RIP Kirkland Laing

[geoffreysadao]

I'm a boxing fan from Northern California. I have many fond recollections of Kirkland Laing. His was supremely gifted as he seemed to have that "radar" or ability to anticipate punches before they were thrown. Also, his power was nothing to sneeze at. Yes, there was his upset victory over Duran, but there were so many epic wins in his up and down career. There was a fighter from my area named Fred "The Pumper" Hutchings who was a tall boxer/puncher. He scored an impressive victory over Laing in Fall of '83, and of course, I was elated. That being said, Laing hadn't fought since his upset over Duran which was roughly a year earlier. Also, Laing was clearly the much smaller man as Hutchings had a few fights as a Light Heavyweight. He had beaten Marcos Geraldo for the California State LH Title. Incredibly, Laing bounced back from devastating loses to such fighters as Colin Jones and scored many important wins on the British and European scene. I would've liked to have seen him fight Lloyd Honeyghan and Marlon Starling. While he not have won those contests, I'm sure they would've been really entertaining with the potential for an upset.
Another British fighter whom I find fascinating is Jimmy Cable, but I know that this is a topic for another thread.

[THEBUTCH]

Colin Jones simply had Laing's number...twice they fought for the British title and Jones stopped him in the 9th round of both contests, despite being behind on points.

[Coco]

I'm a boxing fan from Northern California. I have many fond recollections of Kirkland Laing. His was supremely gifted as he seemed to have that "radar" or ability to anticipate punches before they were thrown. Also, his power was nothing to sneeze at. Yes, there was his upset victory over Duran, but there were so many epic wins in his up and down career. There was a fighter from my area named Fred "The Pumper" Hutchings who was a tall boxer/puncher. He scored an impressive victory over Laing in Fall of '83, and of course, I was elated. That being said, Laing hadn't fought since his upset over Duran which was roughly a year earlier. Also, Laing was clearly the much smaller man as Hutchings had a few fights as a Light Heavyweight. He had beaten Marcos Geraldo for the California State LH Title. Incredibly, Laing bounced back from devastating loses to such fighters as Colin Jones and scored many important wins on the British and European scene. I would've liked to have seen him fight Lloyd Honeyghan and Marlon Starling. While he not have won those contests, I'm sure they would've been really entertaining with the potential for an upset.
Another British fighter whom I find fascinating is Jimmy Cable, but I know that this is a topic for another thread.

Cable died last year, it was also his daughter whose boyfriend got killed by Kenny Noye. She has been living in hiding ever since.

[bennie]

I'm a boxing fan from Northern California. I have many fond recollections of Kirkland Laing. His was supremely gifted as he seemed to have that "radar" or ability to anticipate punches before they were thrown. Also, his power was nothing to sneeze at. Yes, there was his upset victory over Duran, but there were so many epic wins in his up and down career. There was a fighter from my area named Fred "The Pumper" Hutchings who was a tall boxer/puncher. He scored an impressive victory over Laing in Fall of '83, and of course, I was elated. That being said, Laing hadn't fought since his upset over Duran which was roughly a year earlier. Also, Laing was clearly the much smaller man as Hutchings had a few fights as a Light Heavyweight. He had beaten Marcos Geraldo for the California State LH Title. Incredibly, Laing bounced back from devastating loses to such fighters as Colin Jones and scored many important wins on the British and European scene. I would've liked to have seen him fight Lloyd Honeyghan and Marlon Starling. While he not have won those contests, I'm sure they would've been really entertaining with the potential for an upset.
Another British fighter whom I find fascinating is Jimmy Cable, but I know that this is a topic for another thread.

Cable died last year, it was also his daughter whose boyfriend got killed by Kenny Noye. She has been living in hiding ever since.

Laing spent four days in hospital after the Hutchings defeat, which came in the 10th and last round. I thought Hutchings had a puncher's chance against Tommy Hearns for the world title but in the event Hearns hammered him in a fight that needed stopping sooner than it was.
Jimmy Cable is a real blast from the past and it's hard to believe that he is no longer with us. You will never see a braver boxing performance than the performance Jimmy gave in France in 1984 to win the European light-middleweight title.

[Kenny Hawkins]

I went to both junior school and secondary school Charterhouse.
I was a good friend of Jimmy until we left school in 1972.
We use to fight a lot as I was a junior judo champion and every week we had a scrap Jimmy never gave in I won all of our scraps because Jimmy NEVER gave in.
So outsider's pulled us apart from what information I was told by people in our home town Orpington Jimmy just lost his way in life. RIP. Jimmy

[si7dog7]

I went to both junior school and secondary school Charterhouse.
I was a good friend of Jimmy until we left school in 1972.
We use to fight a lot as I was a junior judo champion and every week we had a scrap Jimmy never gave in I won all of our scraps because Jimmy NEVER gave in.
So outsider's pulled us apart from what information I was told by people in our home town Orpington Jimmy just lost his way in life. RIP. Jimmy

Thank you for that.
RIP Jimmy
I’m a North Kent boy also.

[Coco]

I think the rumour was that Jimmy was a bit too reliant on a drink towards the end