A GWENT man has looked back 100 years to bring an insight into boxing from the early 1900s.

Brian Dobbs was born and grew up in Abercarn where he attended Newbridge Grammar School. He has written various books about sporting events and various other topics, and was formerly the art editor of World Sports.

South Wales Argus:

Black & White: The Birth of Modern Boxing. The cover shows more than 20,000 people crammed in a stadium in Australia for a match between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson on Boxing Day, 1908

His new book, Black & White: The Birth of Modern Boxing, details events that saw boxing take on a new status in the sporting world. Although Mr Dobbs had previously written a book on sports between 1890 and 1914, he had deliberately left boxing out as he felt the sport derseved a book of its own.

Mr Dobbs covers the contribution of the British, American, French and Australian nationals in bringing modern boxing into the spotlight.

“Like all authors, ultimately, I wrote the book because it was exactly the kind of account I wanted to read but which no-one had ever written," he said.

“I had no financial backing and had a mortgage and family to support, it took a lot of painful and patient research to which I could only give part of my time.”

South Wales Argus:

Tommy Burns striking an aggressive pose while Jack Johnson ignores him. Source: BoxRec

Mr Dobbs details multiple fights which had a significant impact on the boxing world, its rules and support, beginning with the Boxing Day 1908 fight in Sydney, which saw 20,000 people pack into the wooden stadium to watch a fight between Tommy Burns from Canada and Jac Johnson from USA. Mr Johnson won the fight, but the sight of a black man beating a white man stirred racial tensions, which were already coming to a boiling point at the time.

MORE NEWS:

As stated in the book, the racial tensions were heavily fuelled by the events leading up to the fight.

In an extract, Mr Dobbs writes: “The Melbourne Herald’s report on the day stated, 'Even at the Stadium, there was all the hatred of twenty thousand whites for all the negroes of the world’, and made a spurious claim for Australian tolerance by suggesting that had the event taken place in the United States, someone would have shot Johnson and been acquitted by popular acclaim.”

South Wales Argus:

Jack Broughton who is credited as being one of the first people to create rules for boxing. Source: Wikipedia

Mr Dobbs also details the beginnings of British boxing and how Jack Broughton was an early deviser of the rules in 1743. He also explains how charges brought against boxers due to injuries had an impact on the sport, and nd how British boxing began to evolve into what we see today – including the South Walean names who had a hand in this.

South Wales Argus:

British boxing was a staple at the NSC in London.

There is also detailed information on soldiers and boxing during the First World War and how the sport had a hand in ending the conflict.

Mr Dobbs’ book is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08685GXF7/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0