Johnny Hill pugile

Johnny Hill (14 December 1905 – 27 September 1929) was a Scottish boxer who was British flyweight champion from May 1927, European champion from March 1928, and World champion from August 1928, until his death at the age of 23. He was the first Scottish boxer to win a world title.Born on Brunswick Road in Leith in 1905, Johnny Hill was trained by his father and Tancy Lee at the Leith Victoria Club. As an amateur he won the Scottish flyweight and bantamweight titles, and in 1926 he won the ABA flyweight title and was awarded the 'Best Boxer of the Championship' trophy. He made his professional début in September 1926, stopping Bill Huntley in the fifth round at Premierland. He quickly built up a large following, which included the Prince of Wales. Unbeaten in his first 13 fights which included wins over Nicolas Petit-Biquet and Jim Hanna, he faced Alf Barber at the National Sporting Club in May 1927 for the British flyweight title vacated by Elky Clark; Hill stopped Barber in the fourteenth round to become British champion. He beat Emile Pladner on points in a December 1927, despite being knocked down three times, and four months later faced Pladner again, this time with the European title at stake; The result was the same and Hill added the European title to his British title.