How many of you ever saw Horace Notice in action, or should I say, have taken notice to Horace? As you well know, he was a prospect between 1983-1988. He acquired the British commonwealth heavyweight title, which he defended several times. Apparently, he fought out of the same Terry Lawless stable that produced such fighters as Gary Mason and Frank Bruno. Notice compiled a record of 16-0-0-12, but retired due to an eye injury of sorts in 1988. What can you tell us yanks about him?
From what I can remember he was a solid heavyweight by British standards, although not as good as Mason or Bruno. Strong guy, decent punch and boxing skills. Not world class.
He was a solid fighter but untested against world class opposition. He put his punches together well, wore his opponents down. He wasn't particularly fast considering his size (205 pounds), as I remember, but he was always in great condition. He didn't have any obvious outstanding attributes but look decent as an all-rounder, so it's very hard to say how he would have done if he stepped up against world-class fighters. He might have been utterly ordinary and over-matched, or he might have been a tough test for some of the top guys, I dont know. He was probably at his peak when he retired, he was already 30 or 31. All things considered I think he might have been as good as or better than Gary Mason at that time, but he certainly wasn't capable of beating Bruno.
Nice summary, although I have never really seen Horace Notice fight, or even any clips of him. He seems to have been a forgotten entity, if he was ever known to begin with. Apparently, Frank Bruno, Gary Mason and Horace Notice all sparred together during the 1980's under the instruction of Terry Lawless, or so I've heard. Notice looks well conditioned in some of the photographs I've seen, and seems proportionate at 6'2", 205 ( about the same size as Evander Holyfield was in 1988 ). Given the fact that he was well conditioned, worked with a reputable trainer and manager, was undefeated and beat average or half way decent comp, its possible that the may have competed well in the late 80's with worn versions of James Tillis and Pinklon Thomas, or even faired well against some guys like Willie Dewitt, Bert Cooper or James Pritchard.
I saw Notice live against Dean Waters (should of been McKenzie/Chitalada), he was OK. Horace's problem was size he weighed 14 stone (196) which was basically a Cruiser even back then. Although he proved himself by far the better of the two over the course of their fights, the fact that Hughroy Currie decked him meant Horace probably was not going to become a world class fighter. But he did not deserve what happened to him; boxing fans at their worse.
Notice was a good HW and back then with so many rated challengers and belt holders basically totally out of condition and fat (Page, Spoon, Tubbs, Bey) then it was always good to see someone acting professionally. Possibly the greatest British talent at that time, and never spoken about today was Rudi Pika. An absolute top fighter.
I do not see Pika hitting hard enough to get above British level. He was not without ability, but never really (wanted to?) test(ed) himself as a pro.
Fair comment about his power but he was clearly a better boxer than anyone else coming out of Europe at that time. He wasn't a puncher but neither was Bugner and Pika was a better prospect than Joe. When you see the likes of Tubbs winning belts and an uninterested Page then I think Pika would have been a solid contender/belt winner... Pretty tragic, all in all...
