Rewriting history and creating a new British Champion
Posted: 15 Oct 2017, 05:52
For some unknown reason Dennis Haugh of Tipperary seems to have become a British Light-Heavyweight Champion one hundred years after the event. On Boxrec his June 9 1913 contest with Sid Ellis at the National Sporting Club is shown as being for the British Light-Heavyweight Title. Haugh beat Ellis in under a minute and therefore 'won' this title.
His bout with Dick Smith on Mar 9 1914 is also listed as being for the British Light-Heavyweight Title and with Smith's victory Haugh's 9 month 'reign' comes to an end. This contest was for the vacant title.
This has found its way onto Wikipedia and there is a page on Haugh which states he was British Light-Heavyweight Champion.
He was not.
The 1913 bout against Ellis was a ten rounder. The report of the event, taken from Sporting Life actually states that "although the programme at the NSC last evening did not contain any contest of outstanding importance, it was certainly of a very varied and interesting character". The contest was one of two ten rounders that took place that evening and it was definitely not a title bout.
When Haugh fought Smith in 1914 the 'Boxing' editorial stated that "This trophy has been on the shelf for quite a while awaiting qualified contestants. Haugh and Smith satisfied the committee that they had sufficiently strong claims to dispute the issue". This bout was for the vacant British Light-Heavyweight Title.
Dennis Haugh seems to have recently become recognised as British Champion when he shouldn't have been. I don't know how this has come about but it needs correcting.
I have nothing at all against Haugh, he was a decent enough fighter one hundred years ago, but the references on BoxRec and Wikipedia to him being Champion need to be put right. Can this be sorted out by someone who knows how to do it?
Miles Templeton
His bout with Dick Smith on Mar 9 1914 is also listed as being for the British Light-Heavyweight Title and with Smith's victory Haugh's 9 month 'reign' comes to an end. This contest was for the vacant title.
This has found its way onto Wikipedia and there is a page on Haugh which states he was British Light-Heavyweight Champion.
He was not.
The 1913 bout against Ellis was a ten rounder. The report of the event, taken from Sporting Life actually states that "although the programme at the NSC last evening did not contain any contest of outstanding importance, it was certainly of a very varied and interesting character". The contest was one of two ten rounders that took place that evening and it was definitely not a title bout.
When Haugh fought Smith in 1914 the 'Boxing' editorial stated that "This trophy has been on the shelf for quite a while awaiting qualified contestants. Haugh and Smith satisfied the committee that they had sufficiently strong claims to dispute the issue". This bout was for the vacant British Light-Heavyweight Title.
Dennis Haugh seems to have recently become recognised as British Champion when he shouldn't have been. I don't know how this has come about but it needs correcting.
I have nothing at all against Haugh, he was a decent enough fighter one hundred years ago, but the references on BoxRec and Wikipedia to him being Champion need to be put right. Can this be sorted out by someone who knows how to do it?
Miles Templeton