Llew Edwards

Early life and boxing career Born in Llynclys, Shropshire, England, in 1884, he was raised on a Shropshire farm in England's West Midlands. Edwards' boxing career did not begin until he moved Southeast to South Wales in the Rhondda Valley where he began his professional boxing career around 1913 at the age of twenty-seven in his new hometown of Porth, Wales. One of his earliest opponents was Billy Phillips, an average Welsh bantamweight who fell to Edwards in April and January 1913 in Porth and Tonypandy in two eight round points decisions.

Featherweight Jim DriscollBritain's 1910 featherweight champion Jim Driscoll, a fellow Welsh boxer from nearby Cardiff, acted as a mentor to Edwards in his career. Driscoll fought many of the same boxers, particularly Owen Moran for the British Empire featherweight title. Driscoll was twelve years older and able to share his boxing experience with his friend and fellow Welshman Edwards. His stellar boxing career was over in 1913, just as Edwards's was beginning his career and already showing remarkable potential.

The Welsh boxer, as a rising star, began a winning streak on 22 September 1913 that continued nearly uninterrupted until 13 May 1915, when he next met Owen Moran for the title. Having married earlier in June, Edwards sailed for Australia in July, where he had eleven fights arranged with guaranteed earnings of £2,500.

Vacating the British title to box in Australia, 1915-1916 Edwards took criticism from his countrymen for leaving Great Britain in 1915 and choosing to continue his boxing career rather than return to Britain and volunteer for military service during WWI. His British and British Empire featherweight title was vacated in 1916, with Edwards out of the country and no longer defending it in his homeland.

Edwards then spent the majority of his boxing career in Australia, fighting for a while in the Philippines and then in the United States. He did not return to the United Kingdom to fight until nearing the end of his professional career in 1920. His decision to avoid military service cost him in popularity and denied him a shot at the world feather or lightweight titles during the war years when he was at the peak of his career.

On 24 April 1916, he knocked out Frank Thorn in the third round before a large house at Australia's Brisbane Stadium. Edwards landed a right hand punch to the chin that knocked out Thorn.

British featherweight title defenses against Jimmy Hill, Sydney Stadium Edwards successfully defended his featherweight British Empire title against former Australian champion and native Jimmy Hill, in a 13th-round TKO on 18 December 1915, at Sydney Stadium, when Hill's corner threw in the towel after their fighter was knocked down for the eighth time during the bout. He soundly defeated Hill again in a fifth-round knockout at Sydney Stadium on 15 July 1916, and again in a sixth-round knockout on 27 November 1918 in Sydney.

George Taylor fell to Edwards on 1 January 1916 in a seventh-round knockout at Australia's Brisbane Stadium. Edwards' display was considered by one reporter, "the most vigorous lightweight fighting ever seen in Brisbane".

On 13 May 1916, Bert Spargo, of Victoria, whom Edwards had lost to in April, fell to Edwards in a fourteenth-round knockout at Melbourne Stadium. Edwards's rise to the Australian lightweight championship looked imminent.

Taking the Australian lightweight title, Herb McCoy, 1916 He first met Australian lightweight champion Herb McCoy in a non-title 20 round win on points on 27 May 1916 in Sydney Stadium.

Edwards fought for the Australian lightweight title against McCoy on 1 July 1916, but the bout resulted in a draw. The two met again on 11 November at West Melbourne Stadium with Edwards winning in a twenty-round points decision, and taking the lightweight title.

He successfully defended the Australian lightweight title for the last time against McCoy on 10 February 1917 in an eighteenth-round knockout at Sydney Stadium, and after relinquishing the title, regained it on 12 January 1920 with a second-round knockout of Frank Brogan in Sydney's Hippodrome.

Brief return to Britain to box Returning briefly to Britain on 28 May 1920, Edwards faced Johnny Regan at Carbrook, Yorkshire, reversing his loss against Mitchell and winning in the third of twenty rounds. Regrettably for his fans, who had dwindled in his absence during the war, it would be his last British bout. Returning to America on 3 September 1920, Edwards won a ten-round newspaper decision against Johnny Noye at Minneapolis's Nicolete Park. Edwards won with only a slight lead over Noye, a boxer he would have beaten convincingly five years earlier.

Edwards faced Jack Lawler on 30 July 1920, in Milwaukee, winning in a ten-round newspaper decision. In the pre-flight publicity, Edwards was praised for his determination, and for being "of the sort who keeps tearing in. Despite the fact that he was dropped several times by Ritchie Mitchell in their previous bout, Llew arose each time and with a bull-like rush started after the Milwaukee blonde(Mitchell). He is a game ringster." Lawler was described as a mauler, but he showed little of it against Edwards. The bout was described as a slow and uninteresting affair, but after a string of recent fights, both boxers may have been feeling each other out and wary of the other's skills. Lawler was said to stall until the ninth and tenth rounds. In a close bout, Edwards was given the third, fourth, and seventh, with Lawler the fifth and ninth with the rest even. Edwards took the lead throughout the bout, and though he had many of his punches blocked, he landed enough to take the bout.

Edwards remained boxing in the United States through late 1920, when he lost to Clonie Tait at Nicolete Park on 12 November 1920 in a second-round TKO. He was down eleven times before his manager threw in the towel. It appeared clear the Welsh boxer was outclassed, tiring, and facing a painful decline in his boxing career by the end of his American tour.

Final loss of the Australian lightweight title to Harry Stone, 1921

Edwards mounted a last defense of the Australian lightweight title before an impressive crowd of 9000 on 23 April 1921 in a twenty-round bout in Melbourne, Australia, against frequent but dangerous rival New York Jewish boxer Harry Stone. Stone had boxed Edwards twice in 1917 in Melbourne and Brisbane with mixed results. Edwards was confused by Stone's ability to quickly retreat in his hopping style after he attacked

Their April 1921 title fight was described as an outstanding show of scientific boxing with both boxers well matched. In fact, both boxers were extremely close in height, reach, and age. Edwards may have suffered from recent travel. Recovering from earlier losses, Edwards seemed to look tired and a bit haggard during the bout, and suffered from a cut over his eye received in the fifth, though he fought with vitality and strength. He had the disadvantage of protecting his eye, which reduced his ability to take the offensive, particularly against Stone's signature left. Stone gained the advantage and was said to have his "hands, feet, and shoulders all working, while the manner in which he bore into his opponent was both interesting and effective". In the seventh, Edwards punished Stones's body against the ropes early in the bout and did better in the infighting, but Stone threw more punches. As late as the eleventh and thirteenth, Edwards landed a few telling blows, but Stone remained in calculated command, and landed more punches. Edwards needed stitches to lacerations in both eyelids later in his dressing room, but his right seemed to have taken the most punishment. The boxers split around 350 English pounds for their efforts.

Edwards dreamed of, but never achieved a shot at the lightweight world title, held at the time by American Benny Leonard, who had wrenched it from fellow Welshman Freddy Welsh. Edwards's slowly fading career, beginning with his vacating the British Empire title, and accelerated by two losses in America, made it evident a shot at the title was unrealistic by 1920. His painful loss to Harry Stone for the Australian title in 1921 removed chances of a world lightweight title shot. Lacking the British title during the war years, when he was in his prime, may have most clearly denied him a shot at the world featherweight title.

On 18 February 1922, Edwards lost to Stone again in a twenty-round points decision at Sydney Stadium. It would be Edwards's last bout, though it was against one of his best opponents.

He died at 71 in Australia in 1965. After his death, he was inducted into the Welsh boxer's Hall of Fame.