BoxRec

...Horace Notice? He was undefeated and the British champ before he retired. How come he never fought Frank Bruno or pursued a World Title shot?

Forced to retire with a detached retina

Notice only ever lost one fight, amateur and pro, to Harold Hylton in the 1982 ABA heavyweight final. He nearly killed Hylton when they met a year later in the '83 final. He was a great prospect.

Wasnt he married to someone from Eastenders?

You're thinking of Brian May mate.

I once watched a whole Great Britain team, not just an England side, get hammered 10-1 by the Yanks in the amateurs in London in 1983. The only winner was Notice, who flattened the American in the first round.

deadpan wrote:You're thinking of Brian May mate.

Ha!Im not,i read an article at the time,it was a long time ago.

mickey1975 wrote:

deadpan wrote:You're thinking of Brian May mate.

Ha!Im not,i read an article at the time,it was a long time ago.

He is with the woman who was the mother of Lloyd, Clyde and Hattie

Interviewed Liverpool Heavyweight Noel Quarless for our magazine's launch in July and we spoke at length about Notice.

Quarless claimed that Frank Bruno and Gary Mason wanted no part of him around the time he fought him.

They met at the Liverpool Stadium in a British title eliminator. Notice won in 7.

It was the last Pro show at the Stadium.

Chris W 1982 wrote:Interviewed Liverpool Heavyweight Noel Quarless for our magazine's launch in July and we spoke at length about Notice.

Quarless claimed that Frank Bruno and Gary Mason wanted no part of him around the time he fought him.

They met at the Liverpool Stadium in a British title eliminator. Notice won in 7.

It was the last Pro show at the Stadium.

What was the big deal about Quarless, anyway? He was a little before my time but I knew he was a fairly big name. But why, considering he lost a whole bunch of fights very early, at a pretty low level.

oliverfennell wrote:

Chris W 1982 wrote:Interviewed Liverpool Heavyweight Noel Quarless for our magazine's launch in July and we spoke at length about Notice.

Quarless claimed that Frank Bruno and Gary Mason wanted no part of him around the time he fought him.

They met at the Liverpool Stadium in a British title eliminator. Notice won in 7.

It was the last Pro show at the Stadium.

What was the big deal about Quarless, anyway? He was a little before my time but I knew he was a fairly big name. But why, considering he lost a whole bunch of fights very early, at a pretty low level.

Quarless suddenly came good with explosive knockouts of a comebacking John L. Gardener and ex-amateur star Anders Eklund on terrestrial TV. He was big, quick, white and, like most heavyweights, unpredictable. Gardener compared him to Mike Dokes, in terms of speed and power. There was inevitable talk of a showdown with Frank Bruno and he fought on the memorable Bonecrusher-Bruno Wembley bill against Bruno sparmate, Mark Lee, losing disastrously in the first round. I met Quarless once and quickly formed the impression that spilling his pint would be a big mistake.

Cheers. Something like a Cliff Couser, then (when Couser was still capable) - a handful of upsets but more often would get taken out early.

I can imagine how smashing Gardner on terrestrial TV would make him instantly recognisable, but pitching him as a Bruno opponent when he'd already been beaten inside a round three or four times? Surely nobody imagined a rising Bruno would do any differently against him?

That fight was at york hall, when Frank Maloney started out promoting along with Terry Marsh and Ambrose Mendy, boring fight, but Quarless well won it.
Horace is Married to Jackie, she played Etta in eastenders, they have 2 daughters, and live near Bromley, Horace was doing the 'Knowledge' but was hit by a car and came off his bike a few yrs ago, he has recovered, and still wants to be a cab driver, I keep in contact with him,

Horace Notice was from the same Terry Lawless camp, if I am not mistaken. so him fighting Frank Bruno or Gary Mason wasnt going to happen, never ever.

I remember him fighting, he was quick, strong, had good fundementals and a sound chin. Not sure he was world level, definately Euro though. Shame his career was cut short.

My last memory of Horace is him standing on the ring apron as a shower of chairs are hurled at him by the gypsy fans of Jean Chanet over in France.

Last time I saw Horace was in Brighton police station in 1990, where he was trying to get Kid Milo out. Horace had worked Milo's corner against Eubank and for some reason or other Milo was pulled by the plod as he left the ring after the fight. Horace was a decent fighter and struck me as a decent bloke.

Glyn Leach wrote:Last time I saw Horace was in Brighton police station in 1990, where he was trying to get Kid Milo out. Horace had worked Milo's corner against Eubank and for some reason or other Milo was pulled by the plod as he left the ring after the fight. Horace was a decent fighter and struck me as a decent bloke.

Gary Newbon was very insulting about Milo just after the Brummie had given the huge-punching Nigel Benn a few rounds. "Don't say that!" remarked Benn, who you just had to love.

I remember Hughroy Currie had Notice down in the 6th round of there Britiah title fight, but this seemed to fire up Horace who came on and stopped Hughroy moments later in the 6th.

bennie wrote:My last memory of Horace is him standing on the ring apron as a shower of chairs are hurled at him by the gypsy fans of Jean Chanet over in France.

Funny enought I was with Derek today talking about that same fight, we was in Paris for Dereks 2nd fight against Chanet, and apparantly, the french heard about Dereks accusations about his water being drugged in their previous fight, and it all kicked off in the 12th round, I was filming just by hand held, I jumped in the ring, along with the 2 fighters and the ref, and carried on filming the outside action, it was terrible, chairs were flying,chaos etc...
gene hackman done a runner!! but we did all get to meet Bob Foster there........

I know he retired unbeaten (eye trouble if memory serves), three questions.

How good was he?
How far could he have gone?
What's he doing now?

Coco wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:

deadpan wrote:You're thinking of Brian May mate.

Ha!Im not,i read an article at the time,it was a long time ago.

He is with the woman who was the mother of Lloyd, Clyde and Hattie

think her characters name was Etta?

last i saw of him he was doing the door at Marlow Rooms in Sidcup

that was a long long time ago.......in a galaxy far away!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice and the tragic Rudi Pika....two losses to the heavies in the 80's... decent boxers with lots of potential

keithmoonhangover wrote:I know he retired unbeaten (eye trouble if memory serves), three questions.

How good was he?
How far could he have gone?
What's he doing now?

He was scheduled to fight Francisco Damiani in Italy for the EBU title when he had to sadly retire. I think Horace went as far as he could to be honest. He wouldn't have beaten Damiani for me who I rate as one of the best heavyweights (or one of the most skilled) to come out of Europe in the past 30 years. Horace retired at the right time. He was coming into the 'supersize' heavyweight generation of the early 1990s and his 6ft 1ins and solid 15 and 1/2 stone wouldn't have been big enough I am afraid. He was a good fighter though.

I would compare him to Henry Tillman in style and ability - good but not good enough.