BoxRec

Not sure whether to post this in British or Classic:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Leuka ... story.html

R.I.P

Was a great Fighter, and a lovely Man RIP.

RIP

During my research for the biography I done on Dave Charnley last year , I managed to track down Brian to his home in Middlesbrough . I then had several lengthy phonecalls with him ,and he could not have been more obliging .He told me that when he fought Charnley he felt it was a privilege because he genuinely believed that Dave , and not Henry Cooper , was the number one draw in British boxing at that time .He always regretted that he never had an opportunity either before or after the fight to sit down and have an hour or two chatting with Charnley .
Brian told me that his mother came from Ireland and his father ( real name Nancurvis ) came from Cornwall . At the end of his career Brian told me that he gave away his boxing equipment , including his gloves and dressing gown , to an old friend who ran an amateur boxing club in Wales . I also asked him where his two Lonsdale belts went and he said that the last he knew a Scottish gentleman ,named Mc Innes , had them and placed them on display at a pub he owned . I think he was very pleased when I sent him the Charnley biography because he wasn't long in phoning me to complain that I had written he had been warned by the ref for using his head in the first round of his fight with Dave !!!! Brian said he was never a dirty fighter and never ever used his head . Even after all those years he still had that pride . Brian also said that he got most of his boxing knowledge from his father who had a boxing club in Wales . Brian said he was taught to box properly by his father ,and it was all based on skill , particularly defensive skill.
From my brief conversations with Brian it became clear that he was a gentleman and as sharp mentally as the days when he was fighting . I did think about doing my next project on Brian's career because his memories were so vivid - but sadly its too late now .
One final thing . He didn't think that Emile Griffiths was such a great fighter . Brian was dropped several times during their world title fight with body shots , but he said that a few days before the fight someone dropped a medicine ball on his stomach when he wasn't ready and he had to visit the Doctor . He apparently was suffering from internal bleeding but couldn't get the fight postponed .

dalcumly, nice comments .

and RIP champ

I've uploaded Griffiths v Brian Curvis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0fCup2009U