Chip O'Neill - RIP

[bennie]

Michael "Chip" O'Neill has sadly passed away at the premature age of 55 in his native Sunderland, a former gutsy amateur and pro who went in with some good lads and deserves a mention.
Flyweight Chip boxed for Young England against Sweden back in 1981 in London and was the only loser on a night that also featured Errol Christie and Chris Pyatt so they never asked him back but he enjoyed his training weekends at Crystal Palace, sparring Duke McKenzie and Johnny Lyon, and took on Billy Hardy and Joey Dawson for real in the unpaid ranks, neither of whom took any prisoners and while the tireless Hardy needs no introduction, southpaw Dawson won two ABA titles and ranks as one of the greatest amateurs nobody knows. His body punches made opponents look ill.
Chip should have stayed amateur, having the 'craic' down the gym and boxing neatly to close decision wins because he lacked the physical strength and power to do anything past three rounds but in the summer of 1982 he switched to the pro ranks at the foolishly young age of 18, going in with Charlie Brown (twice) and Danny Flynn in his first three fights and losing all three, which seriously disillusioned him, although Flynn went on to challenge McKenzie and Hugh Russell for the British flyweight title and Brown also challenged southpaw Russell and took him 12 gory rounds on a Barry McGuigan undercard in Belfast which had ringsider Sugar Ray Leonard flinching.
Clearly, Chip lost to decent men but already the pro game, or should I say the pro business, wasn't for him and he walked away and kept on walking for nine long years until one fine day he thought of George Foreman and decided to face that business again - and the man wanted a pro win. He came back with two wins in 1992 and racked up six more down the years while serving as an opponent to the likes of Michael Brodie, Brian Carr, Michael Alldis, Ady Lewis, Ian McLeod, Gary Thornhill and Adey Benton. This time he really stuck at boxing and earned himself a shot at the Northern Area featherweight title in 1996 in Newcastle but was halted in nine rounds by local man Colin Innes, after which he had one more fight and called it a day. Sunderland folk don't like losing to Geordies.
Chip O'Neill won't get a mention in the 'new' Boxing News or on a Tris Dixon podcast but anyone who makes a decent comeback after nine years is worth a few lines somewhere in the boxing world and a few lines he gets.

[smiling assassin]

Nice words bennie

[johnty1888]

I saw Chip a few times in his 2nd stint as a pro, he boxed on the same show as my mate Liam Dineen.
I think Chips brother Shaun was also on the bill
RIP Chip

[dookus]

Michael "Chip" O'Neill has sadly passed away at the premature age of 55 in his native Sunderland, a former gutsy amateur and pro who went in with some good lads and deserves a mention.
Flyweight Chip boxed for Young England against Sweden back in 1981 in London and was the only loser on a night that also featured Errol Christie and Chris Pyatt so they never asked him back but he enjoyed his training weekends at Crystal Palace, sparring Duke McKenzie and Johnny Lyon, and took on Billy Hardy and Joey Dawson for real in the unpaid ranks, neither of whom took any prisoners and while the tireless Hardy needs no introduction, southpaw Dawson won two ABA titles and ranks as one of the greatest amateurs nobody knows. His body punches made opponents look ill.
Chip should have stayed amateur, having the 'craic' down the gym and boxing neatly to close decision wins because he lacked the physical strength and power to do anything past three rounds but in the summer of 1982 he switched to the pro ranks at the foolishly young age of 18, going in with Charlie Brown (twice) and Danny Flynn in his first three fights and losing all three, which seriously disillusioned him, although Flynn went on to challenge McKenzie and Hugh Russell for the British flyweight title and Brown also challenged southpaw Russell and took him 12 gory rounds on a Barry McGuigan undercard in Belfast which had ringsider Sugar Ray Leonard flinching for much of it.
Clearly, Chip lost to decent men but already the pro game, or should I say the pro business, wasn't for him and he walked away and kept on walking for nine long years until one fine day he thought of George Foreman and decided to face that business again - and the man wanted a pro win. He came back with two wins in 1992 and racked up six more down the years while serving as an opponent to the likes of Michael Brodie, Brian Carr, Michael Alldis, Ady Lewis, Ian McLeod, Gary Thornhill and Adey Benton. This time he really stuck at boxing and earned himself a shot at the Northern Area featherweight title in 1996 in Newcastle but was halted in nine rounds by local man Colin Innes, after which he had one more fight and called it a day. Sunderland folk don't like losing to Geordies.
Chip O'Neill won't get a mention in the 'new' Boxing News or on a Tris Dixon podcast but anyone who makes a decent comeback after nine years is worth a few lines somewhere in the boxing world and a few lines he gets.

thanks Bennie

[Coco]

Quality post as ever

[pyenest77]

Likewise saw him box 3 times a long time ago.
RIP