Fighting Irish Jim Driscoll, Cardiff Bay

Set in one of Jack Scarrott’s boxing booths, the Welsh Boxing legend, “Peerless” Jim Driscoll looks menacing in the boxing ring, as he sits in his corner, with an eager crowd around him.  

For Jim Driscoll, boxing was a chance to escape the poverty that he grew up in as a young child in Newtown.  He learned how to box by fighting in boxing booths like Jack Scarrott's.  He went all over Britain, taking part in matches at fairs and carnivals, fighting anyone who dared to get in a ring with him.

In 1901, Jim finally took the leap into professional boxing.  His record was one to be proud of.  He won both the British and Commonwealth Featherweight titles, as well as the oldest prize in British boxing, the famous Lonsdale belt.  

The biggest moment of Jim’s career came in 1910 when he got his chance to face the World Champion, Abe Attell in America.  According to the rules, Jim had to knock out Abe to win the title.  For ten rounds Jim was the better fighter, but he could not get the winning punch he needed to bring the belt home.  Jim was later offered a rematch, but he refused.  The kind-hearted boxer had promised to fight in a charity match in Cardiff to raise money for Nazareth House Orphanage.  He said, “I never break a promise”

When Jim Driscoll died in 1925 over 100,000 people stood on the streets of Cardiff for his funeral.  His statue now stands proudly outside the Radisson Hotel in Cardiff city centre.  Not only is he remembered as a true boxing legend, but also a man of the people, who never forgot where he came from.