Career
Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff for the National Basketball Association Lightweight title, but lost the contest in the ninth round. James" first recorded professional fight was on 21 January 1936 against local fighter Sid Williams.
James then went on an unbeaten run of 52 contests before being stopped by Dave Crowley at the Empire Pool on 12 January 1936.
After the Crowley contest, James began to face more challenging contests on a regular basis. James fought and lost against Spaniard Baltasar Sangchili, but then knocked out fellow Welshman Phineas John in the eighth round in October 1936.
These bouts were followed with another points draw with Corbett. The end of 1936 through to 1937 saw James face a dearth of experienced challengers, before he met Cuthbert Taylor at Street Helen"s in Swansea.
The Kestrell fight was followed by a loss to Liverpool fighter Tony Butcher, who came off a twelve-match losing streak to stop James by a technical knockout in the sixth of a twelve-round bout in the Market Hall of Haverfordwest.
He then took in ten winning bouts, most notably over Tommy Hyams and Dick Corbett, before two losses, to Dave Finn and another loss to Crowley. After losing to Crowley in April 1939, James didn"t lose a fight until May 1942, including wins over both Finn and Crowley. By 1943 James was heading towards a British title fight, which had evaded him before this date.
Although losing three bouts on a run on the build-up to his championship claim, one to Lefty Satan Flynn and two to Arthur Danahar, he was still allowed a shot at the title against Eric Boon.
The Boon contest was for the British Lightweight title and took place on 12 August 1944 at the Cardiff Arms Park in the Welsh capital. James took the title after a tenth-round knockout.
James was knocked out in the ninth round after suffering six knockdowns during the bout. James retired from boxing in 1947 after being beaten by a 19-year-old Cliff Curvis at the Vetch Field in Swansea.
James had failed to make the 9 st 9 lb weight limit for the challenge against Curvis, for which he was stripped of his British title, and subsequently retired from boxing.
