BoxRec

What's he up to these days, anyone know? Used to watch him as a kid.

Eddy wrote:What's he up to these days, anyone know? Used to watch him as a kid.

im good friends with his cousin, i will check with him to see what his up to, did anyone know scrap irons great uncle was harry davis ? fighting family !

just checked with paul ryan's cousin, after he retired in the late 90's he managed the rouge night club just off the charing cross road in london, he then became a silent partner in a bar buisness in marbella where he also lived for a few years, the latest is his a minder/driver for a very rich arab in mayfair ! also i got it wrong on my previous post, harry davis was his grandad and not his great uncle, harry was a tough welter weight in the 1940's who lost to kid berg twice, once on points and secondly on a tko in the 8th !
hope this answers a couple of questions...

Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

Didn't he used to be a cabbie?

orbtastic wrote:Didn't he used to be a cabbie?

no, not a london cabbie anyway.

He'd do well to write a book; Paul Ryan turned himself around and from all accounts (Scrap) he has some really good stories to tell.

jessi wrote:

orbtastic wrote:Didn't he used to be a cabbie?

no, not a london cabbie anyway.

Are you sure? I remember him being interviewed before he moved up to welterweight saying that he was sick to death of getting stick from pissed up passengers going oh you're the bloke off the TV who keeps getting knocked out, said that he got bored of knocking people out so decided not to retire and move up to 147.

simon fox wrote:Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

i can't say i predicted the outcome, but i was pretty sure someone was getting sparked, there.

orbtastic wrote:

jessi wrote:

orbtastic wrote:Didn't he used to be a cabbie?

no, not a london cabbie anyway.

Are you sure? I remember him being interviewed before he moved up to welterweight saying that he was sick to death of getting stick from pissed up passengers going oh you're the bloke off the TV who keeps getting knocked out, said that he got bored of knocking people out so decided not to retire and move up to 147.

100% sure, im a london cabbie, paul ryans cousin my mate is too, and all his family are aswell, infact paul ryan is probably the only male in the family whos not a cabbie, are you sure your not thinking of someone else ? scrapy won 25 of 28 fights (23ko's) and only lost 3, all 3 were by ko but the thaxton fight which was his first loss he took at only 1 weeks notice.

Counter-puncher wrote:

simon fox wrote:Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

i can't say i predicted the outcome, but i was pretty sure someone was getting sparked, there.

That pretty much summed him up, always worth watching.

I can remember something similar jessi; people were needling Paul saying 'Oh he's like a milkman, he only does a round'; he knocked a few out he said. He may not have been a proper black cab driver with the knowledge but he may have done some private cabbing. (Weren't he the self proclaimed 'worst burglar in London?' (not knocking him, he turned himself around and done well).

He was a cabbie. Those were his words. I remember it clearly.

I can even remember what he was wearing.

jessi wrote:

orbtastic wrote:

jessi wrote: no, not a london cabbie anyway.

Are you sure? I remember him being interviewed before he moved up to welterweight saying that he was sick to death of getting stick from pissed up passengers going oh you're the bloke off the TV who keeps getting knocked out, said that he got bored of knocking people out so decided not to retire and move up to 147.

100% sure, im a london cabbie, paul ryans cousin my mate is too, and all his family are aswell, infact paul ryan is probably the only male in the family whos not a cabbie, are you sure your not thinking of someone else ? scrapy won 25 of 28 fights (23ko's) and only lost 3, all 3 were by ko but the thaxton fight which was his first loss he took at only 1 weeks notice.

Happy to accept his family/friends know better, but my recollection is the same as Orb's.... maybe a mistake in the media?

Maybe he's hung up on the london cab thing.

I remember him being interviewed saying he had to bang out plenty of passengers who got well lippy. Got it on tape somewhere.

He was a character for sure, couldn't straighten his arm as he'd had it broken in prison etc.

It haqd been broken 4 times

I saw that quoted but didn't know if it was 4 times, or broken in four places!

orbtastic wrote:He was a cabbie. Those were his words. I remember it clearly.

I can even remember what he was wearing.

he may of been a mini cab driver, if he was appologys, i was reffering to a london black cab driver, but his cousin still remains confident he was neither, but i will find out for sure tonight and post on here when i know, either way he was a good little fighter.

jessi wrote:

orbtastic wrote:He was a cabbie. Those were his words. I remember it clearly.

I can even remember what he was wearing.

he may of been a mini cab driver, if he was appologys, i was reffering to a london black cab driver, but his cousin still remains confident he was neither, but i will find out for sure tonight and post on here when i know, either way he was a good little fighter.

Yeah it's ok mate, written word and all that, it can be very literal.

I swear I can remember him being interviewed by SKY, before one of his fights up at 147, probably was the McCreesh fight and he's sitting there being quite self effacing in his flat cap, talking about banging out people cos they were taking the piss out of his chin etc. My memory is amazing, sometimes it lets me down and this is what, well over 10 years ago and I've not seen it since. Like I say, I've got it on tape, along with 10-15 of his other fights. He was fun to watch.

I thought Hale was a mortal lock to bang him out.

Here's the Hale & Thacko fights, haven't seen them in probably 15 years..brings back some good memories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UysQfZz7jUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LITzByerkVo


Oh yeah...good to see Howard in the corner there (!) You got any good anecdotes for us Scrap?

simon fox wrote:Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

I wasn't suprised when he was knocked out cold by Jonathan Thaxton, who I used to spar regularly with over at the Ingle's gym. He was such a strong kid for his size. Ryan used to swagger about with his chin in the air and young Mr.Thaxton really burst his bubble.

Teddy's Toupee wrote:

simon fox wrote:Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

I wasn't suprised when he was knocked out cold by Jonathan Thaxton, who I used to spar regularly with over at the Ingle's gym. He was such a strong kid for his size. Ryan used to swagger about with his chin in the air and young Mr.Thaxton really burst his bubble.

That Ko win made Thaxton really..He could always bang as a young one in the Ams,shame his only Aba run was stopped by a more skilfull&experienced Georgie Smith...

Tommy Gunn13 wrote:

Teddy's Toupee wrote:

simon fox wrote:Paul Ryan was one of my absolute favourites; he was some hitter and has charisma. I really liked to watch him box; I was surprised when he beat Ross Hale though.

I wasn't suprised when he was knocked out cold by Jonathan Thaxton, who I used to spar regularly with over at the Ingle's gym. He was such a strong kid for his size. Ryan used to swagger about with his chin in the air and young Mr.Thaxton really burst his bubble.

That Ko win made Thaxton really..He could always bang as a young one in the Ams,shame his only Aba run was stopped by a more skilfull&experienced Georgie Smith...

Who was some fighter himself; and a very hard hitter (who knocked Paul Ryan out in the amateurs)

Has anyone seen the Dunne fight? It was down at 135 I think and I've heard that Thacko had him down early but gassed a little and got stopped due to the weight. I don't know if that's excuses or not, having never seen it. I don't think it was televised.

I've not seen the fight but there a fantastic interview in 'Sweet Fighting Man' 1 or 2 with Colin Dunne; I'm sure that the fight is mentioned there.

I read an interview with Jon Thaxton and he said he made the move up in weight to light welter as he felt he wasn't strong enough to compete with Billy Schwer and Colin Dunne (there was Michael Ayres as well at the weight); shows how strong the lightweights were back then.

simon fox wrote:

Tommy Gunn13 wrote:

Teddy's Toupee wrote: I wasn't suprised when he was knocked out cold by Jonathan Thaxton, who I used to spar regularly with over at the Ingle's gym. He was such a strong kid for his size. Ryan used to swagger about with his chin in the air and young Mr.Thaxton really burst his bubble.

That Ko win made Thaxton really..He could always bang as a young one in the Ams,shame his only Aba run was stopped by a more skilfull&experienced Georgie Smith...

Who was some fighter himself; and a very hard hitter (who knocked Paul Ryan out in the amateurs)

Smith wasnt really a banger in the Ams,he knocked Ryan out in the english semis as they was known then..Boxed Thaxton a couple of years after that(Thaxton was 18 i think)