Elky Clark (4 January 1898 – 22 September 1956) was a Scottish

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1921 to 1927. He held the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and inaugural

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

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 bo ...

titles from 1924 to 1926, the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

European flyweight title from 1925 to 1926 and previously, the Scottish Area

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

title from 1923 to 1924.

Career

Born in Bridgeton,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Clark made his professional debut in November 1921, losing to Alec Boyes. In May 1923, he unsuccessfully challenged for the Scottish flyweight title against

Willie Woods William J. Woods (January 26, 1898 – May 20, 1927) was an American baseball outfielder in the Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Lati ...

(later a Canada flyweight title challenger). He won the title in November that year, Harry McConnell retiring in the thirteenth round. He later also won the Scottish bantamweight title. In March 1924 he faced Kid Kelly for the British flyweight title that became vacant when

Jimmy Wilde William James Wilde (15 May 1892 – 10 March 1969) was a Welsh professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1923. He held the IBU world flyweight title in 1916, the EBU European flyweight title twice; firstly in 1914 and again from 1916 to 19 ...

retired; He stopped Kelly in the twentieth and final round to become British champion. In September that year he beat Jim Hanna to take the British Empire title. In November 1924 he unsuccessfully challenged for Michel Montreuil's European title, but two months later beat the Belgian to become champion of Europe. Over the next two years he made four successful defences of the European title, against Young Johnny Brown, Antoine Merlo, Kid Socks (with the British and Empire titles also at stake), and Montreuil. In January 1927 he challenged for '' The Ring'' world flyweight title against

Fidel LaBarba Fidel LaBarba (September 29, 1905 – October 2, 1981) was an American boxing, boxer and sportswriter. He was born in New York City and grew up in Los Angeles, California. LaBarba began his amateur career at fourteen, eventually winning the fl ...

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

, losing a unanimous decision. Clark received lengthy hospital treatment for an eye injury sustained in the LaBarba fight, and having failed to defend in time was stripped of the British title on 7 April. After being pronounced fit to resume fighting at the end of October, he was due to challenge

Johnny Hill Johnny Hill (14 December 1905 – 27 September 1929) was a Scottish boxer who was British flyweight 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 fir ...

, who had won the British title while Clark was indisposed, but after his eye problems returned after sparring, he announced his retirement in November 1927. Clark was a

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

er by trade, and also played a

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

for a living. In the late 1930s and 1940s he was boxing correspondent for the '' Daily Record''.

References

External links

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Image - Elky ClarkImage - Elky Clark
1898 births 1956 deaths Bantamweight boxers Flyweight boxers People from Bridgeton, Glasgow Place of death unknown Scottish male boxers Boxers from Glasgow {{Scotland-boxing-bio-stub