Michael Ayers vs Wayne Rigby

[emallini]

Who remembers this classic? Great times

[black panther]

Who remembers this classic? Great times

Wow this takes me back. What a war Two hard, hard men.

[Bazooka el cholo]

Great fight.. gladiators for sure. A good friend of mine and gym mate at the time actually beat both of these guys but never even got a central area title shot!

[bripez]

Wow this takes me back. What a war Two hard, hard men.

Yeah me too - he was in some wars was Rigby

[bripez]

Great fight.. gladiators for sure. A good friend of mine and gym mate at the time actually beat both of these guys but never even got a central area title shot!

Who was that mate, what were his circumstances?

[Bazooka el cholo]

Who was that mate, what were his circumstances?

It was roger Sampson from Sheffield bripez.. he w9 L3. He was extremely tricky but also deceptively physically strong without been a puncher if you know what I mean? He was a 50/50 amateur who learnt his trade well. He started with Glyn Rhodes and boxed for Brendan also. The Ayers fight was late notice and while the decision was contentious I thought he’d got it. Then he boxed Wayne when Wayne was probably done and beat him well... very unlucky v Bradley welsh in Scotland and also his last fight v Scott Lawton.. the one fight he genuinely lost b I took him in.. and he hasn’t let me forget it since

[bripez]

It was roger Sampson from Sheffield bripez.. he w9 L3. He was extremely tricky but also deceptively physically strong without been a puncher if you know what I mean? He was a 50/50 amateur who learnt his trade well. He started with Glyn Rhodes and boxed for Brendan also. The Ayers fight was late notice and while the decision was contentious I thought he’d got it. Then he boxed Wayne when Wayne was probably done and beat him well... very unlucky v Bradley welsh in Scotland and also his last fight v Scott Lawton.. the one fight he genuinely lost b I took him in.. and he hasn’t let me forget it since

Nice one, really good old school record there - 10 of his 12 opponents had winning records.

How come he packed in? - the Lawton fight was points ?

[Bazooka el cholo]

Nice one, really good old school record there - 10 of his 12 opponents had winning records.

How come he packed in? - the Lawton fight was points ?

The usual mate... he didn’t think he was getting opportunities, new business big family 5 kids all boxed inc girl! He now a very good trainer in his own right runs his pro-am gym between work.. he trains FWs new middleweight shak Thompson since his 1st school bout also former English champ Lewis Taylor among others..

[Old bones Ian]

Ayers was a tough boxer who could punch, showed sportsmanship at the end against Rigby, trying to get the ref to stop it.
I think Ayers should of got a big fight, but maybe he wasn’t a big ticket seller, he seemed to of got looked over in the world scene.

[Nightmare Roy]

Used to have this on DVD, remember them things? Maybe it was even VHS

[markinmidd]

Remember watching this, always followed Wayne’s fights with him
Being local . What a fighter as is Michael

[MightyWarrior]

Used to go to school with Michael, known as Mickey Ayers back then, still see him around the west London Chiswick / Acton pubs, hangs out with a pretty dodgy looking crowd to be honest.
A right hard man.

[Coco]

Used to go to school with Michael, known as Mickey Ayers back then, still see him around the west London Chiswick / Acton pubs, hangs out with a pretty dodgy looking crowd to be honest.
A right hard man.

In the ghettos of Chisick! Has he moved out of Tooting? Did you go to Hillcroft?

[MightyWarrior]

Don’t know about tooting mate but he’s definitely from the mean streets of Chiswick originally.

[Espada]

Can't remember the pub I used to go to in Chiswick but he went there a lot was a good boxer Ayers and had some great fights

[THEBUTCH]

Ayers first win over Rigby was about as thrilling and dramatic as they come. IMO Ayers was already in decline at that point, but still showed what an incredible fighter he was.

Probably the best British lightweight of his era that included Billy Schwer, Colin Dunne, Wayne Rigby, Bobby Vanzie, Paul Burke amongst others.

His win over Colin Dunne remains my favourite Britsh title fight ever. There was huge excitement in the trade over this fight and the fight itself actually exceeded the anticipation.
A truly pulsating battle with Ayers finally grinding down Dunne late on. How Ayers managed to crank up the pace as they entered the last 3rd of the fight after such a punishing war was breathtaking.

The losses to Sampson and Maynard were poor decisions IMO and at that stage of Ayers career 6 and even 8 rounders did him no favours. Michael was a true championship fighter.

Barry Hearn as with many of the very good fighters he had, didn't do a good job with Ayres career. For such a talent to only have the Southern Area and British titles to show for his efforts, speaks volumes for Hearns' uselessness ! The other titles meant nothing, Ayres just figured in some good fights that were never going to get him the recognition he should have been guaranteed.

How Hearns failed to get Ayers his WBO world title shot after beating Dunne (when Shakka was at his peak) was shocking mis-management. Matchroom were great at offering up a still green Ayers to a very good Giovanni Paresi, in Italy, to beat...and even then Michael performed very well.

[bennie]

Ayers broke through as ABA lightweight champion for the All Stars club, taking a hard-earned decision over Darlington's talented Alan Hall at Wembley in 1987. Hall outboxed him in the first and third rounds but Michael nailed him in the second and dropped him twice. Personally, I thought Hall had done enough but Michael's big middle round had obviously piled up the points and got him home. He was then stepped up to international level and struggled for a while, including a loss to Michael Carruth, before suddenly switching to the pro ranks in 1989. I watched him blast out someone on the night Lennox Lewis turned pro in London in 1989 but I wasn't sure of him until he stopped Peter Till in a thrilling encounter on the ill-fated Eubank-Watson rematch at White Hart Lane in September 1991 in a British title eliminator. Till was losing fights around that time but he was really up for Ayers because he was a Spurs fan and he kept rallying whenever Michael threatened to overwhelm him. At one point, he climbed up from a knockdown and dropped Ayers with the very next punch. In the end, Michael got to him with body shots but he was steered away from the British title and took a crack at the WBO lightweight title held by Giovanni Parisi in Italy, who outboxed him fairly easily and dropped him with a big right hand. Ultimately, Michael went back to the British title, once Billy Schwer had stepped up to European level, and really made his mark. Strong, heavy handed, relentless fighter, with plenty of bottle.

[Coco]

He was always billed from Tooting, perhaps he was just born there as he won his ABA title boxing for All Stars, and a few posters are talking about him being seen around West London.

[bennie]

He definitely went to school in Chiswick because Mighty Warrior told me that way back in the 1980s before the internet had even been invented. He told me Michael was quiet at school and never looked for trouble, although he obviously had a real presence and people left well alone.