 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Australia Keith Francis | TKO | 10 (12) | Nov 20, 1950 | Australia Sydney Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Australia Fred Kay | TKO | 12 (12) | Oct 19, 1950 | Australia Leichhardt Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Australia Ron Wilson | TKO | 5 (12) | Oct 13, 1950 | Australia West Melbourne Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Australia Ted Fitzgerald | TKO | 3 (12) | Aug 15, 1950 | Australia Leichhardt Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Titles in boxing
[edit | edit source]Major world titles
[edit | edit source]- NYSAC bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
- NBA (WBA) bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
The Ring magazine titles
[edit | edit source]- The Ring bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
Regional/International titles
[edit | edit source]- Australian bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
- Commonwealth bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
Undisputed titles
[edit | edit source]See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Jimmy Carruthers Archived 2015-10-01 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Boxing record for Jimmy Carruthers from BoxRec (registration required) Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 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
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- 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