BoxRec

Just wondering if anyone has heard of this fighter and a bit about his background.

He was highly tipped in his day, had a lot of skills and great PR. Ultimately though, he was a little short of world class, and his fragile skin kept him from really testing himself.

Somewhere I've got an old English soccer magazine that showed him on the touchline at Kenilworth Rd.

SamWise72 wrote:He was highly tipped in his day, had a lot of skills and great PR. Ultimately though, he was a little short of world class, and his fragile skin kept him from really testing himself.

This. Met him at a show a few years back, I think he does motivational speaking or something along those lines these days, was really lovely to talk to. I, OTOH, managed to make an arse out of myself...

Me (in Fanboy mode): BILLY! I saw you fight for the world title! At Wembley!

BS (big smile, hand-pumping-shake): Oh, really? Did you enjoy it?

Me: Oh yeah, was great seeing a fighter involved in a proper world title fight then, was really rare! No-one else had the bollocks to fight for a proper title back then!

BS (Looking somewhat less chuffed): Oh. Yeah. The Johnston fight. Yeah. I lost that one.

Me: ...

Only later did I realise that he'd actually fought for some bauble or other after losing to Stevie Johnston. I had near enough stopped following boxing at that point due to the stupid proliferation of bullshit titles, so just sort of edited the end of his career out.

But he did the proper route in his day, British, Commonwealth & Euro. I remember him being well-fancied after he KO'd Carl Crook (CARL CROOK! There's a name to conjure with!) but came a cropper vs the unfancied Paul Burke, then when everyone did the "Oh he's shite now, he's lost" thing (this was pre-Interwebs, mind, it was happening in the pages of Boxing Monthly & Boxing News, so there's nothing new under the sun) beat him in a rematch when "those in the know" had him booked to lose again.

He had an attractive boxer-puncher style, & had a big following. He got the shot against Ruelas out the blue & went to Vegas, gave Rafael some trouble but was never gonna beat the Mexican at his own game & got badly cut (as SamWise said, his bane). "Lil' but Bad" put on one of his best performances against him, imo, was class watching it but Schwer was well-beaten & I think maybe the cards were a trifle generous.

Good fighter & like I said a nice bloke.

Loved watching Schwer box both as an amateur and a pro. Always came to fight, always well prepared. Good fighter.

I was a fan of Billy Schwer back then and still have a lot of his fights. Won British and European title. Losing to Johnston and Ruelas in real world title fights are no disgrase. Great fighter, but unfortunatly prone to cuts.

He was pipped by Patrick Gallagher in the 1990 ABA lightweight final in front of thousands of his supporters and this epitomised his long career in the pros, at the highest level. Good boxer, well-trained.

One tough customer. Was there for his fight against Ruelas.

Same night Kostya Tszyu won his first world title!

He was a tidy little boxer, with good speed and power.

I think I'm right in saying all his inside the distance losses were via cuts, albeit the Sarmiento fight was a bit of a smashing towards the end and was his first career knockdown.

Burke was the first to wear those weird side-pleated shorts, which Schwer then started wearing.

I thought he was unlucky against Dunne, very close fight.

Got a career set, somewhere.

nice fella - the dunne fight people still talk about. great dust up. he is also a good supporter of LEBA.

today he would of won a world title ,a good british european champ just below the worlds best he was a steady world top ten light weight a nice box puncher could do a bit of everything , probably about the same level as ricky burns or mitchell

Cuts aside, I would have him above either Burns or Mitchell. Really belonged in the world top 10 (Mitchell never has, and Ricky barely brushed it), just not up with the top 3 or 4.

Billy was a well schooled and powerful box/puncher. He knocked one of his early opponent's out with a jab. His dad was a decent boxer as well and I remember reading that Billy had a couple of older sisters who held him down and bashed him about - after this he really trained hard so it wouldn't happen again, he said he hated feeling weak. I think he's got a kid up in Doncaster - he trained up here for some time. Billy had strong support and a fair few from Luton Towns hooligan firm, the Men In Gear.