Shite, that's sad. 64 is no age at all. There was a bollocks rumour doing the rounds about a year ago that he'd passed, but this time it's true. Anybody who was a fan of the Brit/Euro middle scene in the 80s ought to have nothing but fond memories of him. Gumbs, Watts, Christie, Sibbo, Bomber fights and so on. A bit of a temperamental nutter during his career but a great, great action fighter, just too fond of a ruck and without the chin or defensive restraint at world level to quite back up his very good offensive skills, nice form/schooling and excellent power. With a strong Eubank/ Minter/Finneganesque chin and less of a slog to make 160 he would have been really formidable. He was unlucky when he came along imo. He generally gets classed as British/Euro level in terms of his ceiling, losing his Euro title fights to Graham (when weight drained) and Sibson, but both of them were world class (with 160 at that time in Britain and Europe being a tough nut to crack anyway in order to get a shot at the title, at which point you had Hagler of all people to contend with). Minter and Sibson in the early 80s to get by and then the likes of Graham, Kalule, Kalambay etc before Benn, Watson, Collins and so on. Even 154 punching upwards towards 160 had a lot of dangerous, capable fighters like Drayton (as a pre-prime Kaylor disastrously found out), Skouma, Jackson, Thomas, Aquino etc. Not national level fighters content to collect a payday. It was world class company and probably the last strong European era at 160 without the option of stepping up to 168 at the start of the decade for fighters like Kaylor who were killing themselves to make the weight. He was clearly better imo than lads like Barker, Macklin, Murray, Geale etc and good enough to have picked up a belt against most in the post-Hopkins wasteland. Similar to Pavlik in quite a few ways. Rangy, big power, better speed and overall offensive skills but a weaker chin and probably no better defensively while having a temper and poor mental discipline when tempted with a brawl. RIP. Think I'll have a rewatch of some of his fights.
Accurate post. Moved to California 1996 He's been in poor health for a while Dementia sadly . His boxing career claimed his health. Nice guy , very quiet away from the ring.
Hi Guys. So, so, sad, I went to most of his fights, he epitomized the Lawless stable, and its style of fighting, one of my biggest and best nights was the Christie fight, have told the story before, so won't bore older posters, suffice it to say I was the only guy on the minibus that believed he would win,and had a large wager to that effect, have fond memories of a good tough fighter that always gave value for money. stay safe guys, chat soon. Mike.
