BoxRec

RIP

Eric had an incredible collection of amateur bouts he recorded himself. I remember him selling VHS tapes of an amateur contest for a tenner.

Without Eric turning up and filming the bouts at shows, loads & loads of amateur boxers would never have got the chance to watch their own fights.

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑04 May 2023, 19:01 RIP

Eric had an incredible collection of amateur bouts he recorded himself. I remember him selling VHS tapes of an amateur contest for a tenner.

Without Eric turning up and filming the bouts at shows, loads & loads of amateur boxers would never have got the chance to watch their own fights.

Bought many of them

Very sad news, a real institution RIP

RIP

RIP

RIP Eric.

Can’t have been boxer fighting between 1990 and 2005 that didn’t buy a VHS from him at some point.

high tower 1 wrote: ↑04 May 2023, 18:44 RIP Eric. Was he ill for a while ?

He mentioned that he was struggling a bit with his diabetes but who knows what he had going on.

I hope that something good happens to his video collection. It’s clearly something he took immense pride in and it would be a shame for his hard work to get lost somehow.

Had time for everyone, knew everyone, great company, a real funny guy, a proper Londoner, great bloke

I was sad to read this, he was a good guy.
He really did know everyone, and back in the 80s and 90s he would travel up and down the country and filmed near every show.
I think a lot of the fights he got hold of for various boxers, so they could scout out the opposition before YouTube, he did because he just wanted to help out, rather than make a few quid.

Looking back, he really seemed to be from another era. And I guess he was, much like the vhs format he used - is it real or is it Memorex? Who remembers that

Yes it would be a real shame if that massive VHS collection he had, of all those 1000s of small hall shows and non televised shows and big name sparring sessions were lost.
Not sure how many he got round to transferring to DVD. If anyone knows his family or friends on here they should get in touch because I’m sure there’s someone here, or in the uk boxing community, who might want to preserve that collection somehow, if only to upload it to YouTube ..maybe they could auction it off.

RIP Eric you were a one off and you’ll be missed

RIP. Sad news.

Boxerbeetle wrote: ↑04 May 2023, 17:46

MasterG wrote: ↑04 May 2023, 16:15 RIP.

I remember when I had my YouTube channel and put up a small hall show. Eric rang me up going ape shit asking how I got hold of the footage. Prior to calling me he reported me to YouTube for stealing his content. I explained to him that one of his mates gave me the footage and was ok about it. He didn't realise it was my channel. Too late though YouTube closed me down.

Bit of a character was Eric.

He will be sadly missed by many on the circuit.

Your YouTube channel was ace, remember it well. Loads of great stuff.

2500 fights and was expanding all the time. It got a bit out of hand as people were threatening to sue me. Eric was ok in the end with the content but would he heckers give me any free content.

I bet in his house he has lots of shows that could make some decent money. He should have created his own TV channel showing all the fights he had.

He just wouldn't part with owt.

His stories about Frank M were classic I bet Eric saw some sights!

RIP

RIP Eric

[/quote]

2500 fights and was expanding all the time. It got a bit out of hand as people were threatening to sue me. Eric was ok in the end with the content but would he heckers give me any free content.

[/quote]
Videos were Eric's main source of income.
Giving free content doesn't pay the bills.

I once offered to buy Eric's entire video collection but he was trying to convert to DVD in the hope of making the collection more saleable. It would be a shame if the footage was lost but Eric's memory of each and every fight added so much to their importance.

RIP 'Mr Videoman'

A proper boxing man. A full life lived.

CJG wrote: ↑07 May 2023, 05:49

The invention of the internet more or less ruined Eric’s business.

It was sad to see Eric going into financial difficulty, and his live videos were a hard to watch. Maybe things would have been different if he went down the IFL route many years ago. Think Facebook live and smartphones stopped a lot of his sales.

Hopefully his collection doesn't end up down the tip.

rip eric.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑07 May 2023, 06:16

CJG wrote: ↑07 May 2023, 05:49

The invention of the internet more or less ruined Eric’s business.

He should have gotten an investment maybe.

Digitalised them all and posted them on YouTube.

Made money of it.

I suggested he digitise years back but he knew better.

Huge task, either way. He could have monetized a channel but ran the risk of basically removing the need for people to buy tapes off him. Most of the other sellers had moved away from tapes well over a decade ago.

If that ends up in a skip I’d be mortified for the fella. We all know it probably will !

Anyone serious about buying Eric collection should get in contract with his family on facebook. Timing isnt ideal but you got to act fast in could be thrown in the next few weeks.

Surely these tapes have been passed down to someone in his family who will do something with them.

Glass Joe wrote: ↑07 May 2023, 13:05 Anyone serious about buying Eric collection should get in contract with his family on facebook. Timing isnt ideal but you got to act fast in could be thrown in the next few weeks.

Can't imagine his family will destroy them, surely they will know there is a market for them.

It's been bugging me for a few days the fight card that lead to Eric phoning me up and going ape over the content. It was the show that had the pro debut of

Howard Eastman v John Rice

I bet apart from myself and Eric no one in the boxing circles has this Eastman debut fight.

This is one reason his tapes cannot go into a skip. There will be rare footage no one else has captured or still got.