SEVENTY-FIVE years ago this summer, Freddie Mills wrested the light-heavyweight championship of the world from Gus Lesnevich at London’s White City stadium. In that predominantly one-champion era – what a daft idea that was – it marked the first world title success for a British fighter at 175lbs since Bob Fitzsimmons close to half a century earlier. For the then-sedate but now totally unbuttoned seaside town of Bournemouth, it marks its only success on boxing’s biggest stage before or since.
If one boxer is synonymous with the south coast town, it’s Freddie Mills. His name is now more typically remembered with the prefix ‘Fearless’, but the once entered the ring with the sobriquet of the ‘Bournemouth Bombshell’ – a tribute not only to his hometown, where he famously started out as a milkman’s assistant and fought in longextinct venues like the Westover Ice Rink, but also a nod to his wartime service.
Yet, over the years Mills’ boxing career has gradually faded to the periphery as
