New book celebrating city's boxers

A PRESENTATION was made to the son of a Pompey boxer at The Florist pub.
By The Newsroom
Published 14th Apr 2016, 06:02 BST
From left, Johnnie Smith, the son of 1950s Portsmouth light-heavyweight Johnny Smith, Terry Shipp, Perry Connor, Bobby Connor, author Andrew Fairley and Larry RichardsFrom left, Johnnie Smith, the son of 1950s Portsmouth light-heavyweight Johnny Smith, Terry Shipp, Perry Connor, Bobby Connor, author Andrew Fairley and Larry Richards
From left, Johnnie Smith, the son of 1950s Portsmouth light-heavyweight Johnny Smith, Terry Shipp, Perry Connor, Bobby Connor, author Andrew Fairley and Larry Richards

Pub landlord Jay Taylor presented a frame and new book to Bobby Connor, 
whose father Arthur ‘Kid’ Connor, features in a new boxing book.

Arthur was once the youngest landlord in the city when he took over The Florist.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He was born in North Street, Landport in 1908 and died in 1982 and was active from 1925 until the outbreak of the war in 1939.

Landlord of the Florist Jay Taylor and Bobby Connor, the son of Kid ConnorLandlord of the Florist Jay Taylor and Bobby Connor, the son of Kid Connor
Landlord of the Florist Jay Taylor and Bobby Connor, the son of Kid Connor

Standing at only 5ft 6in and weighing in at 8st, he soon gained the nickname ‘Kid’.

The story is told in a new book Pompey’s Boxing Past by Andrew Fairley – a 200-page extravaganza of boxers from the Portsmouth area from the Edwardian period to the present day.

It is available from Waterstones.

Also present were others from the Portsmouth boxing fraternity.

n A full review will be in Bob Hind’s Remember When page in The News on Saturday.

Related topics:PompeyNorth StreetPortsmouth