I've started to read as much as I can about this monster as well as his YouTube videos including the John L. Gardner fight .. there seems to be so much conflicting info on Sykes as well as the more famous McLean and other UK badasses .. where on this forum can I reach out to the knowledgable UK guys that may know about these guys and others of their period ?
All I know about John L Gardner is: 1) He was Muhammad Ali’s rumored comeback opponent before Ali ended up fighting Berbick. Being the Euro champ held a certain charm and cache. 2) Gardner instead fought Michael Dokes before Ali fought Berbick and gave a spirited account of himself but got spectacularly destroyed. As far as Sykes, never heard of him but looked him up on Boxrec. That 6-3-1 record does look positively monstrous lol.
Yeah he was a ‘notorious prisoner’ … yawn. Urban legend stuff, like that fat bald guy Joe Savage who was an alleged bare-knuckle champ. The real notorious prisoners actually kill people to get put in prison and then kill people in prison. The Brits do like to tell stories. Put that guy in a real max security American prison and he’d be a pussycat … or someone’s *****. He was a 6-3-1 boxer who was also a sparring partner for Leon Spinks. Hardly the stuff of legend.
Paul Sykes was a naturally talented box puncher (with hands bigger than Sonny Liston) bred to be a boxer by a dominating boxing fan, prison warden of a father. Unfortunately it backfired. Whilst the young Sykes won amateur tournaments as a boy unfortunately, outside the ring, the young Sykes hit out whenever he didnt get his own way and therefore Sykes spent most of the prime of his life in Prison where he became Britain’s most “difficult prisoner”. At age 27 he was briefly released from prison and immediately stormed the ABA tournament that year getting as far as the semi final. At this point Yank Durham, in London for Frazier vs Bugner, was supposedly so impressed with Sykes sparring session with Joe Frazier that he offered to sign him up and take him to Philadelphia. But Yank died and 27 year old Sykes went off the rails again and was imprisoned until he was 31 years old. There was a two year window upon his next release whereby efforts were made to get Sykes as far as possible in the pro ranks before he either got into trouble again or grew too old…And on raw talent alone, with a handful of fights he got as far as #3 in Britain and into a British title challenge, which he lost to a much more seasoned and experienced John L Gardner. Predictably Sykes turned to debt collecting and crime again and that was the end of that. The next prison sentence catching up with him. For the remainder of his life Sykes became a degenerate alcoholic, pub bully and general nuisance who was in and out of prison.. until he died on the street homeless. Thats the short story. The shame was, Sykes talent was real. He was a big, heavy handed fighter. Who could really fight. But as often is the case, outside of boxing, he lacked common sense, wouldn’t be told, and was his own worst enemy.
Paul Sykes...wow there's a name that takes me back over 20yrs, when Bob Mills used to do "In Bed with Me Dinner". The Paul Sykes episode was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. This clip is a classic... This content is protected
He lived around the Wakefield area of west Yorkshire for a long time. Remember vaguely going there one Saturday night many moons ago. One of my mates pointed out a guy sat in the pub in the corner. Looked a bit far gone. My mate said, what ever you do, don't look at him the wrong way, it's Paul Sykes.. Lol. He walked out a bit later but seemed in a jovial mood. Looked the sort to like a ruckus.
He had talent but a wayward mind and attitude.Gardner basically ground him down with his work rate which was his forte.
Considering he was older, ridiculously less experienced and continued to drink and smoke .. I'm actually learning more about many of these guys out of the ring histories .. a crazy bunch .. Skyes was a true degenerate , hardcore criminal ..
A lot of famous boxers, some of them champions, have that bad boy, prison background.. but the fact that they became famous and successful as fighters meant they were able to use boxing as a lifeline, proving that their desperate and chaotic start in life had meant they had largely previously been victims of circumstances, broken homes etc. Through boxing they at least became somewhat functional to an outsider as Street people who made something of themselves. If only for a time. But Sykes didn’t come from a broken or that dysfunctional of a home. He was just bad. The boxing that was forced upon him as a child, was no lifeline to him. It empowered him outside the ring. Became a tool. If he wasn’t bad before he became badder and more dangerous because of it. on the documentary Sykes boasts that “I’ve done ten years for whacking screws and ten years for whacking coppers and in every case I was always in the right” and he believed it. His book is quite a disturbing insight into the kind of mind that convinces itself with those kinds of thoughts. He justified whatever it was he wanted to do. Did what he wanted. To who ever he wanted. Completely shameless. There probably are not that many books written directly by that kind of person. I read it. I am not sure that it is good, but is interesting. The most sense it makes is about the boxing. He understood the professional sport.
Back in the early 90s I think I saw this guy in a northern England club. Big and menacing pushing his way towards the bar you could tell he was looking for a fight. He tugged at lads shirts so that when they turned around to face him they had the option to complain or let him through, The whole club let him through. Years later when I saw the documentary I was pretty sure it was him. Iv since read his book and stories from others and feel that he was clearly a bully who ruined people’s lives and got what he deserved in the end. Scary man. Could of been a good boxer who wasted most of his life in prison and died a drunken tramp. interesting character but I don’t think many people were sad when he left this world.
