Paul Sykes... where is he now?...

[mickey1975]

Sykes spent a lot of time in Blackpool and the Wakefield crowd love a day out there.

Yes selling cheap jewellery from a suitcase on the prom, I don't think the majority of Blackpool's population were even aware he was a boxer (hence the miserable attendance at the fight)

As for the 'Wakefield crowd loving a day out' in Blackpool (doesn't everyone?) I would imagine their idea of 'day out' in Blackpool was a balmy Saturday in high season, not a freezing, drizzly night in February.

I agree with Goodall on BN, even to this day. I've just watched 3 days of youth and cadet championships and the north is very much in a par, if not in front of the south. I can almost guarantee Conor Mitchell will make headlines, because his dad is Kev and he's from West Ham yet everyone in the amateurs knew Thomas Varey would beat him. Great fight none the less.

Amateur boxing barely gets any coverage in BN wherever it takes place, it's not really comparable (or relevant) to Goodall's grievance.

John Dennen is one of the most knowledgeable amateur boxing writers out there and travels the world watching. I don't think Repton even had a finalist so, no, there probably won't be much coverage. They'll save that for a Repton dinner show.

[Polidori]

Leroy Jones was a legit contender, beat the likes of Jody Ballard, Larry Frazier and Mike Weaver on the way up. He was a huge guy as well. I can't see why Sykes' team thought Sykes would beat him.

It was probably all talk like a lot of Sykes career, what promoter in the States would put on Jones v Sykes and would Goodall have had the finances to bring Jones to the UK?

When Sykes fought the unfortunate Dave 'Doc' Wilson the fight posters claimed Wilson was 'Ranked No 10 in the world' so Manny was more than guilty of distorting the truth when it suited him.

[mickey1975]

You had to sign a waiver form on the plane. A lot more difficult now with chipped passports.

[bennie]

Manny Goodall, who promoted Sykes, banned Boxing News when he read the preview of Paul's nothing fight with an African fella by the name of Lisimo Obutobe in Blackpool in October 1978. Obutobe was based in Europe but the meagre number of wins on his record came against men who, to this day, remain a complete mystery so BN listed the recognisable names, such as Lucien Rodriguez, Jean Pierre Coopman, Rudi Gauwe and Alfredo Evangelista - all of whom had stopped Obutobe. This enraged Goodall, who also accused Boxing News of southern bias because on the same night as Sykes-Obutobe, John L. Gardner took on Billy Aird for the vacant British heavyweight title at the Albert Hall and BN previewed the 15-rounder in the length it deserved. Harry Mullan wrote the preview himself. (Harry had a soft spot for Aird but overdid it when he tipped him to beat the rapidly improving Gardner, who pummelled Aird and forced him to retire at the end of the fifth round, cut over both eyes.)
How Goodall could compare the Sykes-Obutobe eight-rounder to a British title encounter is beyond me. Sykes stopped Obutobe in six rounds but the ban did him a favour next time out when, by all accounts, he looked lucky to take a 10-round decision over American Conrad Tooker in Wakefield. Then Sykes was mauled in six rounds by Gardner at Wembley and it was all over for his title aspirations and all over for Goodall, who went back to promoting dinner shows in Bradford.

Cracking post Bennie, I'd forgotten about Goodall's strop with BN, apparently he suggested that BN run Southern and Northern editions of the paper in future (that was plausible)

It was a really depressing night all round in Blackpool, it was very poorly attended (why would the populace of Blackpool be interested in a fight between a bloke from Wakefield and one from the Congo?) it was p*ssing down with rain, Sykes although in decent shape seemed completely bored with proceedings and no disrespect intended Obutobe was a big flabby bloke (with a massive head and spectacular sideburns) who couldn't fight for toffee.

In the changing room before hand all the other fighters were warming up but Obutobe who just had one second with him was sat gazing at the ground looking like he was going to the gallows, after the fight back in the changing room he was crying like a baby while his second attempted to console him. Incidentally the second was pretty useless, Obutobe boxed without handwraps and during the fight he suffered a badly cut lip and the second who seemed to lack adrenaline solution attempted to stem the wound with just vaseline, when this didn't worked he stuffed a piece of cotton wool into the wound (promptly removed by the ref)

On the undercard was an absolutely superb contest for the Central Area Lightheavy title between Alex Penarski and Francis Hands, both non punchers but Penarski was in superb shape and forced the fight for the entire ten rounds, while the more skilled Hands boxed brilliantly to gain the verdict.

Regarding the Gardner v Aird fight, Sykes correctly predicted a Gardner victory.

The Tooker fight back in Sykes home venue the once prestigious Wakefield Theatre Club, was a mean spirited affair all round, Sykes had gone missing for a week, he was late for the weigh in (showing up with one of his teenage harem) he was in a foul mood because of a terrible haircut he'd had earlier that day and Les Stevens losing to Tommy Kiely the night before (more on that later) and in the fight he ran out of steam after a couple of rounds and resorted to repeated head butts and low blows to beat the diminutive Tooker. I thought Sykes had lost as did most of the crowd who loudly booed the decision, Sykes who'd already left the ring got back in, took the mic from the MC only to be drowned out by the boos, he then petulantly threw down the mic, gave two fingers with both hands and he was rewarded with a shower of beer mats.

As for his annoyance at the Stevens v Keily result, if successful against Tooker he was down to fight Stevens in a final eliminator for the winner of Gardner v Aird, but it actually worked in his favour as due to already having a victory over Keily he received a direct shot at Gardner (after mooted fights in the States with Scott Ledoux and Jody Ballard came to nothing)

What a memory, what a post. "He was in a foul mood because of a terrible haircut..." Yes, Sykes had all the ability in the world, a big punch and a proper heavyweight build, but the man's temperament deserted him at birth. As you say, Sykes was scheduled to fight, according to Boxing News, Jody Ballard in Miami before his fight with Gardner and it's a shame really that it didn't happen. I believe Ballard is one of the unfortunate five who faced George Foreman on the same farcical night but I won't hold that against him and his record shows that he sticks around against Sykes and gives him a real sharpener for the Gardner shot. Gardner, of course, was managed by Terry Lawless, who whipped all his fighters into shape and kept them on the straight and narrow. George Francis was also good at handling the nutters (Frankie Lucas, Mugabi and even Conteh). If only they had got hold of Sykes...

[THEBUTCH]

There is a lot of ill feeling towards Sykes, probably quite rightly, but for someone of such limited boxing experience he was a good boxer.

He wasn't just one of these wannabes steeped in underground, bare knuckle or unlicensed boxing but when push come to shove failed miserably....he could fight.

He took a real hiding against the vastly more seasoned Gardner in a British title shot, but to compete for as long as he did says a lot for his ability.

[JamesPhilips]

Is the raping prison stuff real?

[Wee Tommy]

Is the raping prison stuff real?

Peter Fury says so.

[JamesPhilips]

Is the raping prison stuff real?

Peter Fury says so.

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

[mickey1975]

Is the raping prison stuff real?

Peter Fury says so.

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

It's very true he was regarded as The Bogeyman in the North before drink got him. He has no sex convictions, though.

[cannonball]

the likes of Leroy Jones, Scott LeDoux and Jody Ballard would have mullered Sykes.

Sykes did ok for a while, the wins over Tommy Kiely and Neville Meade are decent but the 2 fights with Niel Malpass showed where his level was and he only got the shot at Gardner cuz Malpass was injured in a car accident if my memory serves.

And i doubt it would have mattered who Sykes had in his corner - people like Sykes always manage to fornicate up whatever opportunities are gifted to them.

He went further and had more opportunities than his talents deserved and still managed to implode against Malpass, Gardner and Ekwelum

[Wee Tommy]

Is the raping prison stuff real?

Peter Fury says so.

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

Why did you think that?

[JamesPhilips]

Peter Fury says so.

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

Why did you think that?

Because myths grow

[high tower 1]

Peter Fury says so.

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

It's very true he was regarded as The Bogeyman in the North before drink got him. He has no sex convictions, though.

Neither did saville

[JamesPhilips]

Wow. Seriously. I thought they were exaggerations

It's very true he was regarded as The Bogeyman in the North before drink got him. He has no sex convictions, though.

Neither did saville

Lol

Also

[Wee Tommy]

It's very true he was regarded as The Bogeyman in the North before drink got him. He has no sex convictions, though.

Neither did saville

Lol

Also

That guys got wrong un written all over him. Don’t like him at all and it’s not just his Saville-esque trackies.

[Polidori]

What a memory, what a post. "He was in a foul mood because of a terrible haircut..." Yes, Sykes had all the ability in the world, a big punch and a proper heavyweight build, but the man's temperament deserted him at birth. As you say, Sykes was scheduled to fight, according to Boxing News, Jody Ballard in Miami before his fight with Gardner and it's a shame really that it didn't happen. I believe Ballard is one of the unfortunate five who faced George Foreman on the same farcical night but I won't hold that against him and his record shows that he sticks around against Sykes and gives him a real sharpener for the Gardner shot. Gardner, of course, was managed by Terry Lawless, who whipped all his fighters into shape and kept them on the straight and narrow. George Francis was also good at handling the nutters (Frankie Lucas, Mugabi and even Conteh). If only they had got hold of Sykes...

Funny you should mention my memory, as you can easily deduce by the fact I saw Sykes box live I'm a person of 'mature years' and I now have that issue where I am able to recall events with great clarity from decades ago, but minutes after posting my essay I was completely unable to recall the name of a new colleague I'd been speaking to only yesterday.

It was really weird how Sykes was so p*ssed off with his haircut, every one who entered his dressing room was shown the offending hair and he then pulled down the top of his robe to show how the barber had even shaved the hair on his upper back, very odd.

He was completely off that night, I suspect as was often the case he had troubles elsewhere and the haircut was the final blow.

After the abysmal display against Tooker he did need a 'sharpener' but I think Tommy Miller and Manny Goodall realised he was going off the rails again so they went straight for the Gardner fight, everthing was wrong with his preparation for that fight, he came in too light, this crank conditioning guru (Dr something .. can't recall his name) had him doing sprints instead of roadwork and sniffing cans of oxygen, and his sparring partners were initially John Celebanski and Dave Owens, Goodall said he was going to arrange a top sparring partner to help get Sykes ready, who did he get? Victor Attivor a cagey, counterpunching, Lightheavy, hardly ideal for emulating Gardner.

As Gardner has been flattened in a round by Ibar Arrington and dropped in the first by the light punching Aird, Sykes should have simply gone out to try flatten him instead of boxing as he did.

It was rumoured that he bet his entire £20k purse on winning by KO butthis is probably apocryphal like much of Sykes back story.

[Wee Tommy]

20k was some purse for back then.

[Polidori]

the likes of Leroy Jones, Scott LeDoux and Jody Ballard would have mullered Sykes.

Sykes did ok for a while, the wins over Tommy Kiely and Neville Meade are decent but the 2 fights with Niel Malpass showed where his level was and he only got the shot at Gardner cuz Malpass was injured in a car accident if my memory serves.

And i doubt it would have mattered who Sykes had in his corner - people like Sykes always manage to fornicate up whatever opportunities are gifted to them.

He went further and had more opportunities than his talents deserved and still managed to implode against Malpass, Gardner and Ekwelum

I think Sykes would have had a chance against Ballard but not the other two.

Malpass has been peddling this story for a few years now, he was never considered as an opponent for Gardner, as I posted earlier Sykes was due to meet Les Stevens in a final eliminator, Stevens lost to Kiely so Sykes due to his previous victory got a direct shot at Gardner.

It was also said that Keily was so boring in the Stevens fight (Stevens had back issues which restricted his mobility) the Duff/Barrett/Astaire cartel didn't want to risk Kiely taking Stevens place, beating Sykes and ending up as Gardner's mandatory.

[Polidori]

20k was some purse for back then.

Well again mate, that was the rumour that Sykes circulated, so 'pinch of salt' and all that.

[Wee Tommy]

20k was some purse for back then.

Well again mate, that was the rumour that Sykes circulated, so 'pinch of salt' and all that.

Does it sound right for the time? I’ve no clue tbh.

[Polidori]

Does it sound right for the time? I’ve no clue tbh.

Can't see it mate, it was televised the next night so that might have added this purse and he shifted a lot of tickets but it was probably less than half that.

[Polidori]

@Bennie

Just checked Ballard wasn't one of the famous five but he did meet Foreman in an exhibition in 1975.



No holding back from George

[Polidori]

Found this, never seen it before:

[Polidori]

Sykes did ok for a while, the wins over Tommy Kiely and Neville Meade are decent

Funny that Meade was the one who went on to win the British title, with one of he best KO's you'll ever see:



Why did the ref even bother taking up the count ?

[Polidori]

Judging by the crowd, drab brown suits were all the rage in 1981.