If ever there was a fighter truly gifted with a natural ability to box, it was Nipper Pat Daly. His story is utterly unique in the annals of boxing history; and while one of its long forgotten marvels he is also perhaps one of its forgotten tragedies.

His professional career began at the age of nine; by 16 he had fought and beaten some of the best fly, bantam and featherweights in Europe, including several champions, yet before reaching his eighteenth birthday he was finished.

Trained and managed by one of Britain's most famous boxing figures of the day, "Professor" Andrew Newton; at age 10 Pat was fighting at Letchworth on the same bill as one-time bantam world champion Joe Bowker. His opponent over three rounds was George Brown. The crowd were impressed by the display of clean, fast boxing the pair put up. So much so that the contest was extended by another two rounds. Daly a clear points winner come the final bell.

It soon became clear that "Nipper", as Pat's trainer dubbed him, would require better opposition if his boxing skills were to be truly tested and extended. And so he was matched with Johnny Summers of Leeds, winner of twelve contests on-the-trot. Pat comfortably beat Summers, while the latter's father demanded two return fights within the next 24 hours. Professor Newton readily agreed and he won them both without any trouble.

For the next three years Pat attended school in the daytime while training and building up a steady string of victories in the evenings and at weekends. By fourteen it was clear his future lay not in the classroom, but in the ring, and he left school to box fulltime.

Daly breezed his way through the cream of Britain's flyweights and by 1928, after defeating continental champions Giovanni Sili and Ludwig Minow, was considered a top contender for Johnny Hill's British crown.

One man in particular stood in the way of his title ambitions: the division's number one contender, Bert Kirby. Kirby had fought his way to the top of the flyweight tree and most critics believed he would soon be British champion (which he did become in March 1930).

A match with Kirby was made and immediately sparked an outcry from the press. Every paper considered it insane to pit boy of 15 against a man of Kirby's experience, however talented the youngster may be. But, seemingly unphased by the negative press, Daly boxed rings round the tough Birmingham fighter, coming out a decisive points winner.

Despite confounding the critics and defeating the number one contender he did not get the title shot he deserved. He was offered an overweight match with Johnny Hill, but Pat declined as he felt he had earned a championship fight. Not long after, any hopes of winning the title at 15 were dashed as the Board of Control introduced a rule restricting the age of championship competitors.

Pat fought 33 contests in 1929, winning all but three. It was a year that would see him rise to the peak of his career and at the same time as good as end it. At the start of the year he found himself struggling to make the flyweight limit, so a step up to the bantams and feathers was inevitable.

Victories over Belgian (and future European) champion Petit Biquet and leading bantam contender (and future British champ) Dick Corbett served to further his reputation as Britain's most outstanding boxing talent. Daly fought his way through the country's best bantam and featherweights with the same ease he had the flyweights.

He had just celebrated his sixteenth birthday when he was matched with Kid Pattenden, recently dethroned as British champion. The "Kid" had lost his title in a very closely fought contest to Teddy Baldock and so was keen to prove his worth for a return fight. Few gave Nipper a chance against the powerful Bethnal Green man, who had KO'd leading contenders five to ten years older than the Marylebone youngster.

The bout which followed, however, was described by those who saw it as one of the finest ever to take place on British soil. To quote the press of the time, Daly provided, "a feast of boxing in every round. It was a one-sided fight, yet a wonderfully spectacular one. Although he [Pattenden] fought as only he can, he was up against a master, and it was evident that he also realised this position." When the fight ended the Bethnal Green man was in the centre of the ring enthusiastically congratulating his opponent for having put up a display of boxing worthy of the very best.

News of Nipper Pat Daly's extraordinary talent had spread to America. He arrived at Newton's gym one morning to be greeted with an incredible proposition. "They want you in the United States to fight Battling Battalino for the featherweight championship of the world", Pat was told. "But they won't let me fight more than six rounds in America", was his confused reply. Already aware of this, Battalino's management had found a state that would sanction a six round world championship, and was willing to stage the contest. Pat was ecstatic; but his joy turned to dismay when he was told he would not be going. The Professor would not permit him to go to the United States and no amount of pleading would change his mind.

Although denied his world title shot, Pat did get a fight with Johnny Cuthbert, British featherweight champion. Although the title was not at stake, a win over Cuthbert would mean a match with French champion Gustav Humery. If successful over Humery he was promised a fight with the legendary Fidel LaBarba, to be arranged by the European based American, Jeff Dickson.

The stage was set for a battle of David and Goliath proportions. Could the "wonder boy" boxer topple one of Britain's finest ever featherweight champions? Once again certain sections of the press criticised the matching of a 16 year old with a seasoned champion of 25. But at the same time, Daly, who had already caused so many upsets, was given more than a fair chance of winning.

What the boxing public did not know was that Nipper, still a growing teenager, was having ever increasing difficulty making even the featherweight limit. For some time, through strict diet and an arduous training regime he had been fighting at what was probably a couple of stone lighter than his natural weight.

Pat would years later recall making the 9st 1Ib limit for the Cuthbert fight as, "one of the hardest jobs of my life. I wore five sweaters and a sheepskin jacket to get the weight off. I would take off a couple of pounds, go home to lunch, drink half a cup of tea and a piece of dry toast and then come back to the gym several ounces worse off than when I started!"

On the morning of the fight he was still overweight. A couple of hours hard training and the extra had still not shifted. A trip to the local Turkish baths finally got him down to 9st 1Ib. "I was inside the weight but what a wreck I was! Weak and as white as a sheet I went home to rest before going to Holborn to do battle with one of the greatest champions Great Britain has produced."

Despite his weakened condition, Pat was determined not to let his big opportunity pass. For seven rounds he outboxed the champion and by the eighth had built himself a comfortable lead. The eighth would prove to be one of the most disastrous and costly rounds of his career. Realising the fight was slipping away from him, Cuthbert came out in ferocious style. A momentary lapse in the Nipper's normally rock solid defence saw a lightning right hand from Cuthbert connect flush with his jaw. As he went down, perhaps more telling than the blow itself, Pat cracked his head hard on the canvas. He tried to rise at nine, but was counted out.

Straight after the fight Pat had a visit from Jimmy Wilde. "He's a great fighter, but you're overworking him", he told Newton. "Handle him right and he'll be a future world champion." He was told by Newton in no uncertain terms to "mind his own business". One newspaper wrote, "Daly should be given a long rest, and allowed to grow in a normal way. If this is not done he will be finished before he is twenty."

Within a fortnight, however, he was back in the ring to beat Jack Millard of Willesden at Paddington Baths. Pat continued to win fights, though something seemed to be missing from the brilliance he had displayed up until the Cuthbert fight. He looked like fighting his way back among the champions when he was matched with an up and coming fighter named Seaman Tommy Watson, who would later become British featherweight champion and go the distance with Kid Chocolate for the world title in America.

Pat had looked impressive in the gym. Sparring with Al Foreman, who was training for his lightweight title fight with Fred Webster, he had more than held his own. This was enough to persuade him he was back close to his best and a win over Watson would certainly set his career back on track. Once again he had weight problems and come the morning of the fight was required to train and starve himself to get down to the 9st 6Ib that was required.

Daly came out in impressive style for the first round, but in the second left himself open to a powerful right hand. Down he went for the count of nine and rose to his feet only to be knocked down twice more, before the bell intervened. For the next few rounds the Seaman gave him trouble. Then in round six Pat staged a miraculous comeback and by the end of the 12th had probably just edged himself ahead on points.

Catching him off balance in the 13th Watson connected with a lightning left hook to Pat's jaw. He was up at nine, but only to be put down again - this time for a count of six. His senses scattered and fighting purely on instinct Nipper was floored twice more. He would later recall, "I have some dim recollection of trying to get up but when I did nothing hit me. The towel had been thrown in. Friends told me afterwards of the tears at ringside."

He was ill for weeks and left with concussion, unable to walk. As soon as he was able to Pat returned to the gym, only to be told by Newton that he had another fight lined up with a tough Welshman named Nobby Baker. "I was leading on points narrowly up to the thirteenth round when Baker caught me with a wild swing, which previously I would have avoided, and I went down. I got up and was put down for two more counts and referee Jack Hart stopped the fight." Although he had not realised it Pat was still concussed from the Watson fight.

Not long after the Baker fight he split from Professor Newton for good. He had a series of fights under Fred Austin's promotions and won them all bar a draw. But, the magic had gone. None of these opponents were in the class of men like Corbett, Pattenden, Cuthbert or Watson. Realising he would now never win a world title, Nipper Pat Daly, the boy wonder, retired from the fight game at 17. Had he fought as a full grown man it would have probably been at middleweight or lightheavy. Had he been handled correctly, it is no exaggeration to surmise that the domestic and perhaps world boxing scene of the 1930s would have had another great champion to its list.

Copyright © 2008 nipperpatdaly.co.uk. All rights reserved.