BoxRec

Controversial wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 14:14 You never seem to hear about Dennis Andries, I don't recall seeing any interviews with him since hanging up his gloves in 1996, he just seemed to disappear. Anyone know what he's up to these days, is he still involved in boxing or just happy to be out of the game and limelight?

mickey1975 wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 14:40

Controversial wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 14:14 You never seem to hear about Dennis Andries, I don't recall seeing any interviews with him since hanging up his gloves in 1996, he just seemed to disappear. Anyone know what he's up to these days, is he still involved in boxing or just happy to be out of the game and limelight?

I saw him at the York Hall in the late 90's. He was wearing a pair of dungarees and looked as sold as f uck. He looked like if you hit him, he wouldn't even blink.

bigjack wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 15:03 I think i've read on here a few years back that he went on to work on the railways after boxing,not 100% on that though

Deserter wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 15:09 Bennie will know…

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 19:56 Remember his WBC light heavyweight defence against Thomas Hearns ?

Typically brave but he got proper nailed and dropped by the Hitman a few times...got back up every time

ITV showed the fight and the brilliant Jim Rosenthal did the commentary

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 19:56 Remember his WBC light heavyweight defence against Thomas Hearns ?

Typically brave but he got proper nailed and dropped by the Hitman a few times...got back up every time

ITV showed the fight and the brilliant Jim Rosenthal did the commentary

dr_devious wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 15:30
Dennis even managed to knock Tommy down in one of the latter rounds

orbtastic wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 15:57 I like that story of him going to one of the BBBoC events on the tube with his WBC belt in a carrier bag.

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑23 Jan 2022, 16:33 I remember the knockdown Andries scored against Hearns, but struggling to remember if it should have counted or not.

At the time I recall thinking it was legitimate.

Certainly Hearns had a disdainful look on his face as if to suggest it wasn't a genuine knockdown.

Hope that fights on YouTube, I'm getting interested in watching it again

Deserter wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 15:09 Bennie will know…

bennie wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 05:19

Controversial wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 06:57

Deserter wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 15:09 Bennie will know…

bennie wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 05:19

Any ideas Bennie?

bennie wrote: ↑25 Jan 2022, 06:02

Controversial wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 06:57

Deserter wrote: ↑22 Jan 2022, 15:09 Bennie will know…

bennie wrote: ↑24 Jan 2022, 05:19

Any ideas Bennie?

Afraid not. Dennis is pushing 70 these days so hopefully he is sitting back and taking it easy. I can still remember when he made a name for himself back in 1979 as a substitute for Tony Sibson against reigning British light-heavyweight champion Bunny Johnson at the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton. Middleweight Sibson was due to step up and challenge Johnson for the title but had previously been flattened in the first round by another light-heavyweight, Lottie Mwale of Zambia, and got the jitters as the Johnson fight drew closer. He pulled out and Andries, a relative novice, took on Johnson in a 10-rounder and was given no chance. Over the first eight rounds, Johnson boxed the ears off Andries but the underdog kept coming and the final two rounds turned into a nightmare for the champion as he faded spectacularly and Andries swung away with both hands and almost forced a stoppage.
Johnson took the decision but faced Andries again a year later, with many tipping Dennis to take the title over the 15-round course, including Boxing News. Sadly it turned into a desperate maul, one of the worst British title fights of all time. Johnson at least tried to box but Andries turned it into a wrestling contest, repeatedly dragging Johnson to the canvas. On two occasions, both men spilled out of the ring and on to the press benches. By the finish, nobody cared about the verdict but Welsh referee James Brimmell gave it to the champion. Brimmell described it as "the worst fight I have ever refereed or watched." Harry Mullan, the editor of Boxing News, wrote: "Andries offered the crudest championship challenge I have ever seen." Fortunately, the fight was off-TV.
Johnson later moved to Australia for a spell and Andries was floored and outpointed by the moody but dangerous Tom Collins for the vacant British title in London in 1982, in one of the last 15-rounders here. Andries blamed his defeat on the flu. He outpointed Collins in a 12-round rematch for the title and did the same a few months later but Collins made it close both times and nobody could foresee the glittering future that lay ahead for the Hackney Rock, particularly when he failed to dethrone rangy Dutchman Alex Blanchard for the European title in Fulham in 1985. Blanchard had Dennis on the deck and retained with a draw.
Nevertheless, Andries took his chance a few months later against American J.B. Williamson (who was awful) for the WBC title. He had no right to come again after the beating he took from Tommy Hearns in Detroit in 1987, which cost him the title. It was the type of heavy, prolonged beating that ruins fighters but Andries developed into a three-time world champion, hammering the previously unbeaten Tony Willis for the vacant WBC title in the States in 1989 and later Jeff Harding in Australia, in one of the greatest wins ever registered by a British fighter abroad.