Ex-captain lifted World Cups in both white-ball formats and won five Ashes series
Latest editorial
The Fight
JOHN WIGHT tells the story of boxer Cuthbert Taylor, who was deemed ‘not white enough’ to be British champion, and how a Welsh theatre group have chosen to keep his name alive
Theatr na nOg's The Fight
CUTHBERT TAYLOR was born in Merthyr Tydfil in 1909. A superb amateur boxer, he competed for Great Britain at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam in the flyweight division. Given that he was born with brown skin at this point in Britain’s social history, the boxing ring was the least of his worries.
Racism has long informed and plagued British culture in all aspects. To be black or brown was designated to be less than on these shores for generations. The country’s sordid legacy of slavery and empire made it so, yet young men such as Taylor refused to let the colour of their skin make them feel less than.
Regardless, the colour bar was a shameful part of the reality of professional boxing in his era, which both he and Manchester’s Len Johnson — previously featured in this column — found to their cost.
More from this author
JOHN WIGHT pays tribute to the late great George Foreman who defied the odds throughout his life and career to become a household name and legend of the sport
JOHN WIGHT writes about the fascinating folklore surrounding the place which has been home to some of the most ferocious bareknuckle and unlicensed fighters throughout history
JOHN WIGHT questions how legend of the sport Roberto Duran is lending credibility to the sportswashing circus that is Riyadh Season — and at what cost?
Following the untimely death of 28-year-old Irish boxer John Cooney, JOHN WIGHT explores how the sport can be made ‘safer’ than it is at present
