BoxRec

Could someone please contribute their opinion on who the biggest names, most successful boxing figures (amateur, pro boxers and coaches) of British Columbia boxing history have been. If I had the time and wasn't so lazy I could more fully research this.

Jimmy McLarnin, Michael Oladjide Jr., Tony Pep, Dale Walters, Harold Mann, Laurie Mann, Jaime Ollenberger are a few that immediately stand out. . . .please share more.

After McLarnin, I think the best fighter ever to come out of BC was Nanaimo welterweight Billy Townsend -- a.k.a 'The Blond Tiger.' Born in Durham, England, his family moved to Nanaimo when Townsend was 2, and as a teenager he worked in the local coal mines. Answering an advertisement for aspiring boxers when he was 14, Billy joined the 'Hopes and Has-Beens' Boxing Club, and within two years he won the Canadian amateur lightweight and welterweight crowns. Compiled a pro record of 66-27-17 (23 KOs) and headlined at MSG half a dozen times, including a KO loss to the great Tony Canzonori in 1933.