Anthony Stuart

In the nine years between 1929 and 1937, Anthony Stuart appeared in seven ABA heavyweight finals, winning four, in 1930, 1932, and 1936-37. Having first competed at the Championships in 1928, he reached the final the following year while serving as a signalman with the Royal Corps of Signals, but lost to Pat Floyd. Stuart beat Jim O’Driscoll to win his first title in 1930, and when he next won it in 1932, he was then serving as a London fireman and gained revenge over Floyd to capture the title. Defeats followed for Stuart in the 1933 and 1934 finals respectively to Con O’Grady and Floyd again, but when he won his third title in 1936, Stuart beat Floyd and prevented him from winning his third successive title. Stuart’s last final saw him overcome corporal Porter of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1937.

The same year that Stuart won his first ABA title (1930), he was also the inaugural British Empire Games heavyweight champion when he beat Canada’s William Skimming. In 1935, Stuart took part in the Golden Gloves match against the USA at New York’s Yankee Stadium. He beat Larry Green with a third-round knockout and in the return match at Wembley the following year, beat Jim Howell to give Great Britain an unassailable 6-4 lead. At the Olympics that year Stuart was eliminated by the eventual gold medallist, Germany’s Herbert Runge in the quarter-finals. Stuart continued boxing into his late 30s, and fought for the ABA against the Imperial Services at the Albert Hall in 1945, at the age of 37.