John Lyon 8 times aba champion

Richard Mctaggart also won the ABAs times as well as winning a gold medal at lightweight in the 1956 Olympics and Bronze in Rome in 1960

 

His son Craig is the current English bantamweight champion.

 

Incidentally apparently he was offered Josh Wale for a defence of that title and he turned it down

 

Didn't know that. I think he was originally going to be in the Prizefighter that Wale was in but pulled out with an injury.

 

richard poxton rang tommy gilmour yesterday and asked if josh wale would box craig lyons for the english title on 26th feb in bolton on a hatton show,tommy said yes and everything including the purse were agreed.josh was over the moon what a chance at a cracking title.tommy got another call this afternoon the fight is off,lyons didnt want it,his management had asked us for the fight and then lyons bottles it.how can he call himself a fighter if he wont fight josh,he has a unbeaten record of 12-0 and hes 28yrs old,josh is 22yrs old and 11-3.surely most people would consider lyons the favorite.josh like so many boxers just wants to fight,boxing is suffering because these so called champions wont fight anybody,josh will fight any bantamweight in britain or europe.


From a poster in another forum

 

Chris Bessey and Joseph Steers won six ABA titles each, but nobody can touch Lyon.

 

I always feel the need to ask this about top amateur boxers? Why did he not turn pro?

 

Lyon was sponsored by his employers (whom he still works for) and didn't need to turn pro.

 

jim lloyd who won a bronze in the same olympics that mctaggart won gold at said that he (dick) liked to stop for a smoke when he was doing his road work

 

Shame if true. Lyon is a quality operator and I hope to see him in some big domestic fights this year.

 

Rhys Roberts or Lyon, Kos? Who's going further?

 

Ha, I'm a big fan of Roberts and he's much younger so I'll have to go with him. Lyon didn't really impress me that much until last time out - the way he took out Burkinshaw was very impressive.

Roberts, despite the talent, hasn't fought anyone of note yet, so hopefully he get's a bit of a step up this year without being pushed too far. Still plenty of time for him to develop.

 

A member of the St. Helens Amateur Boxing Club.
One of a number of good British amateur boxers
of the Eighties including others such as
Rod Douglas, Jimmy Price and Sean Murphy.:hi: