Although selected for the featherweight division at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics, Fred Adams never won an ABA title either before or after his Olympic appearance. The nearest he came was in 1929 when he was the beaten finalist (featherweight) when he lost Freddie Meacham, who went on to win the 1930 British Empire Games gold medal. Adams’ best performance in the ring, however, was probably in the quarter-final of the 1920 ABA Championship, when he had four-times winner W. W. Allen in trouble, before losing a gruelling contest in the third round. It took so much out of Allen that he was easily beaten in his semi-final.