Thomas McCormick (8 August 1890 – 6 July 1916) was an Irish

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 ...

. Competing from 1911 to 1915, 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

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

titles in 1914.

Boxing career highlights

On 9 January 1914 McCormick took the British Commonwealth and British Welterweight Title from Johnny Summers in twenty rounds in Sydney, Australia. He lost the title on 21 March 1914 to South London born Jewish boxer Mat Wells in twenty rounds, again in Sydney, Australia. Wells had been a British Lightweight champion and an Olympic Boxing contender who made it to the semi-finals in London in the summer of 1916. On 24 January 1914 he took the World Welterweight title from

Waldemar Holberg Waldemar Birger Holberg was a Danish boxer. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 29, 1883, he won the World Welterweight Championship on January 1, 1914, defeating Ray Bronson in Melbourne, Australia in a twenty round points decision. He was a fie ...

at Baker's Pavilion in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. On 10 May 1915 McCormick made another attempt at the British Welterweight title at the National Sporting Club, Covent Garden in London, but lost to title holder Johnny Basham in a hard fought thirteenth round TKO.

Death in World War I

McCormick was killed in action on 6 July 1916 while serving in the 12th battalion of the Manchester Regiment in France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. His grave is unknown and his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, Pier and Face 13 A and 14 C.

Professional boxing record

Notes

References

External links

*
Image - Tom McCormick

Major titles

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Tom 1890 births 1916 deaths Military personnel from County Louth British military personnel killed in World War I Sportspeople from Dundalk Welterweight boxers Irish male boxers British Army personnel of World War I Manchester Regiment soldiers Boxers from County Louth