Andreetti is not a name that modern fight fans will be familiar with but he fought in a boxing era of hard men, small halls and meagre opportunity and it took him 61 fights to capture the British title with a 15-round decision over Des Rea in Nottingham in 1969 when he was already past his prime and already a rich man. He had just three more fights before retiring. His record of 53-13-3 (19) included wins over Joe “Old Bones” Brown, Floyd Robertson, Rafiu King, Johnny Cooke and Phil Lundgren.
Andreetti, a Hoxton man, was never in a dull fight and his manager, Jim “The Bishop” Wicks, made sure that he earned well. Vic was shrewd with his earnings, carving out a lucrative business career both here and in the States. He linked up with Nigel Benn in the States after Benn's disastrous defeat at the hands of Michael Watson in 1989 and trained him for arguably the greatest period of Benn's entire career, culminating in a blazing one-round win over Iran Barkley in Las Vegas in 1990. He also trained Paddington's Colin Powers to British and European light-welterweight titles in the 1970s.
Vic Andreetti is one of those rarities in boxing: a winner and a damn good bloke. Nobody can ever replace him.
Vic at the recent Shoreditch Town Hall reunion, where the man had many a war. With him is Bill Smith, brother of event organiser Michael.