Sadly Johnny passed away. Former World Bantamweight Champion, former Bronze medalist at the 1956 Olympics, British Flyweight and Bantamweight champion died after a lengthly battle of problems from cancer. Johnny fought the great Eder Jofre a fight which he lost. Locally Johnny is known for his great battle with Frddie Gilroy (which my granda always used to go on about) which is said to be one of the greatest fights from Ireland. Johnny lost the fight due to a cut. I had seen Johnny a few times down in my local and he seemed a great guy. Heres a link from Ardy on the Irish forum. CALDWELL A TRUE GREAT OF THE RING http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sp...-14399389.html
Yeah LHL, I read about it on teletext earlier. A really good fighter, and you're right about that fight with Gilroy (my Dad was at it and he says he has never experienced at atmosphere like - plus the fight was a belter) Tommy Armour's nephew works as a handyman at my workplace, and he fought Gilroy and Caldwell in the amateurs. He's gonna be gutted about the news.
a great fighter from a time when you had to earn your title shots, area champ brittish champ commonwealth champ, then you qualified for a world title shot. is it any wonder modern day so called superstars are retiring after 50 fights. RIP JONNNY CALDWELL.
Great, great little fighter. I had a whole pile of reads on him but i've lost them. He took chances did Johnny. He wasn't big enough for his tilt at Alphonse really, but he dug in and got that job done. He couldn't hold onto that title but he really wasn't big enough for that division - man was a flyweight. Running into Jofre must have been no fun. An underated, underexposed and great British fighter. Rest in peace that man.
Johnny Caldwell was a great fighter, and a decent Irishman. After fighting cancer for so long he had suffered too much...safe journey
Just broke the news to my dad. A real shock for someone like my dad who will always remember John as a young man. John was one of the top bantams(world champ) of those great days. A gentleman outside the ring and a tiger inside it. A little man with a big heart. Deepest condolences to all his family Alan Rudkin and family.
