Errol Christie Question

[JC]

Anyone know why he decided to turn pro instead of waiting for the 1984 Olympics? Just curious as he'd only have been 21 and would surely have been in with a great chance, wouldn't he?

Also anyone read his book? Is it worth a look?

[bennie]

It's a good question. He had failed to make light-middleweight in the 1982 ABA run-in and went up to middleweight and immediately won gold in the European juniors. He must have been inundated with offers after that and, having already won an ABA title in 1981 and bearing in mind his strained relationship with England coach Kevin Hickey, he decided to jump.

[freddydoesdallas]

Errol has always said that when he won the European Juniors he saw it as his meal ticket to get out of Coventry and en route to a better life. Racial conflict was rife in Coventry back then and Errol and his brothers got into all sorts of scrapes; he thought their was a very real chance he'd get seriously injured or killed had he stayed in the city. So he opted to move to London, turn pro and ultimately try and chase a few quid.

It wasn't as bad as he makes out. Errol liked a scrap and if that's the way you are you'll always find trouble

[bennie]

Why do you say he likes a scrap? He was too busy winning all those amateur titles, surely. I've never heard of Errol as a troublemaker.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

Brian Schmacher was their pick for middleweight and being from Liverpool and Royal Navy meant that there was no chance of Errol Christie of budging him from the no1 spot. Nothing to do with colour but there is certainly regionalism and favouritism within the ABA and there always has been. Errol was intelligent enough to know he wasn't going anywhere as an amatuer. No wonder so many turn pro.

[freddydoesdallas]

Why do you say he likes a scrap? He was too busy winning all those amateur titles, surely. I've never heard of Errol as a troublemaker.

Its what a lot of people from this area say about him. A cross section of people too. Yeah there were a few skinheads around at that time like there were throughout the country but he's not the type of person you would generally go after is he?

[JC]

It's a good question. He had failed to make light-middleweight in the 1982 ABA run-in and went up to middleweight and immediately won gold in the European juniors. He must have been inundated with offers after that and, having already won an ABA title in 1981 and bearing in mind his strained relationship with England coach Kevin Hickey, he decided to jump.

Thanks for the replies chaps.

Bennie, I assumed it was something like the above, being tempted by big offers. If, as Carlos says, he knew he wouldn't get selected anyway then that seems a real shame.

Given the way his pro career turned out, maybe turning over a bit older than he did might have helped a little.

[morria]

His autobiography No Place To Hide is quite a good read as well.

[JC]

His autobiography No Place To Hide is quite a good read as well.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[freddydoesdallas]

Errol and his brothers didn't avoid trouble and, to be fair, there was so much of it about it would've been difficult if they had tried. Freddy, there was enough trouble in Coventry in the early 80s for The Specials to write "Ghost Town".

There was trouble about but probably no worse than most other cities at the time. It wasn't the warzone that some people like to have made out

[dekker88]

i'm a cov kid and altho only 7 in 1980 i can state with authority that it was no worse than anywhere else....a lot of my relatives lived in the area that Christie is from too and it really wasn't some sort of british bronx by any stretch of the imagination.

[dekker88]

http://www.BS.com/?m=show&id=21664

Apologies for dropping the link but thought it may help. Errol talks about how he got into the odd scrape when defending himself against racial slurs and admits that he lost a lot of faith in the amateur system, he also outlines his reasons for moving away from Coventry before the atmosphere there turned him into 'an angry man'.

decent article.

[JC]

Yeah thanks for posting it Terry.

When he says he should have been a world champion, was he referring to the SM division coming along too late for him or just that with his talent his career/training should have been managed better?

[bennie]

I think the Kaylor fight took a lot out of Christie. A long, hard, punishing loss is hard to overcome.