Mick 'The Bomb' Mills

[bennie]

I remember Mick. He looked destined for the top in his early career because he wasn't just beating opponents, he was blasting them out and blasting out light-middleweights and middleweights as a natural welterweight. Mills went to a swashbuckling 17-0 (13) under the small hall management of Ernie Fossey and there was talk of showdowns with a comebacking John H. Stracey and Dave "Boy" Green. He couldn't be ignored. He secured a major London appearance against unsung Midlander Joey Mack at Wembley in February 1979, screened a few days later on Grandstand. Mick, at the age of 22, had eight years on Mack and he dropped him in the first and second rounds with big left hooks but Mack was clever at taking breathers and he nailed Mills spectacularly in the third with a big right. Mills went down on his face, rolled over, made it up at eight but referee Harry Gibbs waved it over. Mick was gone.
He got another chance against Falmouth's Salvo Nuciforo two months later at the Albert Hall and again had his man down in the early running but Nuciforo refused to surrender and outlasted Mills in five bloodcurdling rounds to prove that anyone with a chin, decent power - and real heart - had the beating of Mick. Back on his own patch in Sheffield a month later, Mills was destroyed in four rounds by Prince Rodney. His career lay in tatters.
Mick ploughed on for a few entertaining if fruitless years - winning by knockout, losing by knockout - but at least he was home with family, walking his dogs. Manager Fossey moved him to London in his chilling early career and Mick couldn't settle. He missed his dogs.

[tobyh5]

Fascinating stuff, thanks guys.

A small aside, I boxed for Penryn / Falmouth ABC and Camborne ABC and Salvo Nuciforo used to come along and assist the trainers on occasion. He was a right aggressive sod and still a handful 20 years after his last fight. Spoke to him a little about his career.

[Coco]

I good few years back I read a book bout the Wincobank gym, Mills had a section.
The writer was an idiot, he is one of those tv psychologists.
Anyway I got the impression they were all pulling his plonker and he fell for most of it!

[Boxerbeetle]

I good few years back I read a book bout the Wincobank gym, Mills had a section.
The writer was an idiot, he is one of those tv psychologists.
Anyway I got the impression they were all pulling his plonker and he fell for most of it!

‘On the Ropes’?

[Coco]

I good few years back I read a book bout the Wincobank gym, Mills had a section.
The writer was an idiot, he is one of those tv psychologists.
Anyway I got the impression they were all pulling his plonker and he fell for most of it!

‘On the Ropes’?

That's it, Ive prob still got it somewhere, terrible book

[Noxy]

I loved that book, he wrote a sequel too - Geoff Beattie.

[Boxerbeetle]

The sequel was supposed to be all about Naz, wasn’t it? And then he was only in it for about 3 pages at the very end.

[Noxy]

I think it was called - Naseem Hamed and the ones he left behind.

He goes back to Sheffield and sees what happened since the first book. It’s after Naz split from Brendan. They’re the only books I’ve read about boxing written by a psychologist. He‘s so analytical, it’s interesting.

[Noxy]

The sequel was supposed to be all about Naz, wasn’t it? And then he was only in it for about 3 pages at the very end.

Aye, well the title suggests that at least. You’re right, most of the book is about life in Sheffield post Naz. I remember this anecdote about ants and Lenny the doorman. It was hilarious.

[Noxy]

I've just seen a picture of the 'On The Ropes' cover, I swear I've had/read that book ... but I have no recollection of the contents whatsoever

Right, it starts with Beattie talking about a sparring session with Mills. I don’t know if that jogs your memory. He describes it that vividly, you almost feel you were there.

[tobyh5]

That's interesting mate, though it's disappointing to hear that Salvo is an 'aggresive sod'

I had a quick search and found this image in bizarrely named 'Falmouth Packet'



Have to agree that Salvo (far left) does look a bit fierce

I worked for the Falmouth Packet in the 90s then opened an opposition title as another aside

[Coco]

That book didn't offer any psychological insights, they were giving him Charlie big spuds and then laughing behind his back

[margaret thatcher]

The one fella looks like Bunce but with a bit extra dewlap

[bennie]

@Bennie

Do you know how Mick came to have two fights in Australia in 1983?

No I don't, mate. He went over for a fight with Doug Sam, a good prospect who had won middleweight silver in the Commonwealth Games in 1982, and bailed out tamely in the first round claiming a shoulder injury. Bizarrely, he took another fight there 10 days later and lost again in the first round. By this stage of Mick's career, his pride was on the floor.

[bennie]

That's interesting mate, though it's disappointing to hear that Salvo is an 'aggresive sod'

I had a quick search and found this image in bizarrely named 'Falmouth Packet'



Have to agree that Salvo (far left) does look a bit fierce

I'm old enough to have watched Salvo fight. He had a war with Catford's Horace Thompson at the old Manor Place Baths in Walworth in 1978 before getting caught and kayoed in the third round. Salvo wasn't a banger but he loved a tear-up and had plenty of bottle.

[olij999]

Fascinating stuff, thanks guys.

A small aside, I boxed for Penryn / Falmouth ABC and Camborne ABC and Salvo Nuciforo used to come along and assist the trainers on occasion. He was a right aggressive sod and still a handful 20 years after his last fight. Spoke to him a little about his career.

I interviewed Salvo a few years back for my biography of Kirkland Laing, as Kirk fought him in 1980. He was very quotable and helpful, and there's a few pages on his career in the book.

[Coco]

Fascinating stuff, thanks guys.

A small aside, I boxed for Penryn / Falmouth ABC and Camborne ABC and Salvo Nuciforo used to come along and assist the trainers on occasion. He was a right aggressive sod and still a handful 20 years after his last fight. Spoke to him a little about his career.

I interviewed Salvo a few years back for my biography of Kirkland Laing, as Kirk fought him in 1980. He was very quotable and helpful, and there's a few pages on his career in the book.

Folk like Salvo are unfortunately easily and long forgotten, but this is a guy who fought Laing, Colin Jones and Pat Thomas, always fighting away from him, fought in Italy too, good pro

[Coco]

Just looking at some records, another name that cropped up was Joey Mack, good pro, fought everyone, abroad too

[olij999]

I interviewed Salvo a few years back for my biography of Kirkland Laing, as Kirk fought him in 1980. He was very quotable and helpful, and there's a few pages on his career in the book.

Folk like Salvo are unfortunately easily and long forgotten, but this is a guy who fought Laing, Colin Jones and Pat Thomas, always fighting away from him, fought in Italy too, good pro

Absolutely.

[tobyh5]

That's interesting mate, though it's disappointing to hear that Salvo is an 'aggresive sod'

I had a quick search and found this image in bizarrely named 'Falmouth Packet'



Have to agree that Salvo (far left) does look a bit fierce

re being an aggressive sod, I do not mean in a negative way. A personably nice guy, probably the wrong word choice. I cannot think of the right one though. Just very much a direct sort of chap, a "this is how you do it" before bam bam with a couple shots thrown towards you.

[bennie]

Just looking at some records, another name that cropped up was Joey Mack, good pro, fought everyone, abroad too

Joey Mack was a real dangerman who had a puncher's chance with anyone in Europe and deserved a British title shot for the number of upsets he pulled off. The man was built like Tommy Hearns - a lean giant of a welterweight - and liked to draw opponents on to his long right hands. He probably hurt every opponent he ever fought.
Joey didn't turn pro until he was 28, after a stint in the army and then many years on the ABA trail for the Golden Gloves club in Birmingham. He made it to the ABA semi-finals in 1975 but was outscored by strong Welshman Chris Davies and also boxed for England a couple of times. He clearly loved the amateur game but the lure of money wore him down and he caused a sensation in just his fifth paid outing when he smashed reigning British welterweight champion Henry Rhiney in seven rounds in London in 1977. Sadly, it was a non-title affair and he never got a title rematch.
Instead, Joey struggled for fights here and was forced to mainland Europe against some tasty characters until another tasty character by the name of Mick Mills had run out of willing opposition in the UK so Mack and Mills went head-to-head at Wembley in 1979 on a brutal night of boxing topped by a 15-round war between Colin Power and Clinton McKenzie. The unbeaten Mills had one thing left to prove as a fighter: his chin. Mack was the man to test it but he was a big underdog and had to survive an early onslaught from a man who banked everything on winning by knockout. Survive Joey did. In the third round, he found Mills with his long right and the Mills bubble was well and truly burst.
Victory earned Joey a final eliminator with another unbeaten puncher by the name of Colin Jones, a man who didn't blow up and who went all the way to the higher echelons of world class (indeed, a draw for the world title). Mack was never going to win but he stuck it out for 10 rounds and he continued to mix it with fierce opposition in the form of Kirkland Laing, Lloyd Hibbert, Cliff Gilpin, Kostas Petrou and that man Mills again. Amazingly, Mills done him in two rounds with body shots in Sheffield in 1982, which just goes to prove that a puncher never loses his punch. Good old Mick! If only...
Mack never lost his punch either and pulled off upsets well into his 30s over the likes of Martin McGough, John F. Kennedy and London bad boy Colin Derrick, who took the defeat so badly he disappeared off the face of the planet. Mack was 35 when he called it a day after the rugged Petrou stopped him in five rounds in Coventry in 1983 - but he had Petrou down with a crunching right hand. Right to the end, Joey proved a dangerman.

[Coco]

Just looking at some records, another name that cropped up was Joey Mack, good pro, fought everyone, abroad too

Joey Mack was a real dangerman who had a puncher's chance with anyone in Europe and deserved a British title shot for the number of upsets he pulled off. The man was built like Tommy Hearns - a lean giant of a welterweight - and liked to draw opponents on to his long right hands. He probably hurt every opponent he ever fought.
Joey didn't turn pro until he was 28, after a stint in the army and then many years on the ABA trail for the Golden Gloves club in Birmingham. He made it to the ABA semi-finals in 1975 but was outscored by strong Welshman Chris Davies and also boxed for England a couple of times. He clearly loved the amateur game but the lure of money wore him down and he caused a sensation in just his fifth paid outing when he smashed reigning British welterweight champion Henry Rhiney in seven rounds in London in 1977. Sadly, it was a non-title affair and he never got a title rematch.
Instead, Joey struggled for fights here and was forced to mainland Europe against some tasty characters until another tasty character by the name of Mick Mills had run out of willing opposition in the UK so Mack and Mills went head-to-head at Wembley in 1979 on a brutal night of boxing topped by a 15-round war between Colin Power and Clinton McKenzie. The unbeaten Mills had one thing left to prove as a fighter: his chin. Mack was the man to test it but he was a big underdog and had to survive an early onslaught from a man who banked everything on winning by knockout. Survive Joey did. In the third round, he found Mills with his long right and the Mills bubble was well and truly burst.
Victory earned Joey a final eliminator with another unbeaten puncher by the name of Colin Jones, a man who didn't blow up and who went all the way to the higher echelons of world class (indeed, a draw for the world title). Mack was never going to win but he stuck it out for 10 rounds and he continued to mix it with fierce opposition in the form of Kirkland Laing, Lloyd Hibbert, Cliff Gilpin, Kostas Petrou and that man Mills again. Amazingly, Mills done him in two rounds with body shots in Sheffield in 1982, which just goes to prove that a puncher never loses his punch. Good old Mick! If only...
Mack never lost his punch either and pulled off upsets well into his 30s over the likes of Martin McGough, John F. Kennedy and London bad boy Colin Derrick, who took the defeat so badly he disappeared off the face of the planet. Mack was 35 when he called it a day after the rugged Petrou stopped him in five rounds in Coventry in 1983 - but he had Petrou down with a crunching right hand. Right to the end, Joey proved a dangerman.

[bennie]

Speedy Mitchell was another quality Welter around the same era (he fought Mack for the Midlands Area title)

Had some tough jobs abroad, picking up a win and a couple of 'draws'

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/34893

Yeah, Speedy made a lot of waves whenever he came down to London and he nearly beat Kirkland Laing in a 12-round eliminator for the British title held by Luton's Henry Rhiney. Laing nicked it on points and then went on to outclass Rhiney for the title, although Terry Lawless was unhappy with Laing's inability to finish off Rhiney earlier than he did.
Speedy blew hot and cold but he really had talent.

[bennie]

Rhiney was a superb stylist, with a touch more power (and the correct management/promotion) he could have gone a lot further.

I saw Rhiney (Luton) defend his title against Billy Waith (Cardiff) in Barnsley of all places.

I think it ended up there because no other promoter put in a purse bid.

Classy contest between two real craftsman.

I remember that Boxing News tipped Waith to win but Rhiney proved too classy over the 15 rounds. He toyed with Carlos Palomino in sparring when Carlos was over here to topple John H. Stracey.

[bennie]

Had a look on YouTube and sadly the only footage of Henry is his fight with Dave Green (lost his Euro but kept his British due to the 12/15 rounds anomaly)

But I did find this (loosely) related contest

Nice find. Pat Thomas was often derided as too cagey for his own good and it looked grim for him when he lost his British welterweight title to Rhiney but he moved up and showed real venom at light-middleweight, stopping Batten for the British title and Dave Proud and Steve Hopkin in subsequent defences.