The Cumbrian Giant Tom Cowler

With so few great Cumbrian sportsmen it was a surprise to find out that there was a former boxer from a town near my own. Tom Cowler, wo lived in Whitehaven in Cumbria was known as the Cumbrian Giant as he fought some of the best fighters in the world between 1910-1924. Born in 1892 in Hensingham in Whitehaven Cowler was a huge man of the times reportedly weighing anywhere up to 221lbs in his fighting days he was often considered as a world title contender, though never quite managed to challenge for the title in a career that saw him fighting almost 100 times as a professional. Though little is known about his life outside of boxing, in fact very few in the town have even heard of "Concrete Crus" despite his escapades in the great sport of boxing.

Though little of the early part of his career isn't that well known what's often accepted is that he started his career in 1910 as an 18 year old fighting in his home town. In fact local papers report he knocked out his opponent with pretty much the first punch of the fight. He would win his first 4 fights by stoppages before drawing his fifth then suffering his first loss, feeling he was hit low the referee saw no grounds to disqualify the opponent so counted Cowler out for his first loss just over a year since his debut. The man who beat him was Frank Moran who is better know for losing a title fight to Jess Willard in 1916.

After stringing together a few more wins he'd then fight "Battling" Jim Johnson, who despite only being 8-4-1 as a professional boxer was only 21 months from fighting for the world heavyweight title (against Jack Johnson). Johnson would out point Cowler giving the Cumbrian just his second loss in 17 fights, bizarrely both against future title contenders. In fact this would continue with his third loss coming to Bandsman Dick Rice a fighter who would face Georges Carpentier for the IBU and European Light Heavyweight titles 10 months after beating Cowler.

After losing to Rice Cowler went on a run of KO's as he stopped 14 of his next 16 contests early (as well as having a DQ win and a no contest in the other 2 bouts). Cowler was being noted as a hard hitter by some though he wasn't beating people of note (other than Denver Ed Martin) he was bowling over fighters over in the UK, Canada and Australia as he tried to prove himself on the world level. For those unsure on who Denver Ed Martin is he was a fighter who fought some of the greats of the day including Jack Johnson (pre-Johnson's title reign), Sam McVea, Ed Gunboat Smith and Harry Wills. In fact Cowler would be the last fight for Martin for over 7 years. One of the KO victories during this run was against William Jones a fighter who was then seen as the Canadian Heavyweight Champion, this would be Cowlers only title victory (in fact his only title fight).

Cowler would then travel to America and lose his debut there against Gunboat Smith in the first of their three meetings, on points in fact after he started fighting in America he often loss against their better fighters such as Battling Levinsky (who would twice beat the Cumbrian fighter). Though he would go 1-2 against Smith he was still a contender level fighter the losses would start to pile up as fighters like Kid Norfolk twice beat him, Frank Moran would beat him again and Fred Fulton and Billy Miske would both stop him. Though he would score the occasional big win he just seemed to fall short too often against the better quality of fighters, a victory over Joe Jeanette did little to help him get a title fight that he perhaps had been deserving of at one point.

After several years fighting in the states he would try out mainland Europe and come back to Britain though few of the fighters he fought were note worthy one fight that was noted was a fight in Teatro Adriano, Milan in 1923 in which Mussolini was in attendance. Erminio Spalla would win that one in what would be Cowlers last fight in Europe before he once again tried his luck in the US. This time wouldn't see Cowler have much better luck than last time as he lost his first 3 fights by KO and only scored one note worth victory, a DQ over George Godfrey who was far from the experienced fighter he would become later in the decade.

Cowler would retire with a record of 61-30-3 with 46KO's in 1925 before moving back home, though little of his life post boxing is know what is known is that he died in 1951 aged 58 in Broadmoor.

What has been reported is that he served the better part of a year in prison in America for attacking an officer, though it looks like he only served a portion of that sentence from his boxing record. As a fighter he was best known for his beating of Iron William Hague though as a Cumbrian he seems a forgotten man, one of Britain's best early heavyweights is a forgotten fighter.