5 live boxing with Bunce

[THEBUTCH]

Their 'End of year awards with Josh Warrington' podcast is a cracking listen

3 real boxing men and their knowledge, opinions and side-ways view of the sport are there for all to hear

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Has Warrington retired ? Not been out all year.

[mickey1975]

Has Warrington retired ? Not been out all year.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but we’re in a pandemic, which isn’t good for a fighter who trades on his fans. Switched promoters as well.

[THEBUTCH]

Warrington speaks about his 2020 and is looking forward to 2021.

Josh is really good on the podcast.

[THEBUTCH]

Superb Podcast with Frank Maloney up now to listen or download free.

Maloney has some highly entertaining and hilarious stories from his time in boxing. Costello & Bunce work a treat together coaxing shared memories out of Maloney.

Mickey Duff, Don King, Lennox Lewis, Ian Honeywood (one for Bennie there), Frank W@rren, John Mugabi, Mike Barrett, Eugene Maloney, Gary Mason, Rock Newman all get a mention or two.

Absolutely fascinating stuff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p095ryn7

[Oiky]

Will give it a listen now

[mickey1975]

Yesterday’s was good with Spinks and Kinihan.

[bennie]

Superb Podcast with Frank Maloney up now to listen or download free.

Maloney has some highly entertaining and hilarious stories from his time in boxing. Costello & Bunce work a treat together coaxing shared memories out of Maloney.

Mickey Duff, Don King, Lennox Lewis, Ian Honeywood (one for Bennie there), Frank W@rren, John Mugabi, Mike Barrett, Eugene Maloney, Gary Mason, Rock Newman all get a mention or two.

Absolutely fascinating stuff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p095ryn7

Ian Honeywood is a blast from the past. The Cambridge brawler went in with everyone and gave unbeaten Nigel Wenton a war for three rounds at the Albert Hall in early 1989, before a cut eye ruled him out, much to the crowd's dismay. He found some real form under Frank Maloney, winning the Southern Area lightweight title on the Watson-Benn undercard at Finsbury Park and boxing on a Lennox Lewis bill in Canada, where he dropped a disputed eight-round decision to local man John Kalbhenn, who had gone the full 12 rounds with Najib Daho in a Commonwealth title shot.
Honeywood got a Commonwealth title shot of his own against lightweight holder Carl Crook but found the Chorley stylist too good. Ian was no fancy Dan but he made it to the ABA quarter-finals at Gloucester in 1984, where he was outscored by the wild-swinging Kevin Taylor (who went on to win the ABA featherweight title) and deserved his shot at Crook. Nothing about the man was dull.

[(craig)]

Superb Podcast with Frank Maloney up now to listen or download free.

Maloney has some highly entertaining and hilarious stories from his time in boxing. Costello & Bunce work a treat together coaxing shared memories out of Maloney.

Mickey Duff, Don King, Lennox Lewis, Ian Honeywood (one for Bennie there), Frank W@rren, John Mugabi, Mike Barrett, Eugene Maloney, Gary Mason, Rock Newman all get a mention or two.

Absolutely fascinating stuff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p095ryn7

They got Kellie on to celebrate LGBTQ week

"I think it is absolutely disgusting that women are being allowed to fight.

"If anything happens during a women's fight there will be calls for a ban and all those left-wing, do-gooder lesbians who have been fighting Jane Couch's case will be the first to complain.

"The only women you'll find in a ring at one of my fights are very pretty ring-card girls." - Frank Maloney

He did more to prevent diversity in boxing than most.

[THEBUTCH]

bennie, I wasn't aware until listening to the podcast, but the Ian Honeywood reference from Maloney was because he was his first champion (Southern Area title)


(craig), one assumes Maloney would cringe if he read that quote now

[bennie]

bennie, I wasn't aware until listening to the podcast, but the Ian Honeywood reference from Maloney was because he was his first champion (Southern Area title)


(craig), one assumes Maloney would cringe if he read that quote now

I didn't know it either but the Southern Area title was a decent title when Honeywood won it in 1989. In the same year, Matchroom produced its first ever champion in Mark Reefer, who outscored Zambia's John Sichula over 12 hard rounds at York Hall for the Commonwealth super-featherweight title.

[Coco]

Superb Podcast with Frank Maloney up now to listen or download free.

Maloney has some highly entertaining and hilarious stories from his time in boxing. Costello & Bunce work a treat together coaxing shared memories out of Maloney.

Mickey Duff, Don King, Lennox Lewis, Ian Honeywood (one for Bennie there), Frank W@rren, John Mugabi, Mike Barrett, Eugene Maloney, Gary Mason, Rock Newman all get a mention or two.

Absolutely fascinating stuff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p095ryn7

Ian Honeywood is a blast from the past. The Cambridge brawler went in with everyone and gave unbeaten Nigel Wenton a war for three rounds at the Albert Hall in early 1989, before a cut eye ruled him out, much to the crowd's dismay. He found some real form under Frank Maloney, winning the Southern Area lightweight title on the Watson-Benn undercard at Finsbury Park and boxing on a Lennox Lewis bill in Canada, where he dropped a disputed eight-round decision to local man John Kalbhenn, who had gone the full 12 rounds with Najib Daho in a Commonwealth title shot.
Honeywood got a Commonwealth title shot of his own against lightweight holder Carl Crook but found the Chorley stylist too good. Ian was no fancy Dan but he made it to the ABA quarter-finals at Gloucester in 1984, where he was outscored by the wild-swinging Kevin Taylor (who went on to win the ABA featherweight title) and deserved his shot at Crook. Nothing about the man was dull.

I remember Maloney saying that getting Honeywood a title shot was one of his biggest achievements in boxing

[THEBUTCH]

Title shots were still fairly hard earned in 1989 and were a special occasion. TBH an Area title fight still is to me !

I remember really wanting to go and see Honeywood defend his Southern Area title against Woolwich's Paul Gadney...but didn't have the dosh at the time

I seem to recall Maloney thinking quite highly of Gadney. I always enjoyed watching him.

[THEBUTCH]

And that's another blast from the past....Mark Reefer ! I used to love watching Reefer in his battles for the Commonwealth title and a classic with Mo Hussein

Reefer had a cracking left hook on him.

[bennie]

Reefer could have been special but he was cursed with a chin problem in the way Vernon Sollas was cursed. Reefer completely blacked out when he 'went', sometimes on his feet. He was beating Mo Hussein in a cracking contest when Hussein got through in the 10th round and Mark, suddenly gone, had to be rescued by the referee. He was also beating a useful Frenchman by the name of Belaid Khaldi when Khaldi unloaded some big shots in the fourth round and Reefer never recovered. Sadly, once his head cleared, Reefer wanted to carry on fighting. Robert Dickie floored and stopped him in the first round and Mark, after the stoppage, jumped up and had to be restrained by his corner. Dickie took it the wrong way and walked over to Reefer and offered him a fight on the cobbles.
There were good nights, too. Reefer could really wallop and wreaked havoc in the lightweight ranks prior to his shot at Hussein for the Commonwealth title and his form against Hussein, a tremendously strong fighter, was incredible up to the sudden finish. Hussein was so badly cut he required a doctor's inspection at one point and Mark began celebrating in a neutral corner. Hussein spotted him and growled at him as if to say, "I'm not beaten yet." He wasn't.
Mark then dropped down to super-featherweight and rattled off some fine wins, including a bruising decision over the Zambian John Sichula for the Commonwealth title and crushing defences of that title against Ghana's Sam Akromah and Manchester's Sugar Gibiliru, who went down and out from a brilliant Reefer right uppercut. Then came a stupid match against Argentina's seasoned and durable Pedro Armando Gutierrez, who had never been stopped in 80 fights, and Reefer was badly knocked out in the 12th and final round at the Albert Hall. You can see ringsiders pleading with Belgian referee Bob Logist to stop it before Gutierrez lands a final big right hand that puts Reefer down on his face. Logist was not the best referee in the world.
Mark was never the same after that and boxed just three more times, two of them losses, before the Board pulled his licence. They also pulled the licence of Vernon Sollas back in the 1970s after he was knocked out by the light-hitting Dave Needham in Wolverhampton. Sollas was out for 20 minutes.
Happily, both Reefer and Sollas are fine today.

[Controversial]

Reefer could have been special but he was cursed with a chin problem in the way Vernon Sollas was cursed. Reefer completely blacked out when he 'went', sometimes on his feet. He was beating Mo Hussein in a cracking contest when Hussein got through in the 10th round and Mark, suddenly gone, had to be rescued by the referee. He was also beating a useful Frenchman by the name of Belaid Khaldi when Khaldi unloaded some big shots in the fourth round and Reefer never recovered. Sadly, once his head cleared, Reefer wanted to carry on fighting. Robert Dickie floored and stopped him in the first round and Mark, after the stoppage, jumped up and had to be restrained by his corner. Dickie took it the wrong way and walked over to Reefer and offered him a fight on the cobbles.
There were good nights, too. Reefer could really wallop and wreaked havoc in the lightweight ranks prior to his shot at Hussein for the Commonwealth title and his form against Hussein, a tremendously strong fighter, was incredible up to the sudden finish. Hussein was so badly cut he required a doctor's inspection at one point and Mark began celebrating in a neutral corner. Hussein spotted him and growled at him as if to say, "I'm not beaten yet." He wasn't.
Mark then dropped down to super-featherweight and rattled off some fine wins, including a bruising decision over the Zambian John Sichula for the Commonwealth title and crushing defences of that title against Ghana's Sam Akromah and Manchester's Sugar Gibiliru, who went down and out from a brilliant Reefer right uppercut. Then came a stupid match against Argentina's seasoned and durable Pedro Armando Gutierrez, who had never been stopped in 80 fights, and Reefer was badly knocked out in the 12th and final round at the Albert Hall. You can see ringsiders pleading with Belgian referee Bob Logist to stop it before Gutierrez lands a final big right hand that puts Reefer down on his face. Logist was not the best referee in the world.
Mark was never the same after that and boxed just three more times, two of them losses, before the Board pulled his licence. They also pulled the licence of Vernon Sollas back in the 1970s after he was knocked out by the light-hitting Dave Needham in Wolverhampton. Sollas was out for 20 minutes.
Happily, both Reefer and Sollas are fine today.

Love your posts Bennie, always informative and detailed

[Coco]

Reefer could have been special but he was cursed with a chin problem in the way Vernon Sollas was cursed. Reefer completely blacked out when he 'went', sometimes on his feet. He was beating Mo Hussein in a cracking contest when Hussein got through in the 10th round and Mark, suddenly gone, had to be rescued by the referee. He was also beating a useful Frenchman by the name of Belaid Khaldi when Khaldi unloaded some big shots in the fourth round and Reefer never recovered. Sadly, once his head cleared, Reefer wanted to carry on fighting. Robert Dickie floored and stopped him in the first round and Mark, after the stoppage, jumped up and had to be restrained by his corner. Dickie took it the wrong way and walked over to Reefer and offered him a fight on the cobbles.
There were good nights, too. Reefer could really wallop and wreaked havoc in the lightweight ranks prior to his shot at Hussein for the Commonwealth title and his form against Hussein, a tremendously strong fighter, was incredible up to the sudden finish. Hussein was so badly cut he required a doctor's inspection at one point and Mark began celebrating in a neutral corner. Hussein spotted him and growled at him as if to say, "I'm not beaten yet." He wasn't.
Mark then dropped down to super-featherweight and rattled off some fine wins, including a bruising decision over the Zambian John Sichula for the Commonwealth title and crushing defences of that title against Ghana's Sam Akromah and Manchester's Sugar Gibiliru, who went down and out from a brilliant Reefer right uppercut. Then came a stupid match against Argentina's seasoned and durable Pedro Armando Gutierrez, who had never been stopped in 80 fights, and Reefer was badly knocked out in the 12th and final round at the Albert Hall. You can see ringsiders pleading with Belgian referee Bob Logist to stop it before Gutierrez lands a final big right hand that puts Reefer down on his face. Logist was not the best referee in the world.
Mark was never the same after that and boxed just three more times, two of them losses, before the Board pulled his licence. They also pulled the licence of Vernon Sollas back in the 1970s after he was knocked out by the light-hitting Dave Needham in Wolverhampton. Sollas was out for 20 minutes.
Happily, both Reefer and Sollas are fine today.

Love your posts Bennie, always informative and detailed

X2
Robert Dickie sadly passed a few years back

[mickey1975]

Buncey was upset last night with Lara waltzing about, with Wi-Fi, eating buffets in his lovely heated room. He said when he went to Mexico with Holligan to face Chavez they had the air con turned off, every trick in the book done to them. He reckoned Lara should be made to sleep in the kitchen!

[bennie]

Reefer could have been special but he was cursed with a chin problem in the way Vernon Sollas was cursed. Reefer completely blacked out when he 'went', sometimes on his feet. He was beating Mo Hussein in a cracking contest when Hussein got through in the 10th round and Mark, suddenly gone, had to be rescued by the referee. He was also beating a useful Frenchman by the name of Belaid Khaldi when Khaldi unloaded some big shots in the fourth round and Reefer never recovered. Sadly, once his head cleared, Reefer wanted to carry on fighting. Robert Dickie floored and stopped him in the first round and Mark, after the stoppage, jumped up and had to be restrained by his corner. Dickie took it the wrong way and walked over to Reefer and offered him a fight on the cobbles.
There were good nights, too. Reefer could really wallop and wreaked havoc in the lightweight ranks prior to his shot at Hussein for the Commonwealth title and his form against Hussein, a tremendously strong fighter, was incredible up to the sudden finish. Hussein was so badly cut he required a doctor's inspection at one point and Mark began celebrating in a neutral corner. Hussein spotted him and growled at him as if to say, "I'm not beaten yet." He wasn't.
Mark then dropped down to super-featherweight and rattled off some fine wins, including a bruising decision over the Zambian John Sichula for the Commonwealth title and crushing defences of that title against Ghana's Sam Akromah and Manchester's Sugar Gibiliru, who went down and out from a brilliant Reefer right uppercut. Then came a stupid match against Argentina's seasoned and durable Pedro Armando Gutierrez, who had never been stopped in 80 fights, and Reefer was badly knocked out in the 12th and final round at the Albert Hall. You can see ringsiders pleading with Belgian referee Bob Logist to stop it before Gutierrez lands a final big right hand that puts Reefer down on his face. Logist was not the best referee in the world.
Mark was never the same after that and boxed just three more times, two of them losses, before the Board pulled his licence. They also pulled the licence of Vernon Sollas back in the 1970s after he was knocked out by the light-hitting Dave Needham in Wolverhampton. Sollas was out for 20 minutes.
Happily, both Reefer and Sollas are fine today.

Love your posts Bennie, always informative and detailed

X2
Robert Dickie sadly passed a few years back

Still don't know how someone like Robert Dickie can die at the age of 46, although a lot of ex-fighters make up for the years they had to sacrifice by boozing, birding, eating too much and even smoking. I saw former light-welterweight Gary Knight at a boxing event, fag in hand, beer in the other, and with a huge belly.

[Coco]

Love your posts Bennie, always informative and detailed

X2
Robert Dickie sadly passed a few years back

Still don't know how someone like Robert Dickie can die at the age of 46, although a lot of ex-fighters make up for the years they had to sacrifice by boozing, birding, eating too much and even smoking. I saw former light-welterweight Gary Knight at a boxing event, fag in hand, beer in the other, and with a huge belly.

Actually I had bumped into him the week before it happened and he seemed as right as rain, kept himself in decent nick, didn't abuse himself. I don't know whether it was a defect from within the family but it was a heart attack that did it.

[bennie]

X2
Robert Dickie sadly passed a few years back

Still don't know how someone like Robert Dickie can die at the age of 46, although a lot of ex-fighters make up for the years they had to sacrifice by boozing, birding, eating too much and even smoking. I saw former light-welterweight Gary Knight at a boxing event, fag in hand, beer in the other, and with a huge belly.

Actually I had bumped into him the week before it happened and he seemed as right as rain, kept himself in decent nick, didn't abuse himself. I don't know whether it was a defect from within the family but it was a heart attack that did it.

That makes his death even more tragic. I always liked Robert as a fighter and, but for the car crash, he was really going places. He came back and earned a world ranking by winning one of those WBC International titles but Kamel Bou-Ali then butted him out of the title and Robert seemed to lose heart.

[THEBUTCH]

I'd always hoped Dickie and Floyd Havard would square off. What a fight that would have been !

[Coco]

I'd always hoped Dickie and Floyd Havard would square off. What a fight that would have been !

I did a bit of sparring with Floys, not a banger but a stinging, accurate spiteful puncher, would bust you up before you even noticed!
I remember him beating Neil Haddock for the title, just moved around the oncoming champion, popping out jabs and combinations, it almost looked like a low key fight, Floyd made it look easy, the ref ended up stepping in with Haddocks face a complete mess.

[THEBUTCH]

Havard was a super talent. I can understand why he could bust up opponents, because he would let his hands go and it looked to me that if you was in range...he would hit you !

He performed so well beating Pat Cowdell, albeit a Cowdell at the end of his career. It was a cracking little battle for the British title.

[bennie]

Neither Dickie nor Havard fulfilled their potential because of injury - Dickie, when he wrapped his XR2 around a tree and broke his back and Havard, when he messed up a knuckle on the hard head of Canada's John Kalbhenn in a winning fight. Both made their way back and won British titles a few years apart in the 1990s and Havard even got an ambitious world title crack at Juan "John John" Molina but in the end, the British title remained their biggest achievement. They each won a Lonsdale Belt outright.
Dickie first grabbed a headline when he reached the ABA semi-finals in 1982 and gave amateur star Ray Gilbody a good fight at bantamweight prior to conceding the points. The Llanelli man turned pro a year later and somehow qualified for a shot at the Scottish bantamweight title against the useful Danny Flynn and was stopped in six rounds in Glasgow on cuts, although Flynn was beginning to pull away. Robert racked up a few wins and then took on John Sharkey for another Scottish title, this time at featherweight, and he flattened the Scot in two rounds in Glasgow.
By now Dickie was undeniably Welsh, having been stripped of his Scottish title, and undeniably a featherweight as he walked through a succession of good opponents but few expected him to get past John Feeney for the vacant British title (made vacant by Barry McGuigan) at the Albert Hall in 1986. Nevertheless, Dickie traded on even terms with the seasoned Hartlepool man and put in a big last round to nick it on the card of referee Larry O'Connell, although Dennie Mancini, Feeney's manager, remonstrated loudly.
Dickie proved an outstanding champion, trouncing Feeney in a rematch and crushing former champion Steve "Sammy" Sims in five rounds in another defence, before the car crash on a lonely country lane cost him the title and a spell on the sidelines. He came back and still looked strong but a really big fight eluded him and after stopping Kevin Pritchard for the British super-featherweight title in 1991, he joined the succession of champions (one of them Havard) who lost that title in their first defence. He died at the age of 46 of a heart attack while lifting weights at his home.
Havard was only 18 when he dropped a hairline decision to Rochdale's Kevin Taylor in the ABA semi-finals in 1984. (Taylor went on to win the ABA featherweight title and the nod for the Olympics that year.) Havard, a classy southpaw who boxed for the same amateur club in Swansea that produced Colin Jones, was back a year later to trounce Colin McMillan in the semi's and his better boxing took him to a hard-earned but deserved decision over Geordie John Davison in the final. Davison had destroyed someone by the name of Paul Hodkinson on the way to Wembley.
Havard turned pro and continued to impress up to the night his right hand went against Toronto's Kalbhenn in 1988. He stuck it out to take a 10-round decision but the hand went twice more until Floyd required a delicate operation to graft a piece of bone from his hip on to the knuckle. That did the trick and the fighter made up for lost time by challenging Puerto Rico's Molina for the IBF super-featherweight title in Cardiff in 1994, when he was pulled out at the end of the sixth round, and when he won the British super-featherweight title later in the same year from fellow Welshman Neil Haddock, a title he retained twice in impressive fashion. He held the same title in the late 1980s but lost it to Bradford's John Doherty because of the hand.
Havard made something of his career in the end but for a man of his ability, there should have been so much more.