Dennis Andries

[Taansend]

Hello Chaps, does anyone have any info on what the great man is up to these days?

Many regards

[hurlock]

A friend told me the saw him on the crossrail tunnelling project at canning town.

[bigjack]

I loved Dennis,not the most skilled fighter but amazingly strong and fit with a great chin and a triple WBC champ

[Rexob]

Thought he was still boxing? wouldnt suprise me! tough old gun him

[Bodyshot3]

A friend told me the saw him on the crossrail tunnelling project at canning town.

Kind of hope that is not the case Hurlock.....if you're an ex-WBC kingpin whose been in with Harding 3 times and been to war with Hearns then you've earned yourself some quality pipe & slippers time! But then again, Dennis was always a grafter and is still probably fitter than most 25 year-old blokes. Those battles with Harding were more than a bit special.....

[hurlock]

He lived off his fight money & he wouldn't of earnt fortunes!
12hr slogs that job is & they graft in all conditions but I'd say he'd be getting an ok wage for it

[Bodyshot3]

He lived off his fight money & he wouldn't of earnt fortunes!
12hr slogs that job is & they graft in all conditions but I'd say he'd be getting an ok wage for it

Agreed and if he is doing a shift there...he deserves everything he gets. He's over 60 now!

I'd hate to think Dennis did not get some good dosh for at least some of those fights...especially the rematch with Harding in Australia, which was a very big fight and then going back to Oz to beat Guy Waters as well.

But boxing is a bloody hard business and maybe Dennis did not always get or seek out the best advice to grow his ring money.

Either way...I wish him the best.

[dalcumly]

Tony Sibson and I went to Cardiff for a book signing event in 2013. Dennis had been there a few months before for a 'boxing evening' and I know all the Welsh punters thought the world of him. I remarked that if I wanted somebody I could rely on in the trenches it would be Dennis Andries.

I remember Tony telling me ( and its in the book) that immediately after his loss to Andries for the WBC title, Dennis came up to him and wanted him to have a 'shot ' at wearing the belt!! Tony initially thought he was 'at it' but very quickly realised that Andries was being genuinely thoughtful ( in his own way) and it was basically a kind gesture. I never forgot that.

[Taansend]

Thanks for the replies.

[Shirow]

A friend told me the saw him on the crossrail tunnelling project at canning town.

Could well be, i saw him walking through Canning Town station a while ago. I was going to the Peacock Gym and asked if he had been in there. He hadn't so i thought maybe he had been to TKO. Maybe he had just been working, still looked in excellent shape.

[Old bones Ian]

Good article about Dennis here, i like the story of him not getting fights so he used to make it look like he wasn't training properly , then train in secret an amateur gym. So his opponents would think they'd get an ill prepared boxer to face

http://theboxingtribune.com/2013/08/den ... -champion/

[milpool]

Bunce has been trying to track him down for his ESPN podcast.
Hasn't managed to get hold of him yet.

[stevieb_8006]

The Harding fights were what got me hooked on boxing. Legend.

[mickey1975]

Bunce has been trying to track him down for his ESPN podcast.
Hasn't managed to get hold of him yet.

He loves not been able to get hold of people so he can pretend they are really elusive and he's moved heaven and earth to track them down. It's the intro to most of his articles on ex fighters! I know where he is already just from reading this and I'm 200 miles away!

[GlobalBox]

Remember being there the night he won the world title against JB Williamson in deepest Edmonton north london, I was jumping around like a lunatic, he just kept coming and coming
typical Dennis, he epitomised for me what a boxer should and could be, he was a credit to his sport, in the ring, he gave everything and then found extra from somewhere.

Not many around like him today to be honest.

I wish him all the best, one of my best memories.

[Counter-puncher]

Bunce has been trying to track him down for his ESPN podcast.
Hasn't managed to get hold of him yet.

He loves not been able to get hold of people so he can pretend they are really elusive and he's moved heaven and earth to track them down. It's the intro to most of his articles on ex fighters! I know where he is already just from reading this and I'm 200 miles away!

[bennie]

I watched Dennis spark a very good fighter by the name of Karl Canwell in four rounds in London in February 1983. He made it look astonishingly easy but it was the start of a fabulous run for Andries, culminating in the WBC light-heavyweight title and the big Hearns fight.

[bripez]

Good article about Dennis here, i like the story of him not getting fights so he used to make it look like he wasn't training properly , then train in secret an amateur gym. So his opponents would think they'd get an ill prepared boxer to face

http://theboxingtribune.com/2013/08/den ... -champion/

Good article - Andries is one of my favourite British boxers, his life is like a real life Rocky film.

I join the others in hoping that he is keeping well.

[Controversial]

Former heavyweight Justin Fortune (stopped by Lennox Lewis in 4) was asked this question.

Q: You fought Lennox Lewis, but you mentioned to me that Dennis Andries hit you the hardest. What were the circumstances?

Justin Fortune: We were just sparring. We used to work in the same gym in London. Dennis hit me with a f**k'n shot; it was just unbelievable! Next round, I put his teeth through his lip. But, Jesus, he hit me the hardest I've ever been hit. F**k'n, it was with a headgear on and 16-ounce gloves. So, I have a whole new respect for Jeff Harding, because Harding fought him with ten's and went three times 12 rounds.

[Taansend]

Former heavyweight Justin Fortune (stopped by Lennox Lewis in 4) was asked this question.

Q: You fought Lennox Lewis, but you mentioned to me that Dennis Andries hit you the hardest. What were the circumstances?

Justin Fortune: We were just sparring. We used to work in the same gym in London. Dennis hit me with a f**k'n shot; it was just unbelievable! Next round, I put his teeth through his lip. But, Jesus, he hit me the hardest I've ever been hit. F**k'n, it was with a headgear on and 16-ounce gloves. So, I have a whole new respect for Jeff Harding, because Harding fought him with ten's and went three times 12 rounds.

I thought Dennis stopped Harding in the 2nd bout.

I can still remember the Boxing News cover before their first fight. It was the same week that Gary Mason was fighting Jess Harding and it read HARD TIMES AHEAD FOR THE HARDINGS.

Funny, I can barely remember what I did yesterday but I can still picture the front page of a boxing mag from over 25 years ago.

[bigjack]

Former heavyweight Justin Fortune (stopped by Lennox Lewis in 4) was asked this question.

Q: You fought Lennox Lewis, but you mentioned to me that Dennis Andries hit you the hardest. What were the circumstances?

Justin Fortune: We were just sparring. We used to work in the same gym in London. Dennis hit me with a f**k'n shot; it was just unbelievable! Next round, I put his teeth through his lip. But, Jesus, he hit me the hardest I've ever been hit. F**k'n, it was with a headgear on and 16-ounce gloves. So, I have a whole new respect for Jeff Harding, because Harding fought him with ten's and went three times 12 rounds.

I thought Dennis stopped Harding in the 2nd bout.

I can still remember the Boxing News cover before their first fight. It was the same week that Gary Mason was fighting Jess Harding and it read HARD TIMES AHEAD FOR THE HARDINGS.

Funny, I can barely remember what I did yesterday but I can still picture the front page of a boxing mag from over 25 years ago.

He did ko Harding in the second fight with one of the biggest haymakers you have ever seen,check it out if you want a laugh

[Bodyshot3]

Harding....who has always struck me as a sound bloke and has overcome a few problems of his own with the grog....has given a few top interviews about his triology with Dennis and how full-on it was to face him.

Can't find the article on-line but I think Jeff gave an interview at a WBC Convention to Boxing Monthly (or maybe Boxing News) and he was completely upfront about the fact that his trainer Johnny Lewis was adamant that the deciding fight in London just could not be another war and they would rethink things...

....they were not going to go back in the trenches with Dennis for a third time and would box that night. Considering what an elite hard-nut Harding was in his own right, that showed you exactly what Andries was about.

[Noxy]

I was a big fan of Andries as well. I remember his fight with Hearns, Dennis was outclassed but that didn't stop him coming. He was a fighter's fighter, I've loads of respect for him.

[Controversial]

Former heavyweight Justin Fortune (stopped by Lennox Lewis in 4) was asked this question.

Q: You fought Lennox Lewis, but you mentioned to me that Dennis Andries hit you the hardest. What were the circumstances?

Justin Fortune: We were just sparring. We used to work in the same gym in London. Dennis hit me with a f**k'n shot; it was just unbelievable! Next round, I put his teeth through his lip. But, Jesus, he hit me the hardest I've ever been hit. F**k'n, it was with a headgear on and 16-ounce gloves. So, I have a whole new respect for Jeff Harding, because Harding fought him with ten's and went three times 12 rounds.

I thought Dennis stopped Harding in the 2nd bout.

He did. Andries obviously hit Fortune so hard in sparring that Fortune imagined all the Harding fights went 12 rounds, lol

[bennie]

You know, Andries was paid a relative pittance for his trip into the Lion's Den to face the mighty Hearns. He got $100,000.