1992-10-31 227 Donovan Ruddock 231½ 27 3 1 Earls Court Exhibition Hall, Kensington W TKO 2/12 time: 0:46 | referee: Joe Cortez | Chuck Hassett | Tom Kaczmarek | Franz Marti Commonwealth (British Empire) Heavy Title Eliminator for WBC Heavyweight Title Ruddock down once in 1st, twice in 2nd Shortly after this fight, Lewis was proclaimed the WBC Heavyweight Champion as Riddick Bowe refused to face him
I guess from reading some of your other posts and from our conversation about the Don the other week that perhaps you knew Mickey ? If so you may well have seen a side to him that others didn't. He had a brief involvement with Pat Cowdell which I cannot go into detail about but left me having no time at all for the bloke. Don't wish to speak ill of the dead or offend you Mac but we speak as we find. I'm sure you'll agree though, Kevin was more than deserving of a World Title shot.
Loaded Glove, one only need look at the London/British way of 'Business' or making money - the manner of which means nothing, but rather the outcome, namely Your OWN... this was Duff, Levene, Solomon and many more... look at King in the U.S and Mob Controlled 'Business' before him. so many great fighters suffered at the hands of these men and their type.
I met Duff a few times at his promotions his secretary Davey Jones used to get us tickets for his bills.Duff rated Kevin better than his brother Chris and I would agree with that.Mickey was a hard man but true to his own lights imo. Speak as you find is a sensible practice imo. Kevin certainly deserved a shot he beat Sibbo who had got one.
Duff presided over the golden age of UK boxing,under his reign and , Astaire, Lawless and for a brief while Barrett, the following British world champions were crowned. Magri Stracey Honeyghan Edwards Hope Watt Minter McKenzie Duff was also the matchmaker of or significantly involved in the careers of the following fighters. Downes Winstone Conteh They made Duff,and his partners a lot of money ,but they made money with him too.And would they have become world champions without their backing? In terms of numbers of world titles , UK boxing has never been so successful ,neither before or since.
Ha ha ! Larger than life barely scratches the surface. Especially if a drink or two had been taken. Downes's book is still one of my favourite Boxing autobiographies. When I met Chris he had a very impressive chauffeur. John Conteh !
Haven't noticed their names mentioned and without checking their records, did any of these get a shot at a 'real' world title? Joe Choynski Leo Houck Jeff Smith Sam Mcvey Joe Jeannette
Yes you're right ,and I am wrong, Hill was the trainer Burns the manager .Burns was Solomons man but a good guy . Sam became a big wheel in William Hill's betting empire.He managed Downes too,but you know that.