Mairtin Thornton
He was hard to forget: Granite chin, massive hands, broad shoulders, that combined, said it all, ‘don’t mess with me.’ Even then stories were doing the rounds about the antics he had got up to. Some of them were true.
He also played the double for Victor Mc Laglen in the movie, The Quiet Man, in 1951, after hustling himself into the part by claiming cousinship of John Ford. Between filming, he went on a wild session one evening and night with John Wayne. Later, as the drink loosened the tongue and stiffened the courage, John Wayne challenged Thorton to a fight, telling him that only one would survive it. Thorton did not accept the challenge because he knew it would not be Wayne. It was also no coincidence that the character that Wayne played in the movie was called Sean Thorton.
Then there was the talk that he threw a fight when he was a professional boxer, betting on himself to lose, and having to skip his beloved and native Galway for a few years until things quietened a bit.
When there is talk of champions, Joe Frazier, World Heavyweight Champion in 1971, came to Connemara and met Thorton. “You may be heavyweight champion of the world Joe,” Thorton told him, “but I am the heavyweight champion around here.”
(by Barry Clifford)
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Mairtin Thornton (died 1984) was an Irish heavyweight boxer in the 1940s. He was nicknamed the "Connemara Crusher".
Thornton was a native of Spiddal, Connemara, County Galway.
Thornton was the Irish Heavyweight Boxing champion in 1943. He fought Bruce Woodcock for the British Commonwealth Heavyweight title in 1945.
He boxed from 10 January 1938 until 23 April 1949. He won 14 bouts and lost 8.
When he retired from boxing he ran a pub in Spiddal, County Galway. He died in 1984.
An irish tv report, including an interview with Thornton, from 1974, starts at around 3.50 in this video...
