‘Fighting Men of London’ is the result of a project by Alex Daley, who realised that time was running out if anyone was going to record the career experiences and life stories of boxers from London whose professional careers spanned the 1940s and 50s. The book was published in 2014 by Pitch Publishing and contains interviews with the following:
– Sid Nathan (Aldgate)
– Ted Berry (Bethnal Green)
– Jock Taylor (Sidcup)
– Jack Streek (Sidcup)
– Albert Carroll (Bethnal Green)
– Teddy Lewis (Dagenham)
– Sammy McCarthy (Stepney)
Having been born in London I’ve got a strong interest in books that map out the city’s history in any form, but (obviously) particularly its boxing history. I love reading about London’s lost boxing venues and gyms, like Premierland, Mile End Arena, Jack Solomon’s club on Windmill Street and Klein’s Olympic Gym. I’m especially fond of reading about Manor Place Baths, as I have family from (and still in) Walworth in south London who attended the baths to watch school friends box.
There are so many fantastic stories from boxers who fought at a time when boxing was probably the most popular sport in Britain, and were true stars at a time when the public were desperate to throw themselves back into attending live events after the end of the second world war. The book also highlights how hard the sport must have been in this era due to the popularity of boxing, leading to large numbers of men participating at the amateur level alone, meaning the level of competition for even regional titles would have been very high.
I was also very pleased to find a mention of a boxer named Buck Shine, who boxed a fighter named Bill Lewis (real name William Lucioni), who was the grandfather of Teddy Lewis. I recently found out that my work colleague is the great-granddaughter of Buck Shine, and I will be writing (loosely) about Buck in the next issue of our new boxing zine The Spit Bucket.
Writers on Boxing 
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