Plaque erected in memory of boxer

A PLAQUE will be put up in memory of a former professional boxer who spent more than three years as a prisoner of war and trained a generation of amateur locals in the sport.

The family of Tommy Griffiths, who died in 2015, have said they were delighted to hear a woman who has recently moved into his old home in Trealaw, Rhondda Cynon Taf, was so moved by his story she offered to help put a plaque on the house.

Tommy’s two children, Eira Weeks and Bryn Griffiths, said Claire Bajwa, who is from Devon, contacted them recently.

It means a plaque will soon be placed on the outside of the house on Miskin Road, and Bryn said: “She heard his story and thought ‘we need to do something here to remember his life and for everything he did for Rhondda and boxing’.

“It’s very nice of her to do something like that - I was over the moon, particularly considering that she has never met him. So many of the neighbours spoke so highly of my father and this is a lovely way for him to be remembered.”

Tommy Griffiths passed away at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in January, 2015 aged 95 after spending the last two months of his life in a care home.

Tommy, who also went on to be an amateur boxing trainer, left behind his two children Bryn and Eira, four grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Born in August 1919, Tommy, who worked as a scaffolder, started boxing in 1941, but his fighting career was interrupted by the Second World War, when he was shipped off the fight in Burma before being taken prisoner in North Africa, and interned in Czechoslovakia and Italy.

After the end of the war, Tommy resumed his lightweight boxing career again, competing in 20 professional fights in locations from Trealaw to London to Belfast.

His biggest career moment came in 1947, when he fought Jackie Turpin, the brother of boxing legend Randolph Turpin. The fight, his career 15th, was in Bedford, and Tommy lost after a technical knockout (TKO)- one of just four career defeats.

After finishing his career, Tommy trained a host of amateur boxers in the 1970s at Rhondda Amateur Boxing Club, which was based in the old library in Penygraig.

One of those boxers was his son, Bryn, who went on to fight legendary Welsh bantamweight Johnny Owen three times as an amateur.

Tommy was married to wife Margaret, who died in 2004.

Bryn, 64, of Penygraig, said: “Everyone knew my father - he was a character and had a great sense of humour.”

“Everybody liked him and he was very friendly with a fantastic sense of humour. Around here, he was probably best known for his boxing.

“When he was younger, every pub in the Rhondda had a boxing gym. You were either a boxer, a singer or a coal miner – and dad was a boxer. His record is quite impressive.

“Then after finishing his career, he was a brilliant trainer. Good with the kids and always being complimented by parents thanking him for getting their children into boxing, his gym was open every single night. He took lots of them off the streets and made sure they were busy and so weren’t involved in drugs or anything bad like that.”

He has left quite the boxing legacy in the Rhondda, too.

Bryn said: “They are carrying on in my father’s honour with what he started - we will never forget him.

“As well as being a good boxer, my dad was a very clever man and always instilled education in us. When he was a prisoner of war, he learned how to speak a few languages including Italian.”

But he was also a proud man, who got his head down and did not like to “make a fuss”.

Bryn explained: “He liked to get on with his work and was a quiet man. It would be nice if he knew the family were erecting a plaque for him.”