Thomas Pardoe (boxer)

Thomas "Tommy" Pardoe (14 April 1911 – 7 December 1992) was an English boxer who competed for Great Britain in the 1932 Summer Olympics.

He was born in Birmingham.

In 1932 he finished fourth in the flyweight class after losing the bronze medal bout to Louis Salica of the United States.

At the 1930 Empire Games he won the silver medal in the flyweight class after losing the final to Jacob Smith.

Tommy Pardoe was born on 14 April 1911 and lived at 8 Church Walk, Ward End Birmingham, one of fifteen children.

He became Amateur Flyweight Champion of Great Brittan (ABAE) on 20 March 1929, also winning the title on a further five occasions. He fought in the 1932 summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was ranked forth, however his was awarded a Bronze medal.

In boxing, if one of the semi-final losers is knocked out, he can't box again for a certain time period as a safety precaution, and it wouldn’t be fair to take away his chance at a bronze medal just because his semi-final opponent was so much better than the others, in all other cases the losing semi-finalists both get a bronze in Olympics and other games because, there are no qualifying events before the main events.

Pardoe competed for England and finished second in the 1930 British Empire Games Flyweight class after losing the final to Jacob Smith.

He turned professional and on 11 December 1933 won his first fight with Bert Kirby, whom he again defeated on 12 March 1934 in the British (Southern Area) Flyweight Title. On 11 June 1934, he beat Joe Mendiola and then fought Benny Lynch 15 April 1935.

He put up a tremendous fight against Lynch in an eliminator for British Flyweight title, winning five of the last six rounds, but bearing in mind Lynch’s superior experience (82 professional fights), he was knocked out in the fourteenth round. This fight seemed to spell the end of Pardoe’s professional career; he had a further seven fights, but did not win another professional fight.

He died 7 December 1992.