John L Gardener vs Paul Sykes (A Right Domestic Dust Up!!)

He also lived for a while on an island in the middle of Blackpool Stanley park pond.

 

Gardner/Sykes; two fun 'characters'; 'characters' that are sadly missing in modernity. But I forget sometimes how bad British Heavyweight boxing were in the early 80s. Gardner sucked, but compared to Pearce, Meade, Banjo et al, he was a superstar...

Those of you who do not know/remember this era, do not realize how lucky you are!

 

Anyone remember a late night **** take tv show called 'In bed with medinner' hosted by Bob Mills?

It was pre cursor to TV burp etc etc

Mills taking the **** out of Sykes here


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw9ipfC3YQk[/ame]

 

Apparently couple of Sykes younguns are inside for murder

 

Sykes had no chance in life really, his old man was a vile piece of ****.
Apparently Sykes enjoyed raping men in prison etc not sure how much truth there is to it though ... spent the last remaining days of his life smelling of booze and **** on the streets by all accounts.

 

Yeah mate,Sykes pulled out due to a cut he'd sustained in a pub ruck,someone glassed him or something ... He'd have smashed Lenny to bits in the ring,no doubt about it.

 

More Sykes Clips;

Medinner - 'It's ..... Sharks'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT7e2GgtHO8

A Fan Tribute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds60GlQ0I_s

Wiggy Flint (This is actually final part of the Doc that Skills posted)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mn9ZcxMF6E

 

And perhaps the best of all:

'A Brilliant Sense of Atmospheric Changes'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxRvqtWD-fA

If you wonder why Sykes looks so rough in the picture, it was taken after he'd been set on fire (drunk and asleep on the steps of Wakefield Catherdral) by a gang of young lads he'd been threatening earlier in the day.

 

Have to agree, although I rarely admit the fact I was born in Wakefield and knew Sykes quite well, he was one of the famous 'old boys' at the boxing club I attended as a youth (the other famous 'old boy' being Alan Richardson, who was/is a complete gentleman) and apart from his first three fights, held in the then exclusive Yorkshire Executive Sporting Club and his last one in Lagos I saw all his pro fights (I even had a ticket for his scheduled bout with Lenny McLean)

Paul could turn in seconds, one minute you were his 'best mate' and he thought the world of you, you said or did the wrong thing (in his eyes anyway) and he was shaping up to you. On more than one occasion I was almost victim of his aggression or saw it directed at another 'friend' so my 'friendship' with him fizzled out. He got worse after his boxing career ended, without that focus and structure in his life, he started drinking more and lost the plot basically.

He alienated every friend he had (and his long suffering partner Kath) and ended up a vagrant, sitting on the steps of Wakefield Catherdral, park benches, kids playgrounds hurling abuse at passers by, he became such a nuisance that Wakefield Council issued and ASBO banning him from the city centre (not that he took any notice) He was found in a bus shelter in a near coma, he died in Pinderfields hospital days later of Pneumonia and Acute Cirrhossis of the Liver.

Sad to report that both of the sons he can be seen berating in the documentary are serving life sentences for murder.

 

Gardner was sparked in the first by American Ibar Arrington and dropped by the relatively light hitting Billy Aird, other than that he's always seemed pretty sturdy.

 

Amazing how Sykes was 'fast tracked', Central Area Title in second fight (Neil Malpass) UK No 9 in third fight (Tommy Keily) UK No 5 in fourth fight (Neville Meade, who hit Sykes so hard in third round it spun him full circle before he fell flat on his face) the title challenge in his ninth fight (think only Horace Notice has bettered this?)

He was due to box in the States a couple of times, Jody Ballard and Scott Ledoux were the mooted opponents, think Sykes bail conditions messed up one date, not sure about the other.

Always some mystery about the Ekwelum fight after Gardner, his manager Tommy Miller told me he 'spewed it' another story I heard was Sykes got in the ring, looked out into the crowd with an inane grin on his face seemingly terrified at the huge crowd in attendance, then went over from the first punch.

 

Sykes got battered a fight with bouncer Terry Mitchell at the Cherry Tree in Harehills, Leeds and ended up with a gash over his right eye (he claimed that Mitchell used a weapon) The mighty McLean fought Kevin Paddock (a very FAT former BBBC middleweight http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=96657&cat=boxer) who totally outboxed him for eight rounds. I dread to think what Sykes would have done to McLean

 

'A brilliiant sense of atmospheric changes'

 

No they're not. One is, the other didn't even know Sykes was his dad when this documentary was made.