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Johnny Hill (14 December 1905 – 27 September 1929) was a Scottish
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
who was British
flyweight
Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb).
Professional boxing
The flyweight division was the last of b ...
champion from May 1927, European champion from March 1928, and World champion from August 1928, until his death at the age of 23. He was the first Scottish boxer to win a world title.
Career
Born on Brunswick Road in
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
in 1905, Johnny Hill was trained by his father and
Tancy Lee
James "Tancy" Lee (31 January 1882 – 5 February 1941) was a Scottish professional boxer who competed from 1906 to 1926. He held the IBU world, EBU European and the National Sporting Club’s British flyweight titles in 1915, becoming the first ...
at the Leith Victoria Club.
[Donald, Brian (2014)]
Johnny Hill, Scotland's first boxing world champion 1928
, BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, 16 October 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2015 As an amateur he won the Scottish flyweight and bantamweight titles, and in 1926 he won the
ABA flyweight title and was awarded the 'Best Boxer of the Championship' trophy.
He made his professional début in September 1926, stopping Bill Huntley in the fifth round at Premierland. He quickly built up a large following, which included the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
.
Unbeaten in his first 13 fights which included wins over
Nicolas Petit-Biquet and
Jim Hanna, he faced
Alf Barber at the
National Sporting Club
The National Sporting Club was a club founded in London in 1891, which did more to establish the sport of boxing in Great Britain than any other organisation.
Origins
The club was founded on 5 March 1891 as a private club. Its premises were at ...
in May 1927 for the British flyweight title vacated by
Elky Clark; Hill stopped Barber in the fourteenth round to become British champion.
He beat
Emile Pladner on points in a December 1927, despite being knocked down three times, and four months later faced Pladner again, this time with the European title at stake;
The result was the same and Hill added the European title to his British title.
In August 1928 he fought
Newsboy Brown
David Montrose (August 17, 1905 – February 18, 1977), better known as Newsboy Brown, was an American boxer who held the World Flyweight Title for eight months in 1928.
Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Brown as the #7 ranked flyweigh ...
in front of a crowd of 50,000 at
Clapton Stadium for the vacant World flyweight title (recognised by Great Britain and California State), taking a points decision to become the first Scottish boxer to hold a world title.
He was presented with a silver cigarette case by the people of his adopted home of
Strathmiglo in September in recognition of his achievement. He was also recognised as World champion by the
New York State Athletic Commission
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...
on 10 December.
Hill and Brown were due to meet again for the World title in October that year, but the fight was cancelled.
In February 1929 he faced Pladner again in a non-title fight, this time in Paris; Pladner knocked Hill out in the sixth round to inflict the only defeat of Hill's 23-fight career.
In March 1929 he successfully defended his British, European, and World titles against
Ernie Jarvis at the
Royal Albert Hall, taking a points decision. In June 1929 he defended against Jarvis again, this time winning after Jarvis was disqualified in the tenth round for a low blow that left Hill unable to continue.
He was due to face
Frankie Genaro
Frank "Frankie" Genaro (born DiGennaro, August 26, 1901 – December 27, 1966) was an American former Olympic gold medalist and a 1928 National Boxing Association (NBA) World flyweight Champion. He is credited with engaging in 130 bouts, record ...
in a world title fight on 11 October 1929 but fell ill with
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
on 23 September.
After two days rest his condition improved but he deteriorated on the night of Thursday 26 September and a burst blood vessel in his lung was diagnosed.
He died at 2:30 the following morning at his home in Strathmiglo,
Fife.
His last words were "Mother, I shall soon be with Jesus now." Genaro, who had arrived in Britain before hearing of Hill's death, attended the funeral in Strathmiglo on 1 October.
The funeral was also attended by several other well-known boxers and represented by 22
masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
lodges, including the St. Cyr no. 121,
Auchtermuchty
Auchtermuchty ( ; , 'upland of the pigs/boar') is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is beside Pitlour Hill and north of Glenrothes.
History
Until 1975 Auchtermuchty was a royal burgh, established under charter of King James V in 1517. There is ...
, of which Hill was a member.
References
External links
Career recordat boxinghistory.org.uk
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Johnny
1905 births
1929 deaths
Scottish male boxers
Flyweight boxers
Boxers from Edinburgh
Deaths from pneumonia in Scotland