Nipper Pat Daly - The Original Golden Boy

Nipper Pat Daly - The Original Golden Boy

Picture this: A professional boxer aged just 9 years old.

I was shocked when i first read that too.

But, this became a reality in 1923 when a young boy from Marylebone, West London made his pro debut.

I first found out about Nipper Pat Daly while i was making a boxing quiz for my boxing page on Facebook.

I was researching who the youngest pro boxer of all time was. I had always had a feeling it was Baby Arizmendi who supposedly made his pro debut at 13 years old or Britain’s Len Harvey who made his debut at 12 years old.

Then i stumbled upon the name of Nipper Pat Daly.

I didn’t quite know what to think. Could a boxer really make his pro debut at such a young age? Was his age a misprint perhaps?

It would all seem very questionable until good fortune would lead me to meet Nipper’s grandson while debating Nipper’s career online with other boxing fans.

Nipper was really 9 years old when he made his pro debut and he was really ranked in the top 10 of his weight class by Ring magazine at the age of 16.

He made his debut weighing in much less than a flyweight boxer and would fight all the way up to lightweight.

Misfortune, problems making weight and i would think the strain on his young body would mean he would never fulfil what would seem to have been his destiny and that is becoming the World champion one day.

He had made his pro debut aged 9, had reached his peak by 15 and was retiring from this great sport by the age of 17.

So talented was Nipper that renowned sportswriter Frank Butler heralded Daly as 'the best young prospect we ever had'.

I would think it would perhaps be reasonable to say Nipper was deserving of even more success. Not that success eluded him, but the World title would certainly have been the crowning on a remarkable career.

I don’t want to write too much as nothing i could write could do this boxing marvel justice.

From what i’ve read and been told so far he sounds like he was indeed boxing’s original “Golden boy”.

His grandson has recently published a book about his grandfather called:

“Nipper: The Amazing Story of Boxing’s Wonderboy”.

The book is available from his grandson’s website here:

http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/nipperboxingbook.html

Here is the sample introduction and first chapter of the book:

http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/nipperbooksample.pdf

I have read the book myself and it is well worth the money.

More information on Nipper Pat Daly:

- You can visit the website dedicated to him here: http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/

- Alternatively, check out his Wikipedia page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipper_Pat_Daly

- His record on Boxrec: http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=103423&cat=boxer&pageID=1

- A list of his opponents in more detail: http://nipperpatdaly.co.uk/opponents4.html

(NOTE: Each website noted above has been completed and checked by Nipper’s grandson himself).