knockout artist wrote:Jim Watt - Charlie Nash, was an exciting if brief (but religiously charged) affair.
Anyone remember that fight?
Yeah, Jim got off the floor to win - great little fight. I remember Chris Sanigar v Sid Smith in the early 80's was an absolute war. A small hall classic that many were calling the best domestic scrap they'd ever seen.
Rocky Kelly was in a lot of domestic wars too: every time out it seemed!
Benn v Eubank 1 of course.
Probably my favorite, just for the highly charged atmosphere and multiple knockdowns, was Mark Kaylor v Errol Christe - and Kaylor v Gumbs wasn't too bad either.
knockout artist wrote:Jim Watt - Charlie Nash, was an exciting if brief (but religiously charged) affair.
Anyone remember that fight?
Yeah, Jim got off the floor to win - great little fight. I remember Chris Sanigar v Sid Smith in the early 80's was an absolute war. A small hall classic that many were calling the best domestic scrap they'd ever seen.
Rocky Kelly was in a lot of domestic wars too: every time out it seemed!
Benn v Eubank 1 of course.
Probably my favorite, just for the highly charged atmosphere and multiple knockdowns, was Mark Kaylor v Errol Christe - and Kaylor v Gumbs wasn't too bad either.
Kaylor v Gumbs was a great fight, great atmosphere.
One of my best mates was on the undercard and I seem to remember him winning. He tried to console Gumbs after in the dressing room, to no avail, Roy was gutted, he wanted to fight Hagler.
knockout artist wrote:
Kaylor v Gumbs was a great fight, great atmosphere.
One of my best mates was on the undercard and I seem to remember him winning. He tried to console Gumbs after in the dressing room, to no avail, Roy was gutted, he wanted to fight Hagler.
Yes Roy was all lined up for a shot at Hagler. Nearly won too, knocking Kaylor down. But Mark showed his bigger heart, by getting off the canvas and nailing Gumbs with his first punch: he won the fight right there.
The first fight was undoubtedly the most special all British fight I've ever seen, not just a great fight, but the way Ayers petitioned the referee to step in and stop the carnage, one of the most emotional fights I've ever seen.
knockout artist wrote:Lucas was the roughest meanest bastard (i mean that as a compliment) I have ever seen. My old man took me to see Sibbo - Lucas, 1st pro card i ever went to.
There was real needle before during and afetr the fight and at the weigh in. Ive still got the Evening Standard coverage of it. Back in those days it was a massive massive fight, 2 full pages in most papers. Now it would get an inch square if at all.
Sibbo was great that night - He was one of those fighters; already a man when he was a young kid. He nearly decapitated Lucas, IMO Wally Thom the ref, let it go on a bit too long, but Lucas went out on his sheild.
Yes, I remember you saying it was the first fight you saw from ringside. If you never went to another fight, you would have still seen it all.
When Harry carpenter picked his all-time favourite fights a while back, Sibson-Lucas was among them. I can still remember the picture in BN of Sibson tagging Lucas as the Croydon puncher crumbled for the third and final knockdown by the ropes. Frankie still complained when Thom called if off. Sibson's punching that night was scary. He was a man of moods, Tony, and that translated to his boxing career. If he was in the mood, he could take a man's head off. I would call him the most powerful British middleweight since Randolph Turpin.
PS: Frankie Lucas and John Conteh's sparring sessions were better than many fights.
I'd agree about Sibson being the most powerful since Turpin, who died before I was born?
Sibbo was a converted southpaw, so his left hook was awesome, as was his upper body strength.
Do you know, I had no idea, or must have completely forgot that Conteh and Lucas sparred. But they were, of course, both under the tutelage of the late great George Francis.
Tell me, Bennie did Sibbo turn pro at light middle? I seem to remember that he did but looking back he seemed huge.
Do you know what he is up to now? I havent heard about him for years.
I only ever seem to remember Tony boxing at middleweight, but he certainly fought a few light-middles in his early career and was held to a draw by former British light-middleweight champion Pat Thomas of course, so your memory is probably far better than mine. Incidentally, he licked Herol Graham as an amateur.
He's now living down south on the coast somewhere, having moved out of Leicestershire quite recently. He made huge money buying large houses and renovating them.
bennie wrote:
Yes, I remember you saying it was the first fight you saw from ringside. If you never went to another fight, you would have still seen it all.
When Harry carpenter picked his all-time favourite fights a while back, Sibson-Lucas was among them. I can still remember the picture in BN of Sibson tagging Lucas as the Croydon puncher crumbled for the third and final knockdown by the ropes. Frankie still complained when Thom called if off. Sibson's punching that night was scary. He was a man of moods, Tony, and that translated to his boxing career. If he was in the mood, he could take a man's head off. I would call him the most powerful British middleweight since Randolph Turpin.
PS: Frankie Lucas and John Conteh's sparring sessions were better than many fights.
I'd agree about Sibson being the most powerful since Turpin, who died before I was born?
Sibbo was a converted southpaw, so his left hook was awesome, as was his upper body strength.
Do you know, I had no idea, or must have completely forgot that Conteh and Lucas sparred. But they were, of course, both under the tutelage of the late great George Francis.
Tell me, Bennie did Sibbo turn pro at light middle? I seem to remember that he did but looking back he seemed huge.
Do you know what he is up to now? I havent heard about him for years.
I only ever seem to remember Tony boxing at middleweight, but he certainly fought a few light-middles in his early career and was held to a draw by former British light-middleweight champion Pat Thomas of course, so your memory is probably far better than mine. Incidentally, he licked Herol Graham as an amateur.
He's now living down south on the coast somewhere, having moved out of Leicestershire quite recently. He made huge money buying large houses and renovating them.
Yes that's what I had heard to Bennie, I'm sure his son(s) are ver good Rugby players. Last I heard Sibbo would REALLY struggle to make the Middleweight limit thses;s days.
Been told by a mate who's met him he's a nice bloke.
wayne alexander v paul samuels - love that fight its a 3rd slugfest and the finish from wayno is devastating.
benn-eubank 1 most definitely is up there with all the gr8 fights. the 2nd fight was poor i think maybe i was judging it to harshly going by the 1st fight but the 2nd fight is always a let down for me.
Yes Feeney/Cattouse was a classic.
Remember when old George took on undefeated hotshot Tony Willis in the 80's?
Willis had looked all but perfect in the run up, like a future world title challenger at least. He'd beaten very tough opponents on his way up and was a hot favorite that night.
Then Feeney amazingly blew him away in one round.
A real shocker that was.
MightyWarrior wrote:Yes Feeney/Cattouse was a classic.
Remember when old George took on undefeated hotshot Tony Willis in the 80's?
Willis had looked all but perfect in the run up, like a future world title challenger at least. He'd beaten very tough opponents on his way up and was a hot favorite that night.
Then Feeney amazingly blew him away in one round.
A real shocker that was.
knockout artist wrote:Jim Watt - Charlie Nash, was an exciting if brief (but religiously charged) affair.
Anyone remember that fight?
Yeah, Jim got off the floor to win - great little fight. I remember Chris Sanigar v Sid Smith in the early 80's was an absolute war. A small hall classic that many were calling the best domestic scrap they'd ever seen.
Rocky Kelly was in a lot of domestic wars too: every time out it seemed!
Benn v Eubank 1 of course.
Probably my favorite, just for the highly charged atmosphere and multiple knockdowns, was Mark Kaylor v Errol Christe - and Kaylor v Gumbs wasn't too bad either.
Kaylor v Gumbs was a great fight, great atmosphere.
One of my best mates was on the undercard and I seem to remember him winning. He tried to console Gumbs after in the dressing room, to no avail, Roy was gutted, he wanted to fight Hagler.
Gumbs was an underrated fighter. He ended the career of Frankie Lucas and could have been brought back after the Kaylor loss, but was chucked in with Lindell Holmes.
Gumbs was one of my favorite fighters. Something about him just suggested he'd been to hell and back, and was making one last run at success. Shame he was derailed before a shot at the big bucks. Won a few in Canada I recall.
And what a fight Sibson/Lucas was. I used to have a tape of that and it was a real classic. The guy just didn't know when he was beat.
Great story by George Francis, about conning Sibson's team ( or Duff maybe ) into thinking his light heavy, Lotte Mwale, was a non puncher.
They made the match and Lotte sparked Sibson in about 90 seconds!
MightyWarrior wrote:Gumbs was one of my favorite fighters. Something about him just suggested he'd been to hell and back, and was making one last run at success. Shame he was derailed before a shot at the big bucks. Won a few in Canada I recall.
And what a fight Sibson/Lucas was. I used to have a tape of that and it was a real classic. The guy just didn't know when he was beat.
Great story by George Francis, about conning Sibson's team ( or Duff maybe ) into thinking his light heavy, Lotte Mwale, was a non puncher.
They made the match and Lotte sparked Sibson in about 90 seconds!
Yeah, funnily enough Sibson didn't bring his power up with him. Many tipped him to beat Dennis Andries, but it was no contest really. But the jump from middle to light-heavy (over a stone) is massive.
The late Ernie Fossey always insisted that Sibson would have taken out Chris Eubank.
MightyWarrior wrote:Gumbs was one of my favorite fighters. Something about him just suggested he'd been to hell and back, and was making one last run at success. Shame he was derailed before a shot at the big bucks. Won a few in Canada I recall.
And what a fight Sibson/Lucas was. I used to have a tape of that and it was a real classic. The guy just didn't know when he was beat.
Great story by George Francis, about conning Sibson's team ( or Duff maybe ) into thinking his light heavy, Lotte Mwale, was a non puncher.
They made the match and Lotte sparked Sibson in about 90 seconds!
Yeah, funnily enough Sibson didn't bring his power up with him. Many tipped him to beat Dennis Andries, but it was no contest really. But the jump from middle to light-heavy (over a stone) is massive.
The late Ernie Fossey always insisted that Sibson would have taken out Chris Eubank.
Am I right in thinking that Sibson was caught with lead weights in his pockets at the weigh-in for his title fight with Dennis Andries?
