BoxRec

mercman wrote:Yes, I've heard various versions of the Terry Mitchell story as well, though I'm not sure where the truth really lies.

Those pictures are very interesting, thanks Offal. I didn't know that Eddie Nielsen was involved with Allegedly's NBC. Nielsen was a decent pro in his day, gave Joe Bugner a good fight in Bugner's early-80s comeback under Fwank.

I've seen the photo of Sykes, King and Holmes before. I don't know if it's just the camera angle but Sykes' fist looks substantially bigger than Holmes' there. Either way, Sykes was some specimen back in the day and a seriously loose canon, a dangerous man.

Counter-puncher wrote:haha really. who was the dude you uploaded a pic of recently, former hardman from yorkshire who's hit the skids, i could swear it was Sykes...?

Offal wrote:Sykes was due to box McLean but few days before he was involved in scrap outside the Cherry Tree pub in Leeds. Really rough pub in a rough area (Harehills, Leeds 9) and the doorman was self styled 'Hardest Man in Leeds' Terry Mitchell.

Two versions of the event exist:

Version one (Sykes and supporters) was attacked by FOUR doorman (one being the aforementioned Mitchell) Sykes was of course beating all four with ease but Mitchell employed the use of a club to subdue Sykes.

Version two (Mitchell and supporters) Mitchell thrashed Sykes single handed WITHOUT the use of a club.

Neither man are known for having much grasp of reality so the truth is probably somewhere in between.

Sykes ended up with a cut over his eyed cancelling the fight with McClean, Kevin Paddock a tubby little Middleweight substituted for Sykes and easily outpointed McClean over eight rounds (McClean later claimed he wasn't 'motivated' after Sykes withdrawal)

I suspect Sykes would have humiliated McClean with some ease?



McClean, Sykes, Isaac Tshaka (formerly Ishaq Hussein, formerly Leroy Timothy) Eddie Neilsen, a young and somewhat smug looking allegedly. Sykes, Hussein, Neilsen formerly BBBoC 'stars' were regarded as 'big name signings' for Warren who was hoping to launch his organisation (the NBC) as a serious competitor to the BBBoC.

Kevin Paddock's record (BBBoC) http://boxrec.com/boxer/96657

Sykes never sparred with Larry Holmes, shortly after Holmes had beaten Ken Norton for the WBC title Don King took Holmes on a 'whistle stop' tour in an attempt to raise his profile (being virtually unknown before the Norton win) When Holmes and King visited London Sykes turned up at the press conference and issued a challenge to Holmes.

Offal wrote:

Counter-puncher wrote:haha really. who was the dude you uploaded a pic of recently, former hardman from yorkshire who's hit the skids, i could swear it was Sykes...?

Was it this one?

orbtastic wrote:Christ, how many coats does he want on at once

Offal wrote:

orbtastic wrote:Christ, how many coats does he want on at once

I thought that as well, serious coat overload there.

mercman wrote:

evrenb wrote:

Offal wrote: I thought that as well, serious coat overload there.

I bet they smell great... A serious lesson to us all ; that renegade, recalcitrant way of life rarely works out for us. Conformity to 'normal ' life is somewhat a necessity to succeed. Life, and death catches up with even the greatest of men. Poor man had no role model in youth and was undoubtedly mentally ill. I know he brought misery to many others, and I feel for them too. The whole situation is sad really. For the victims of his crimes, for his family and ultimately for him.
There was a ' beggar' in a large town I live near. He was constantly on the street, drunk, begging, being a nuisance. But never violent. People looked down on him, some pitied him, some abused him, many ignored him. A wasted individual.
Some months after I last saw him I read on the news he killed himself. Turns out that years before his infant daughter was raped and murdered by a paedophile.
It reminds me to listen to that hank Williams song...

That scenario you describe with the poor vagrant guy taking his own life is truly terrible. He must have been living a nightmare. But I don't see much of a parallel with Sykes, other than the fact they both ended up on skid row.

Sykes did have roles growing up - his dad was a prison officer and his mother a market stall holder. He didn't grow up in poverty or a highly dysfunctional household. Yes, he father used to clout him (which is obviously wrong) but that wasn't unusual when Sykes was growing up in the 1950s. Most folk didn't respond like Paul Sykes though.

I not convinced that Sykes was mental ill as such either. It seems to me that illness is often used as a explanation - and sometimes an excuse - for such behaviour when there's no little evidence to support it. Yes, he became an alcoholic but that doesn't necessarily mean he was mentally ill. Unfortunately, for some people, it's more of a deep-rooted disposition coupled with opportunity and circumstance, and I suspect this was the case with Sykes.

mercman wrote:

Stevieb8006 wrote:

mercman wrote:
That scenario you describe with the poor vagrant guy taking his own life is truly terrible. He must have been living a nightmare. But I don't see much of a parallel with Sykes, other than the fact they both ended up on skid row.

Sykes did have roles growing up - his dad was a prison officer and his mother a market stall holder. He didn't grow up in poverty or a highly dysfunctional household. Yes, he father used to clout him (which is obviously wrong) but that wasn't unusual when Sykes was growing up in the 1950s. Most folk didn't respond like Paul Sykes though.

I not convinced that Sykes was mental ill as such either. It seems to me that illness is often used as a explanation - and sometimes an excuse - for such behaviour when there's no little evidence to support it. Yes, he became an alcoholic but that doesn't necessarily mean he was mentally ill. Unfortunately, for some people, it's more of a deep-rooted disposition coupled with opportunity and circumstance, and I suspect this was the case with Sykes.

These hard men types have all been sexually abused as kids. U can bet your last pound on it. They are scared little boys.

No evidence to suggest that's the case with Sykes.

palooka wrote:They get their rage from somewhere alright, I knew a man who could be perfectly pleasant and 'normal' and within 2 seconds in a furious rage - a sight to see and very unsettling. There was no visible build up, just a mad explosion of anger.

palooka wrote:They get their rage from somewhere alright, I knew a man who could be perfectly pleasant and 'normal' and within 2 seconds in a furious rage - a sight to see and very unsettling. There was no visible build up, just a mad explosion of anger.

Tomasino wrote:

palooka wrote:They get their rage from somewhere alright, I knew a man who could be perfectly pleasant and 'normal' and within 2 seconds in a furious rage - a sight to see and very unsettling. There was no visible build up, just a mad explosion of anger.

My dad was like that. I agree with Stevie there's always a weird element of closet homo or sexually abusive nature that goes hand in hand with the 'fighting every week for nothing' hardman. I don't think that way about every guy that can fight a bit, just the ones who are at it all the time for no apparent reason. They love all the rolling about and the masochism that comes with it.

palooka wrote:It strikes me that a lot of it is sheer bullying, lots of these hard cases can sense a tiny slight when they are around people not in their league, they can put up with all sorts when they're around people who would give them a go - they can take a joke then.

mercman wrote:

Offal wrote:

palooka wrote:It strikes me that a lot of it is sheer bullying, lots of these hard cases can sense a tiny slight when they are around people not in their league, they can put up with all sorts when they're around people who would give them a go - they can take a joke then.

Good point

I think that's probably nearer to the truth with Sykes - a pretty straightforward bully and thug. I'm never that convinced with a lot of these psycho-sexual explanations, sometimes people are looking too deep. Not everything needs intellectualising.

I suspect Sykes' prison antics were about power, control and sheer nastiness as much as anything else.

evrenb wrote:You'll meet many just like me upon lifes busy street.
With shoulders stooped and heads bowed low and eyes that stare in defeat.
For souls that live within the past where sorrow plays all parts,
For a living death is all that's left for men with brokens hearts.
You have no right to be the judge, to criticize and condemn.
Just think but for the grace of God it would be you instead of him.
One careless step, a thoughtless deed and then the misery starts
And to those who weep death comes cheap, these men with broken hearts.

Humble you should be when they come passing by,
For it's written that the greatest of men never get to big to cry.
Some lose faith in love and life when sorrow shoots her darts,
With hope all gone, they walk alone these men with broken hearts.
You've never walked in that man's shoes or saw things through his eyes,
Or stood and watched with helpless hands while the heart inside you dies.

Some were paupers, some were kings, some were masters of the arts,
But in their shame they're all the same, these men with broken hearts.
Life sometimes can be so cruel that a heart will pray for death.
God why must these living dead know pain with every breath?
So help your brother along the road, no matter where he starts!
For the God that made you, made them too. These men with broken hearts..

mercman wrote:Thanks for those too, very interesting. I checked the site and it seems that McLean v Sykes was scheduled to take place in late 1979, which would have been quite a coup for Fwank as Sykes had fought John L Gardner for the British heavyweight title only a few months earlier.

Paul Sykes would go on to have one further professional fight, travelling to Africa to get sparked out in one round by a local journeyman. Strangely never heard anything about it, Lord knows what was going on there.