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A Forgotten Champion
The skilful Dundee welterweight Tony Lawrence made his way from Scotland to London and seemed to be everywhere on the British wrestling scene in the 1950s. Our earliest sighting of Tony wrestling comes in June, 1946, when he lost to Harry Fields at the Caird Hall, Dundee.
1947 was a busy year, confined to Scotland Tony faced invading Englanders of the calibre of Sankey Allan, Harry Fields, Jack Austin and Cyril Knowles. Whilst often losing he was continuing to learn and improving all the time. In December 1947 he made it through to the final of an eight man tournament at the Caird Hall, Dundee, in a competition to crown a Scottish lightweight champion. Having defeated Alan Colbeck and Andy Anderson in the preliminary rounds in the final he lost to George Kidd.
With growing confidence Tony began travelling further afield. Championship success did come his way in October, 1950 when Tony won the Scottish welterweight title in Edinburgh. He defeated Alan Colbeck, at that time billed from Glasgow, in the eighth of fifteen rounds.
In November 1952, with Joint Promotions establishing their nationally recognised champions Tony defeated Alan Colbeck at Newcastle to gain recognition as British welterweight championship. A rivalry with John Foley resulted in three successful defences for the Scot against the Lancastrian until a unification of two versions of the British title resulted in a clash with Wigan’s Jack Dempsey. On 25th March, 1953 Dempsey defeated Tony Lawrence at the Victoria Baths in Nottingham to claim the title. Lawrence took the lead in round six with Dempsey coming back in rounds eight and ten to win the title. In a return contest in May Dempsey again came out winner.
The most prolific years for Tony began to dwindle for Tony from 1954 onwards. He was still a familiar figure in the ring, but increasingly so as a referee. He did continue in combat, but less so, into the early 1960s.
Page added 19/12/2023
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