KID SOCKS, Lew Pinkus, Jock Bonas, Cast Iron Casey and Bombardier Austin.
There are not characters in some forthcoming bonkers kids’ movie but just some of the names who have previously boxed on the pitch at Oakwell.
Super-middleweight Callum Simpson’s challenge for the British and Commonwealth crowns against Zak Chelli on August 3 will indeed be a momentous one but he will be far from the first to walk out on the pitch at Oakwell with boxing gloves on.
He will, however, be the first to challenge for a title at the venue and the first main event there since 1943 when the UK was a very different place.
It seems hard to imagine now but many boxing shows were put on during the war years as a means of keeping up morale. Many would feature servicemen either in training or on leave.
Sadly we don’t know exactly how many spectators turned out for these shows as reporting was sketchy at the time but we do know that the last reported fights at Oakwell took place on September 5, 1943.
It featured the aforementioned Bonas, a Scotsman working at Hickleton Main.
He won a six-round decision against South Elmsall’s Harold Askew and, similarly to Simpson, moved to 10-0 as a professional.
Bonas went on to have 77 more contests and ended his fighting days in Australia in 1952 with a record of 63 wins, 21 losses and three draws.
There was more frequent boxing in Barnsley in the 1930s with venues like the Drill Hall, Civic Hall and Baths Hall all being used.
There were also a run of shows throughout the summer of 1931 at Oakwell.
Of the big names to feature there, Casey had well over a hundred fights on his record by the time he beat Shipley’s Fred Shaw down at Oakwell inside four rounds. The Sunderland fighter finished his career in 1942 with a reported 150 wins from 227 bouts.
Socks was charming in name only with the Bethnal Green scrapper, born George Joseph Stockings – hence the nickname, a formidable fighter.
He was also known as the Wrecker of Champions and beat champions around Europe including from France, Belgium and Ireland.
He got one of his 26 draws at the home of the Reds.
His old foe Tom Cowley earned a draw in the second of their three meetings that year (Socks won one and there were two draws).
By the time he arrived at Oakwell he had already lost in a British, Commonwealth and European flyweight challenge with a 20th round TKO loss to Elky Clark and a 15 round Commonwealth bantamweight challenge against Billy McAllister in Melbourne. Simpson only has 12 rounds to get the nod against Chelli and the bulk of 7,000 in attendance will be cheering him on to do so.
