Bert Gilroy

This is a very good assessment of the situation. In my view the BBBofC were honouring the fact that Gilroy had won an eliminator four years before and had not been given the chance to proceed. Far from treating him badly, as has so often been claimed, they were a tually treating him very fairly. He wasn't the best challenger in 1944 that's for sure.

Anyone got any ideas about an obscure subject from this or another time period in British boxing history I can contribute on. It would be good to talk about something other than Gilroy.

 

Lee Oma's dive to Bruce Woodcock?

 

Give me your thoughts and I will have a look at it. You think Oma took a dive? Interesting. Why do you think this?

 

Lee Oma's dive to Bruce Woodcock?

I find the fact that he admitted to it pretty compelling.

 

@Miles Templeton a thread on someone like Walter Croot would be very interesting IMO

 

Source?

 

The folks here might be entertained by the context, outcomes, and fallout of the two Savold-Woodcock fights.

 

Killed by, was it Barry?

 

I heard one of them was fixed too.

 

Reg Gutteridge & Thomas Myler.

 

I wouldnt say the first one was fixed but Woodcock milked the foul to get a DQ as soon as Savold caught up to him. It was a gutless performance and a horrible bit of acting.

 

Thomas Myler states that Reg Gutteridge longtime boxing writer for the Evening News, revealed in1998 that he had been tipped off the fight was a fix to ensure a lucrative return.Savold was managed by Bill Daly whose reputation was pretty unsavoury.Daly had been suspended by the BBBOC for attacking Neusel's manager Paul Damski with a pair of scissors.

 

Id find that dubious at best. Woodcock was the younger more athletic fighter and it showed early as he outboxed Savold on the backfoot. As the fight wore on (as long as it lasted) you could see Savold getting closer and closer and finally beginning to connect as he began to figure out Woodcock and catch up to him. Just as Savold started landing good shots a worried looking Woodcock collapsed and put on a ridiculous show claiming he had been hit low. It was really a disgusting performance and many of those in attendance agreed. The rematch was very similar to the first fight except this time instead of milking a DQ Woodcock got stopped. Id find it hard to believe that Savold participated in a fix. If it happened then it was Woodcock who did so by milking the DQ as Savold (along with most others) was pretty livid at the result and was trying his best all the time.

 

Savold could very well have been entirely innocent.Similar to Ali v Liston 2.

 

Gutteridge states this quite openly in his autobiography published in 1998, which is presumably what Myler is referring to.