He didn't get that far considering the physical advantages he had over all the British fighters of the time, I think someone said maybe he was rushed, I'd agree with that
That old documentary [now on Youtube] was hilarious, superbly quotable. I think he probably had a lot of potential as a boxer. By the standards of his day he was ahead of the game in terms of natural size and also potentially training methods. His diet [eat and drink] was beyond terrible given the amount of time he spent in pub and prison, on Joshua-style rations he'd probably have cut a fearsome figure even by today's standards. Intelligent guy but had a very pronounced dark side, as evidenced by the hundreds of injuries, in some cases life-changing injuries, that he dealt out to random innocents over the years, I doubt the docu seemed overly hilarious to them. Not someone I'd have cared to spend a lot of time around. His autobiog is a really strange read. it's mostly* silent on his violent and otherwise criminal tendencies, & on his liking for booze. i'm not sure how much help he had from editors, i rather suspect little to none... it's difficult to avoid an impression of strong sociopathic tendencies, the guy's seeming lack of remorse, or indeed any kind of self awareness, are so striking. It contains some [to me] rather interesting thoughts on physical training, diet, & preparing for fights, though you have to wonder how often he managed to practice what he preaches. There's plenty of unpleasant detail regarding his simultaneous 'courtship' of two 15 yr old girls [who seemingly knew about each other but went along with it], one of them getting knocked up & ending up being the mother of two boys of Sykes who both eventually got locked up for murders, whilst in his 30s, the way he writes about their physical qualities & his romantic feelings for them to me suggest that he might recently have read a copy of 'Lolita' & decided to have a go at something similar himself. The quality of the prose is very mixed. the writing of the opening few paragraphs is so laughably bad as to almost make you give up on it, but after a while it improves and/or starts to seem normal. he reasons he gives for losing his big british title fight seem rather vague & probably disingenuous. there's meant to be a film about him coming up soon?
You say he wasn't good enough to win a British title but he turned pro at 32 years of age after being in and out of prison beforehand then was fighting for the title after 8 fights against Gardner. All what if's and buts...... but the natural argument would be that he clearly had talent and if he hadn't been a lunatic and had his head screwed on, he could've perhaps made some noise. In comparison to the likes of McLean, Shaw and other underworld figures of the time.... Sykes would've boxed the head off them.
I wonder what his record against sharks is? FTR, for those of you who don't know, it's actually easy to defeat a shark if you ever find yourself being attacked by one. You just punch them right in the ******* earhole and thanks to Sykes this invaluable piece of advice has saved my bacon on numerous occasions.
Sykes had a handful of pro fights after coming out of prison and then boxed Gardner for the British title in '79. He did ok for the first three rounds or so and did land some good punches, but Gardner was a more experienced pro and gave him a boxing lesson and a bit of a hiding from then on. Sykes didn't have the stamina for it in a hard-fought bout at a high pace or lacked the proper preparation. John L finished him in the sixth, I think it was. That was as good as it got for Sykes as s pro. Sykes was a troubled man and a bully by most accounts. He fell on hard times and died a few years ago.
As I suspected, the infamous parenting scene with two of his sons regarding the stolen money in "Paul Sykes At Large" was entirely scripted. The whole documentary probably was. Far too funny to be genuine. ...His excuse for turning away vs Gardener was laughable. Apparently he was just telling his corner to stfu
Grew up around the corner from Paul Sykes and still live a stones throw from where he last lived before he became homeless. I met him on numerous occasions first as a young kid frightened to death of him and later as an adult also frightened to death of him. He was intelligent, intense and slightly mad as well as being surprisingly gentle and chaotically violent. He really could have been much more than he was and I think that was one root of his frustration with life and himself. Unfortunately he never could overwrite the programming he received in his own childhood, in times of stress he reverted to type and that type was violent thug, a lesson he learned from his father. Imagine my shock when I found out we were related!
