James William Carruthers (5 July 1929 – 15 August 1990) was an Australian boxer, who became the Undisputed Bantamweight World Champion in 1952.
Jimmy was the 2009 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame Veterans category.
Amateur career Carruthers's boxing career started as an Australian representative at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. In his first-round match of the bantamweight competition, he fought Fred Daigle of Canada and won on points. He defeated Arnoldo Parés of Argentina in his second match. However, he had sustained an eye injury during his bout with Parés, and had to withdraw from the quarter-final match with the eventual gold medalist Tibor Csík of Hungary.Jimmy Carruthers . sports-reference.com
Professional career Carruthers joined the professional ranks in 1950, and was an immediate success. By then, he was being managed by Dr. Jim McGirr, and trained by "Silent" Bill McConnell.
He won the Australian Bantamweight title in 1951 and then the British Commonwealth and Bantamweight Championship of the world the following year. Carruthers became Australia's first universally recognised boxing world champion when he knocked out the guy who had been crowned South Africa's first world champion himself, Vic Toweel, in the first round. Great Australians of the past—including Young Griffo, Mick King, and Les Darcy—had all won world titles, but they had not received international acceptance at the time of winning their respective crowns. After defending his newly won world bantamweight title by knocking out Toweel in the tenth round of their rematch at Johannesburg, and then against the American Henry "Pappy" Gault in Sydney, by a fifteen-rounds decision, it was found that Carruthers was carrying a 30-foot-long tapeworm.
He was matched for a world title bout against the New Zealand Bantamweight Champion Lyn Philp. For unclear reasons the fight never went ahead.
After a non-title bout in Sydney, and a further title defence against Chamroen Songkitrat in Bangkok, Carruthers retired on 16 May 1954. Among the fighters he defeated were South African Vic Toweel (twice); Pappy Gault; Bobby Sinn and Chamroen Songkitrat. He made a brief comeback in Melbourne and Sydney in the early sixties in non-title fights, with his last fight in Wellington New Zealand in 1962 where he lost to Jimmy Cassidy.
Personal He worked on the Sydney docks as a wharf labourer in the 1950s.
Carruthers was married to Myra (née Hamilton) until his death and is survived by four children - Boyd, Ginna, Dimiette and Lukas. During the 1950s he owned the colourful Bells Hotel in Sydney's Woolloomooloo. After that he had a number of businesses, including several vegetarian takeaway and juice bars in Sydney.
In his last years Carruthers suffered from lung cancer and Parkinson's disease. He died on 15 August 1990. In 1995 he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRoundDateLocationNotes25Loss21–4 Jimmy CassidyDQ8 (10)Jun 18, 1962 24Win21–3 Johnny JarrettTKO2 (12)Mar 29, 1962 23Win20–3 Louis MagnificoKO2 (12)Mar 9, 1962 22Loss19–3 Don JohnsonTKO5 (12)Dec 15, 1961 21Loss19–2 Wally TaylorPTS12Nov 20, 1961 20Loss19–1 Aldo PravisaniPTS12Sep 11, 1961 19Win19–0 Chamroen SongkitratPTS12May 2, 1954 18Win18–0 Bobby SinnPTS12Mar 29, 1954 17Win17–0 Pappy GaultUD15Nov 13, 1953 16Win16–0 Vic ToweelKO10 (15)Mar 21, 1953 15Win15–0 Vic ToweelKO1 (15)Nov 15, 1952 14Win14–0 Johnny O'BrienPTS12May 12, 1952 13Win13–0 Ray ColemanPTS12Apr 7, 1952 12Win12–0 Taffy Sammy HancockTKO7 (12)Mar 13, 1952 11Win11–0 Luis CastilloPTS12Nov 26, 1951 10Win10–0 Enrique MoralesTKO7 (12)Aug 27, 1951 9Win9–0 Elley BennettPTS15May 14, 1951 8Win8–0 Billy HerbertTKO10 (12)Apr 2, 1951 7Win7–0 Bobby ScrivanoKO1 (12)Mar 5, 1951 6Win6–0 Bluey WilkinsPTS12Jan 22, 1951 5Win5–0 Jim McFaddenTKO9 (12)Dec 11, 1950 4Win4–0 Keith FrancisTKO10 (12)Nov 20, 1950 3Win3–0 Fred KayTKO12 (12)Oct 19, 1950 2Win2–0 Ron WilsonTKO5 (12)Oct 13, 1950 1Win1–0 Ted FitzgeraldTKO3 (12)Aug 15, 1950
Titles in boxing Major world titles NYSAC bantamweight champion (118 lbs) NBA (WBA) bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
The Ring magazine titles The Ring bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
Regional/International titles Australian bantamweight champion (118 lbs) Commonwealth bantamweight champion (118 lbs)
Undisputed titles Undisputed bantamweight champion
See also List of bantamweight boxing champions
References
External links
Jimmy Carruthers - CBZ Profile
https://titlehistories.com/boxing/wba/wba-world-b.html https://titlehistories.com/boxing/na/usa/ny/nysac-b.html boxrec.com