Somewhere between lt hvt and hvt

No, this is not another thread about belts. Don't confuse me any more Ruslan my friend.

It does follow on from Ruslan's "Mike Marino Titles. 1950s-60s-70s" but that thread is more about the history of the physical belt.

Arising from that thread was the question of the origins of the British Mid Heavyweight Championship. Until researching the Years of Wrestling series I had always assumed the mid heavyweight division had been inaugurated along with the rest of the weight classes with the introduction of Mountevans rules in December, 1946. True, I had seen references to Junior Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champions in the 1950s, but never investigated further. Until now.

I have deliberately left out references to World and European titles.

Ruslan believes Morrell invented the Mid Heavyweight division. I've no idea if that's true, certainly no evidence, but it is feasible. As, seems likely, it was after 1952 it would need the agreement of the other Joint Promotion members. Morrell was very powerful in that group, prabably the most powerful, so if he did want to introduce the weight division it would most probably happen.

When?

Well, we can see above there was no Mid Heavyweight division in 1946 with the introduction of Mountevans rules.

The earliest reference I can find to the Mid Heavyweight division is 18th August, 1959, a Relwyskow show in Aberdeen.

The following week Relwyskow is back at the same hall with a Mid Heavyweight Championship Match between Al Hayes and Bill Robinson. The newspaper report announced a ten round draw.

At the same hall again, one week later we again have British Mid Heavyweight Champion, Norman Walsh.

Another week later Walsh is billed as British Mid Heavyweight Champion in Welling, a Dale Martin show.

So, the title was used in 1959, and not just by Morrell.

We now know that Joint Promotions were using the Mid Heavyweight division by 1959.

But how much earlier?

Not a lot I would guess, as no earlier references have yet been found but there are references to Junior heavyweight and Cruiserweight matches.

There is still one more surprise.

Was Mid Heavyweight created to fill the void between light heavyweight and heavyweight some time between 1946 and 1959?

No. Because the void had already been filled.

As early as 1949 we find Norman Walsh on a Ted Beresford bill as British Cruiserweight Champion

Cruiserweight matches were listed as early as 1947, just a few months following the introduction of the Mountevans rules.

By 1952 Vic Hessle was billed as British Junior Heavyweight Champion.

In May, 1958 Dennis Mitchell is billed as British Junior heavyweight champion. So, it looks to me that the mid heavyweight division was not created for the benefit of Norman Walsh in 1959 but was more an evolution from the cruiserweight - junior heavyweight division from the 1940s onwards.