Sport in Wales played at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but after no Welsh players were selected for the team they decided to leave the Great Britain team to allow their players greater international exposure. Wales has a strong connection with the sport of boxing, particularly in the South Wales Valleys, with fighters such as Tommy Farr, Freddie Welsh, Jimmy Wilde, Dai Dower and Johnny Owen all competing at the highest level. Joe Calzaghe, born to a Welsh mother and Italian father and raised in Newbridge, retired in 2009 as an unbeaten world champion. Other former world champions include Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin
William "Honey" Mellody once facing both a young Joe Walcott, and former welterweight world champion "Mysterious" Billy Smith three times. Mellody's third round knockout of contender Willie Lewis in Chelsea, Massachusetts three months before facing Walcott foreshadowed his imminent conquest of the World Welterweight Title. Mellody got his first shot for the vacant World Welterweight title against the legendary Black Joe Walcott on October 16, 1906, at the Lincoln Athletic Club in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The "Pittsburgh Press" noted Mellody was barely 21 at the time of the fight and had been fighting professionally for only around three years. The bout required the full