Joe Bygraves
Posted: 22 Apr 2009, 06:56
The Sunday Gleaner 20 April 1958
TWO BOXERS will climb between the ropes in Leicester. England, tomorrow, and be called together by the referee, before fighting out 10 rounds.
One will be tall, handsome, curly-haired Willie Pastrano, rated the fourth best heavyweight in the world The other will be a 14 stone 3 pound giant — Joe Bygraves by name, the former champion of the British Empire, who is making a "come-back" to the ring.
This contest will undoubtedly be the most important in the whole of Bygraves' career, for it will decide whether he goes to America with the hope of eventually meeting the world heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson, or whether he hangs up his boxing gloves and becomes one of the ring's many "has been"
Who is this fellow Joe Bygraves? How did he get into boxing? And just how did he become a champion! To find the answers, let us go back 10 years. When Bygraves was a chubby well built kid of 16, in England to seek fame and fortune.. but not as a fighter.
N0 JOE did not know how box when he set foot in England. He had never put on a boxing glove in the whole of his childhood in Kingston. Jamaica. Why should he? He did not want to become a fighter
He landed in Liverpool and eventually got a job on the docks. He liked Liverpool, so he stayed there. Often he wrote back to his folks at home. Joe's father was a Detective-Inspector in the Kingston Police Force, and he had five brothers and six sisters
Then Joe got himself into boxing. It all started as an accident. He was loafing around on a street corner, as he used to do often during the evening after work, when he saw the shadow of a man coming towards him. Without hesitation big Joe turned and fled.
He explained later “I had never forgotten the night I got a real beating from my dad for standing on a street corner in Kingston. Now when this guy came down the road towards me that night in Liverpool, I just ran and ran because he reminded me of my pa."
He sat down and thought it all out. "I came to the conclusion I was doing myself no good, hanging around street corners and wasting away my time, so when a pal asked me to go with him to a local boxing club I agreed to go. But only to watch.
But of course he did not stay watching for long. “I put on the gloves one night, just for a bit of fun. Some guy hit me, so I hit him back. He never touched me again, and I guess that is how I first started fighting”.
Mr Johnny Campbell, a local engineer from Birkenhead, very interested in amateur boxing saw Joe , noted his enthusiasm and when he found himself short of a heavyweight he asked Joe if he would like to take up boxing seriously, as an amateur.
Joe said simply “I don’t mind I’ll have a go sir”
That was the beginning. Then began the serious business of getting Bygraves into fighting condition, teaching him how to box correctly, how to use his tremendous strength in delivering each punch, how to take a punch on the chin without going down, how to maintain his stamina throughout a fight.
Joe was a very quick learner," says Mr. Campbell, who is now his professional manager. "He would always take advice and never complained once of hard work."
"I was never a bad sort of bloke." says Joe, today, with a grin. "The worst things I ever did were to purposely forget to pay my bus fare or sneak into the pictures without paying. But that unknown man who frightened me into running away gave me back my conscience. Now I'll chase after the conductor if he forgets to take my bus fare."
SO JOE turned boxer, He went into one fight after another- Winning, winning, winning. He was a sensation, almost overnight.
There was one snag. Joe was a very moody young man. Often he felt lazy. He would box as though he was half asleep. Let anyone hurt him, however, and Joe soon changed his mood. He would turn swiftly into a menacing, vicious fighting machine, slashing and chopping at his opponent, until he dropped.
"I just don't like getting hurt." said Joe, explaining his ferocity in the roped square. Then came the end of his amateur career. And that, too, was purely an accident . Joe was fighting in the England versus Wales match in 1952 when he was disqualified in the third round, after having his opponent on the canvas a number of times. When the referee sent him to his corner and declared his opponent the winner, Joe saw red. He turned and grappled with the referee. Mr. Campbell turned to see the referee on the floor. Boxing enthusiasts at the ringside said Joe struck the referee.
Whatever happened, Joe was suspended for six months. "I was so upset and so fed up with amateur boxing that 1 decided to turn professional," Joe told me.
He asked Mr. Campbell if he would manage him, but he was a strictly amateur enthusiast. When Joe pleaded with bun — "Please help me win a title. Mr. Campbell," — he changed his mind. So the faithful partnership of Bygraves and Campbell was established
JOE made his debut into the profession of paid boxing by knocking out a promising young heavyweight, Don Maxwell, in exactly 65 seconds of the first round, at Liverpool Stadium on February 12th. 1953.
His bulging -muscles and magnificent physique and the fire with which he fought soon earned Joe a host of admirers.
Joe lost only four of his first 28 fights, and it was not long before he was being considered as a title prospect. His terrific punching made Bvgraves a feared man in the ring.
His big chance came in April, 1956, when he met the former British heavyweight champion, Jack Gardner, In London. Joe created a sensation by stopping the ex- Guardsman in two rounds. such a victory put Joe well on the way to a championship fight.
After stopping Marcel Limage in seven rounds in May, 1958, Bygraves was matched against the tough Tongan fighter. Kitione Lave in London, for the British Empire title.
The Jamaican became champion after one of the most brutal battles in ring history. THE Kid from Kingston was there. "1 always wanted to be a champion, ever since I first took up fighting," said Joe, "When I gave up amateur boxing. I was determined to show them I could make the grade as a professional scrapper.
He wanted to put his native Jamaica on the map. "I wanted the folks back home In Kingston to be real proud of me, 'cos I was sure proud of my homeland."
But, despite his viciousness as a fighter, outside of the ring, Joe was a quiet, unassuming guy, liked by everyone who knew him.
Johnny Campbell once told me: "Joe is very religious. He will never train on a Sunday. He goes to church, instead, and often reads the lesson from the pulpit."
Joe soon became known as the "Quiet Champ". The idol of every kid in his district of Liverpool.
JOE makes no secret of the fact that he does not like training. Realizing that it is all part of being a professional fighter, however, he accepts it with a smile.
In September, 1956. Three months, after winning the British Empire heavyweight championship. Joe went to America with his manager, Mr. Johnny Campbell.
He had already fought In Germany, Italy and Sweden, as well, of course. In various
towns and cities in Great Britain, but this was his first visit to the U.S.A.
The trip proved to be a disappointing one. Joe received a big American build-up, but he was forced to retire after five rounds of his fight with the American, Wayne Bethea, in New York.
He later explained the end of that fight: "People may have thought I was getting out of it because I was yellow. That wasn't so. I just felt my arms and legs go limp on me. It was no good going on after that."
He returned to Britain, and his headquarters on Merseyside, and prepared for his next fight. It put him back in boxing's good books, for Joe stopped another former British champion, Johnny Williams, In six rounds.
A FIGHT with the up-and coming Henry Cooper followed, in which Bygraves put his Empire title at stake. He earned admiration from all quarters when he said: "I am prepared to put my title up every time I fight." He knocked out Cooper in the ninth round, in London, in February1957-.
Three months later, he put the title up again, this time against Dick Richardson, a tough. hard-hitting Welshman, tipped by many an the next British and Empire champ.
Joe drew with Richardson over 15 rounds, the contest being fought on the Welshman's
own doorstep, in Cardiff.
A visit to Germany followed. Joe met Heinz Neuhaus, Germany heavyweight champion and one time contender for the world title. It ended in defeat for the 25-years-old Jamaican, when the referee disqualified Joe for "boxing on before being told to do so, after knocking down his opponent, in the sixth round.
Again, ringside spectators said it was a case of Bygraves being too anxious to go in for "the kill."
Joe never once predicted a fight. Whenever he was asked by a newspaper reporter if he was going to win a certain fight, the young man from Jamaica would always reply: "I don't know if I'll win or not. but I can tell you one thing — the guy who steps in with me will certainly know he's been in a fight."And he always kept his word.
OUTSIDE the ring, Joe lived up to his reputation as the "Quiet Champ". He spent most of his spare time in the cinema and playing records at his cousin's home in Liverpool. By now Joe was not getting homesick any more, for he had four brothers and two sisters in England.
His popularity Increased as he readily accepted Invitations to open garden fetes and collect money for charities.
Then came the end of the reign of the "Quiet Champ." In November last year, he put his Empire title up for the third time in a year,, against the clever British champion. Joe Erskine, reckoned to be the fastest heavyweight boxer in Europe. After -15 rounds of fierce slugging, Bygraves lost his precious title. He could not catch up with the fast and elusive Erskine. try as he would to land a knock-out punch. "Bygraves lost all right, but he is the gamest fighter we have ever seen." said many people at the ringside at the end of the contest.
Naturally Joe was disappointed .More than anything he wanted a return fight with Erskine, to prove that he could beat him. “Joe was really off form. We are both confident he could beat Erskine if they fought again” his manager Mr. Campbell told me. With the loss of the title, Joe laid off training for a few months. He was not seen in his training camp in Birkenhead for nearly two months.
When he opened a night club in Liverpool, to provide him with some form of business for when his boxing days were over, some folk said Bygraves had retired from the ring for good.
“Nonsense," said Big Joe, annoyed at the rumours. "I aim to show 'em I'm still a champ." He returned to boxing two months ago, and quickly set about the task of getting hack into perfect fighting condition.
ON FEBRUARY 10th, he climbed between the ropes once again and faced the rugged Joey Armstrong, from Ghana. Armstrong is a highly-rated boxer. Ringsiders were betting on the result. "Armstrong will outbox him," said most of them.
They did not know Bygraves. Fighting almost like a beast, he chased his opponent round the ring, punching him mercilessly from corner to corner. He was in such a fierce mood that his manager had to tell him to "cool off."
The fight lasted under three rounds, before the referee intervened to save Armstrong suffering further punishment. Joe Bygraves was back on the title trail.
"All I want now is a fight with Erskine. So that I can win back my Empire title,".Joe told his manager.
But another boxer. Brian London, was nominated, instead, to meet Erskine for his British and Empire titles. Bygraves was left out in the cold. There was only one thing to do - . . Joe realised he had to prove his capabilities. He threw out a challenge to the American, Willie Pastrano, currently rated the fourth best heavyweight in the world. Pastrano has accepted the challenge.
JOE and Pastrano meet tomorrow in Leicester. England. The Jamaican is confident of victory, despite the fact that the odds are 8-1 against him beating the American. Whether he wins or not is unimportant. What does matter is that Joe Bygraves, the man who left his native Kingston
as a kid to seek fame and fortune, has found both.
If he beats Pastrano, he will go to America again, this time with various offers to meet the best fighters in the world. Probably he will get a match with world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. If he loses, well, he has tried. And no one can ever say Bygraves is not a trier.
The secret of Bygraves's success? Joe sums it up like this' "I reckon boxing is in my blood. You can laugh and joke at me a much as you like when I'm not in the ring. But, man once I’ve climb into the ring, you're no friend of mine any more.
TWO BOXERS will climb between the ropes in Leicester. England, tomorrow, and be called together by the referee, before fighting out 10 rounds.
One will be tall, handsome, curly-haired Willie Pastrano, rated the fourth best heavyweight in the world The other will be a 14 stone 3 pound giant — Joe Bygraves by name, the former champion of the British Empire, who is making a "come-back" to the ring.
This contest will undoubtedly be the most important in the whole of Bygraves' career, for it will decide whether he goes to America with the hope of eventually meeting the world heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson, or whether he hangs up his boxing gloves and becomes one of the ring's many "has been"
Who is this fellow Joe Bygraves? How did he get into boxing? And just how did he become a champion! To find the answers, let us go back 10 years. When Bygraves was a chubby well built kid of 16, in England to seek fame and fortune.. but not as a fighter.
N0 JOE did not know how box when he set foot in England. He had never put on a boxing glove in the whole of his childhood in Kingston. Jamaica. Why should he? He did not want to become a fighter
He landed in Liverpool and eventually got a job on the docks. He liked Liverpool, so he stayed there. Often he wrote back to his folks at home. Joe's father was a Detective-Inspector in the Kingston Police Force, and he had five brothers and six sisters
Then Joe got himself into boxing. It all started as an accident. He was loafing around on a street corner, as he used to do often during the evening after work, when he saw the shadow of a man coming towards him. Without hesitation big Joe turned and fled.
He explained later “I had never forgotten the night I got a real beating from my dad for standing on a street corner in Kingston. Now when this guy came down the road towards me that night in Liverpool, I just ran and ran because he reminded me of my pa."
He sat down and thought it all out. "I came to the conclusion I was doing myself no good, hanging around street corners and wasting away my time, so when a pal asked me to go with him to a local boxing club I agreed to go. But only to watch.
But of course he did not stay watching for long. “I put on the gloves one night, just for a bit of fun. Some guy hit me, so I hit him back. He never touched me again, and I guess that is how I first started fighting”.
Mr Johnny Campbell, a local engineer from Birkenhead, very interested in amateur boxing saw Joe , noted his enthusiasm and when he found himself short of a heavyweight he asked Joe if he would like to take up boxing seriously, as an amateur.
Joe said simply “I don’t mind I’ll have a go sir”
That was the beginning. Then began the serious business of getting Bygraves into fighting condition, teaching him how to box correctly, how to use his tremendous strength in delivering each punch, how to take a punch on the chin without going down, how to maintain his stamina throughout a fight.
Joe was a very quick learner," says Mr. Campbell, who is now his professional manager. "He would always take advice and never complained once of hard work."
"I was never a bad sort of bloke." says Joe, today, with a grin. "The worst things I ever did were to purposely forget to pay my bus fare or sneak into the pictures without paying. But that unknown man who frightened me into running away gave me back my conscience. Now I'll chase after the conductor if he forgets to take my bus fare."
SO JOE turned boxer, He went into one fight after another- Winning, winning, winning. He was a sensation, almost overnight.
There was one snag. Joe was a very moody young man. Often he felt lazy. He would box as though he was half asleep. Let anyone hurt him, however, and Joe soon changed his mood. He would turn swiftly into a menacing, vicious fighting machine, slashing and chopping at his opponent, until he dropped.
"I just don't like getting hurt." said Joe, explaining his ferocity in the roped square. Then came the end of his amateur career. And that, too, was purely an accident . Joe was fighting in the England versus Wales match in 1952 when he was disqualified in the third round, after having his opponent on the canvas a number of times. When the referee sent him to his corner and declared his opponent the winner, Joe saw red. He turned and grappled with the referee. Mr. Campbell turned to see the referee on the floor. Boxing enthusiasts at the ringside said Joe struck the referee.
Whatever happened, Joe was suspended for six months. "I was so upset and so fed up with amateur boxing that 1 decided to turn professional," Joe told me.
He asked Mr. Campbell if he would manage him, but he was a strictly amateur enthusiast. When Joe pleaded with bun — "Please help me win a title. Mr. Campbell," — he changed his mind. So the faithful partnership of Bygraves and Campbell was established
JOE made his debut into the profession of paid boxing by knocking out a promising young heavyweight, Don Maxwell, in exactly 65 seconds of the first round, at Liverpool Stadium on February 12th. 1953.
His bulging -muscles and magnificent physique and the fire with which he fought soon earned Joe a host of admirers.
Joe lost only four of his first 28 fights, and it was not long before he was being considered as a title prospect. His terrific punching made Bvgraves a feared man in the ring.
His big chance came in April, 1956, when he met the former British heavyweight champion, Jack Gardner, In London. Joe created a sensation by stopping the ex- Guardsman in two rounds. such a victory put Joe well on the way to a championship fight.
After stopping Marcel Limage in seven rounds in May, 1958, Bygraves was matched against the tough Tongan fighter. Kitione Lave in London, for the British Empire title.
The Jamaican became champion after one of the most brutal battles in ring history. THE Kid from Kingston was there. "1 always wanted to be a champion, ever since I first took up fighting," said Joe, "When I gave up amateur boxing. I was determined to show them I could make the grade as a professional scrapper.
He wanted to put his native Jamaica on the map. "I wanted the folks back home In Kingston to be real proud of me, 'cos I was sure proud of my homeland."
But, despite his viciousness as a fighter, outside of the ring, Joe was a quiet, unassuming guy, liked by everyone who knew him.
Johnny Campbell once told me: "Joe is very religious. He will never train on a Sunday. He goes to church, instead, and often reads the lesson from the pulpit."
Joe soon became known as the "Quiet Champ". The idol of every kid in his district of Liverpool.
JOE makes no secret of the fact that he does not like training. Realizing that it is all part of being a professional fighter, however, he accepts it with a smile.
In September, 1956. Three months, after winning the British Empire heavyweight championship. Joe went to America with his manager, Mr. Johnny Campbell.
He had already fought In Germany, Italy and Sweden, as well, of course. In various
towns and cities in Great Britain, but this was his first visit to the U.S.A.
The trip proved to be a disappointing one. Joe received a big American build-up, but he was forced to retire after five rounds of his fight with the American, Wayne Bethea, in New York.
He later explained the end of that fight: "People may have thought I was getting out of it because I was yellow. That wasn't so. I just felt my arms and legs go limp on me. It was no good going on after that."
He returned to Britain, and his headquarters on Merseyside, and prepared for his next fight. It put him back in boxing's good books, for Joe stopped another former British champion, Johnny Williams, In six rounds.
A FIGHT with the up-and coming Henry Cooper followed, in which Bygraves put his Empire title at stake. He earned admiration from all quarters when he said: "I am prepared to put my title up every time I fight." He knocked out Cooper in the ninth round, in London, in February1957-.
Three months later, he put the title up again, this time against Dick Richardson, a tough. hard-hitting Welshman, tipped by many an the next British and Empire champ.
Joe drew with Richardson over 15 rounds, the contest being fought on the Welshman's
own doorstep, in Cardiff.
A visit to Germany followed. Joe met Heinz Neuhaus, Germany heavyweight champion and one time contender for the world title. It ended in defeat for the 25-years-old Jamaican, when the referee disqualified Joe for "boxing on before being told to do so, after knocking down his opponent, in the sixth round.
Again, ringside spectators said it was a case of Bygraves being too anxious to go in for "the kill."
Joe never once predicted a fight. Whenever he was asked by a newspaper reporter if he was going to win a certain fight, the young man from Jamaica would always reply: "I don't know if I'll win or not. but I can tell you one thing — the guy who steps in with me will certainly know he's been in a fight."And he always kept his word.
OUTSIDE the ring, Joe lived up to his reputation as the "Quiet Champ". He spent most of his spare time in the cinema and playing records at his cousin's home in Liverpool. By now Joe was not getting homesick any more, for he had four brothers and two sisters in England.
His popularity Increased as he readily accepted Invitations to open garden fetes and collect money for charities.
Then came the end of the reign of the "Quiet Champ." In November last year, he put his Empire title up for the third time in a year,, against the clever British champion. Joe Erskine, reckoned to be the fastest heavyweight boxer in Europe. After -15 rounds of fierce slugging, Bygraves lost his precious title. He could not catch up with the fast and elusive Erskine. try as he would to land a knock-out punch. "Bygraves lost all right, but he is the gamest fighter we have ever seen." said many people at the ringside at the end of the contest.
Naturally Joe was disappointed .More than anything he wanted a return fight with Erskine, to prove that he could beat him. “Joe was really off form. We are both confident he could beat Erskine if they fought again” his manager Mr. Campbell told me. With the loss of the title, Joe laid off training for a few months. He was not seen in his training camp in Birkenhead for nearly two months.
When he opened a night club in Liverpool, to provide him with some form of business for when his boxing days were over, some folk said Bygraves had retired from the ring for good.
“Nonsense," said Big Joe, annoyed at the rumours. "I aim to show 'em I'm still a champ." He returned to boxing two months ago, and quickly set about the task of getting hack into perfect fighting condition.
ON FEBRUARY 10th, he climbed between the ropes once again and faced the rugged Joey Armstrong, from Ghana. Armstrong is a highly-rated boxer. Ringsiders were betting on the result. "Armstrong will outbox him," said most of them.
They did not know Bygraves. Fighting almost like a beast, he chased his opponent round the ring, punching him mercilessly from corner to corner. He was in such a fierce mood that his manager had to tell him to "cool off."
The fight lasted under three rounds, before the referee intervened to save Armstrong suffering further punishment. Joe Bygraves was back on the title trail.
"All I want now is a fight with Erskine. So that I can win back my Empire title,".Joe told his manager.
But another boxer. Brian London, was nominated, instead, to meet Erskine for his British and Empire titles. Bygraves was left out in the cold. There was only one thing to do - . . Joe realised he had to prove his capabilities. He threw out a challenge to the American, Willie Pastrano, currently rated the fourth best heavyweight in the world. Pastrano has accepted the challenge.
JOE and Pastrano meet tomorrow in Leicester. England. The Jamaican is confident of victory, despite the fact that the odds are 8-1 against him beating the American. Whether he wins or not is unimportant. What does matter is that Joe Bygraves, the man who left his native Kingston
as a kid to seek fame and fortune, has found both.
If he beats Pastrano, he will go to America again, this time with various offers to meet the best fighters in the world. Probably he will get a match with world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. If he loses, well, he has tried. And no one can ever say Bygraves is not a trier.
The secret of Bygraves's success? Joe sums it up like this' "I reckon boxing is in my blood. You can laugh and joke at me a much as you like when I'm not in the ring. But, man once I’ve climb into the ring, you're no friend of mine any more.