By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
Like Scotland, Wales has a proud history in providing the United Kingdom with some of its best boxers. Perhaps the greatest boxer ever produced on these isles is the undefeated former unified world champion, Joe Calzaghe, who, along with his Italian father lit up Cardiff and the world with some exceptional nights. But he may be the Welsh flag bearer, but amongst his country there have been plenty more examples of exceptional fighters.
Chris Jenkins, 23-7-3, 8 KOs, who fought at light welterweight and welterweight is one of them. Perhaps his greatest battles, however, did not come in the ring but outside of it. His career ended in 2023, when a brain scan highlighted an anomaly but between his childhood and that ending, his career was very noteworthy; but bloody hard. Even when he had made it as British champion, he was still living in rented accommodation, working full time and having to live hand to mouth. Many fights fell through, opportunities snatched away from him, but he kept the faith, thanks in part to his wife, he kept going.
Living in a very rural part of Wales, a proud working-class area dominated by the pit and the coalminer, Jenkins, as he told Boxing News, would always “turn up in shape, give of my best and I’ve been involved in several of the most exciting fights in the division.” But as he expressed, in an era of social media and making “some noise” Jenkins was never the guy to shout loudly enough, “no one talks about me, no one writes about me. Perhaps I’m to blame cos I’m not vocal enough on Twitter and don’t be an asshole at press conferences. I’ve always respected opponents. My pride means more than money. Around here, they’re all old miners, survivors, very humble people and I’ve never been a material person myself.”
But, as he went on to explain to Boxing News, “as a kid I was a real ‘header’ [head case], a bit of a boy. At 12 and 13, I was burning fires, setting bins alight, robbing caravans. It’s been a real struggle but, when I reflect, 20 years on, boxing’s done me no harm. I’d not really change anything bar the cuts. Let’s just say, today I’m only a good-looking man when it’s dark! But boxing’s guided me, made me behave. In addition to teaching me how to take care of myself physically when required, boxing has taught me values. Respect. Respect for others but also respect has been reciprocated back to me because of my achievements. That’s why, when I find out people are bad mouthing me, I just rise above it, refuse to bite.”
As an amateur he held three senior Welsh ABA titles and a Four Nations gold medal but also represented Wales at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Baku in 2011 and Chicago in 2007, represented Wales in two Commonwealth Games and won gold at the Canada Cup. As a professional his career saw him, between 2019 and 2021, hold both the Commonwealth and the British titles. Although his career may never have got to the heights as Calzaghe’s did, like many good and decent pros, Jenkins fought with great skill and heart, giving a domestic crowd more than enough to cheer.
Chris made his professional debut against Russel Pearce in an all-Welsh fight in Swansea managing to stop Pearce in the second round on the 17th of February 2012. His next 15 fights were all wins, under the guidance of his uncle, Ronnie Morris.
In 2013 he entered Matchroom’s light welterweight Prizefighter tournament and at the time this was boxing’s very real attempt to draw in innovation to the sport, along with new eyes and viewers for Sky Sports. It worked. On the 6th of July, at the York Hall, Jenkins beat Tony Owen in the first round over the three rounds, then in the semi-final beat Eren Arif also on points. Then he took on the Southern Area Champion Cassius Conner. Jenkins beat his man by stoppage in the second round. He won the tournament and because of the stoppage in the final, bagged an extra bonus for stopping his man. It was a whopping £34,000 payday for him, live on Sky Sports.
His next significant win came on the 1st of February 2014, when he took the WBC international belt, back in Wales – in Cardiff – by beating Christopher Sebire on points over ten rounds. Jenkins was stepping up, stepping out and looking to step on some very big toes.
By now Jenkins was a serious contender, a game fighter who would take on anyone and do so with a fan friendly style – always willing to say yes to a fight. On the 18th of July 2015 he said yes thank you very much to a British title fight against Tyrone Nurse. An awkward and unorthodox fighter Nurse was another on the circuit that caught the eye, made people sit up and take notice and then crashed and burned, but for Jenkins this was a serious step up. And so, on the 18th of July he ended up with a majority draw in Manchester for the British super lightweight belt.
Four months later, on the 21st of November, back in Manchester, he rematched Nurse for the British title. Although he floored Nurse in the fifth round, he was cut himself from the third and again in the tenth, losing a split decision over the twelve championship rounds.
Suddenly as he put it himself to Boxing News, he, “suddenly became jinxed.” Of his losses to Nurse, he reflected that, “the loss to Nurse was definitely my hardest, not physically but from a mental point.”
But things were tough and having come close to quitting, Jenkins found the spirit to keep going. But it was tough. He was now increasingly being cut. It led to him losing the WBC Youth title fight against Akeem Brown in Gloucester on the 12th of May in 2018. Increasingly he was being frustrated by decisions going against him and cuts forcing him to be stopped.
Then something profound happened as he was to speak to Boxing News all about it. “But then a very close mate took his own life which hit home hard. Too much heartache left behind. That forced me to re-think, open up to those who really cared. Thankfully, the wife [Helen] persuaded me to dig in, push on for one more year. She’s brilliant, allows me to pursue my dream while she tends to the house and kids. [Manager] Mo Prior and Richie Garner also helped me financially with a bit of sponsorship. I literally can’t do anything else other than fight so had to keep going with my boxing. Joining Gary [Lockett, his current trainer-adviser] after the loss to Nurse was also huge. I needed a change, and he instilled my needed self-belief. I’m naturally pessimistic but Gary gets all negative thoughts out of my head. He’s stopped me brawling all the time. I’ve a decent dig but needed to use my smarts to realise my full potential.”
And so, out of what could have been the darkest days, Jenkins emerged. And on the 8th of March 2019 in the Royal Albert Hall Chris Jenkins beat Johnny Garton on points to become the British welterweight champion, at the third time of asking. “… that night I boxed out of my skin. I was always one step ahead of Johnny. That was my ‘coming out’ fight. It was also my hardest.”
His first defence, which also had the Commonwealth title on the line saw the British champion enter the ring first, get announced second but in Belfast on the 3rd of August 2019 Jenkins beat Paddy Galagher to retain the British title he held and add the Commonwealth. The fight was stopped in the ninth due to cuts sustained by Jenkins but this time it worked in his favor – he was ahead on all the scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
His second defence was also dominated by cuts as he faced Liam Taylor in Birmingham on the 30th of November later that year. Judged as an accidental clash of heads, the fight was stopped in the fourth round and declared a technical draw. There was then talk of rematching Johnny Garton but that never happened and instead Jenkins went in, on the 24th of July 2021 against Ekow Essuman with both titles up for grabs. At Wembley Arena, Jenkins was stopped by the unbeaten Essuman in the eighth round. In the lead up to the fight things were a tad ugly, including an incident in sparring which led to an original postponement. Jenkins suffered a burst ear drum but worse was way off in his future. Until then he had to recover from the loss to Essuman.
Beating Julius Indongo in Cardiff on the 5th of February 2022 was a statement but then a loss to Florian Marku in Newcastle on the 2nd of April for the IBO international welterweight belt in a fourth-round stoppage, showed that Jenkins loved a scrap, but perhaps that was neither good for his career, or his health. Then came the loss to Tyrone McKenna on the 6th of August 2022 in Belfast, which was tight on the scorecards, but Jenkins felt it was unfair.
Seven months later Jenkins faced Cyrus Pattinson in Newcastle. Stopped in the ninth round, by a fighter in his sixth professional fight, the writing was at least being prepared for his wall.
There was no denying then at the age of 35 what the writing said when a brain scan revealed he had an “abnormality”. His announcement on social media was heartbreaking.
“This is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. I have no option but to retire from the sport I’ve competed in since the age of 12. I recently had the yearly routine brain scan; it’s shown some abnormality from last year’s scan meaning I’d be putting myself at risk if I was to continue boxing. A hard fight or hard spar could result in greater risk of having early dementia or Parkinson’s. Having a young family, this is a risk I can’t even contemplate taking. I need to be there and provide for my family. It still hasn’t sunk in as of yet.”
As a reminder if what fighters got through day in and day out it was stark and unrelenting. Previously in one of his interviews, Jenkins had spoken of his legacy thus: “When I’m done, I’d like fans to remember me as someone who never gives up, not just in boxing but in life…”
And that is the least of the memory he leaves us with as someone who has bene an amateur stand out and a British and Commonwealth Champion.
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