{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox boxer | name = Tom Gummer | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | realname = Thomas Gummer | nickname = | weight = Heavyweight, middleweight | height = | reach = | nationality = British | birth_date = 1894 | birth_place = Rotherham, England | death_date = 1982 (aged 87−88) | death_place = Rotherham, England | style = | total =24 | wins =16 | KO =13 | losses =7 | draws =1 | no contests = | medaltemplates = | show-medals = }} '''Thomas Gummer''' (1894–1982) was a British middleweight and heavyweight boxer who won the British middleweight title in 1920 and went on to fight for the European title.
==Career== Born in Rotherham in 1894,<ref name="Ancestry">"[http://records.ancestry.com/thomas_gummer_records.ashx?pid=7126377 Thomas Gummer (1894 - 1982)]", ancestry.com. Retrieved 29 November 2014</ref> Tom Gummer served as a Private (and later Corporal and Sergeant) in the York and Lancaster Regiment of the British Army,<ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Gummer's Decisive Win |work=Sheffield Evening Telegraph |date=4 April 1916 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000276/19160404/078/0005| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and had his first professional fight in 1914. He won all of his fights (at least eleven) that year, and his first two of 1915, including a victory over former British heavyweight champion "Iron" Hague by knockout with three seconds of the final round remaining.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sensational Victory: Gummer Knocks Out Hague in the Last Round |work=Evening Despatch |date=5 July 1915 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000671/19150705/115/0006| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title="Iron" Hague v. Tom Gummer |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=5 July 1915 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19150705/028/0003| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A planned fight in July 1914 against David Cohen (aka Dick Simmonds) resulted in a court case after Cohen took payment for the fight but then disappeared after seeing Gummer and becoming "nervous and frightened".<ref>{{cite news |title=Nervous Boxer: Sheffield Contest That Did Not Come Off |work=Sheffield Evening Telegraph |date=17 July 1914 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000276/19140717/163/0006| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Gummer suffered his first defeat to Gus Platts in August 1915, at which time Gummer was a heavyweight and Platts a welterweight and over 2 stones lighter, and his second to Harry Curzon in November.<ref>{{cite news |title=Boxing at Sheffield: Platts Beats Gummer in a Remarkable Contest |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=30 August 1915 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000033/19150830/074/0003| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1919 he faced both Platts and Curzon again, and won both fights.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Gummer v Gus Platts |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=28 July 1919 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19190728/263/0016| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
He got his first British title shot in March 1920 against Jim Sullivan after reigning champion Pat O'Keeffe retired from boxing; Gummer won after Sullivan retired in the 14th round.<ref>{{cite news |title=Middle-weight Championship: Tom Gummer Beats Jim Sullivan in 14th Round |work=Lancashire Evening Post |date=30 March 1920 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000711/19200330/052/0003| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He followed this with a win over Bandsman Jack Blake and a draw with Herbert Crossley before fighting Ercole Balzac for the European middleweight title in Paris in December 1920; Gummer was knocked out in the ninth round.<ref>{{cite news |title=Balzac Wins Middle-Weight Championship |work=Western Daily Press |date=18 December 1920 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000264/19201218/110/0008| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
He had a second shot at the European title in March 1921 against Gus Platts, a fight in which Gummer was also defending his British title; Gummer retired in the sixth round, losing his title.<ref>{{cite news |title=The World of Sport |work=Gloucester Citizen |date=29 March 1921 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000325/19210329/049/0005| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Gummer's final fight was against Ted Kid Lewis in February 1922 at The Dome in Brighton; Intended as a fight for Lewis's British middleweight title, it was fought as a non-title catchweight bout after Gummer failed to make the weight; Lewis knocked Gummer out in the first round.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gummer Knocked Out: Kid Lewis Wins in One Round |work=Dundee Courier |date=18 February 1922 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000164/19220218/121/0006| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
After retiring from boxing, Gummer played football for Rotherham Eastwood in the 1920s and worked as a boxing referee between the late 1920s and the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |title=Contests at Bridlington: Win for Young Squires by Narrow Margin |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=9 December 1929 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000324/19291209/038/0005| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sports Items |work=Derby Daily Telegraph |date=8 November 1922 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000327/19221108/013/0002| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Eliminator Referee: Appointment for Derby Contest: Mr. Tom Gummer of Rotherham |work=Derby Daily Telegraph |date=25 November 1938 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000521/19381125/072/0013| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Referees for Nottm. Boxing Bouts |work=Nottingham Evening Post |date=13 February 1943 |accessdate=29 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19430213/040/0004| via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Tom Gummer married Myra McMahon and they had four children together.<ref name="Ancestry" /> He died in Rotherham in 1982.<ref name="Ancestry" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.boxinghistory.org.uk/records/32781-Tom-Gummer-Rotherham.pdf Tom Gummer's boxing record], boxinghistory.org *{{BoxRec|id=51671|name=Tom Gummer}} {{British boxing}} {{boxing}} {{boxing History}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gummer, Tom}} Category:1894 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Military personnel from South Yorkshire Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:York and Lancaster Regiment soldiers Category:Heavyweight boxers Category:Middleweight boxers Category:Sportspeople from Rotherham Category:English male boxers Category:20th-century English sportsmen