Been on you tube tonight, and watched some of his stuff, I reckon Walter Mittee would be quite embarrassed!
Had a handful of fights in the 90's, won some lost some, he was around the same time as me, I know that when you are fighting home fighters, but they aren't great, not punchers, you got low end money, which was the case for him.
Listening to him, he never lost a fight, amateur or pro, just got ripped off.
Like he spunked millions, got ripped off for millions, still got a few million left, signed a 15 million pound contract with Hearns, got sent off to Vegas with the Mayweathers, had a luxury apartment, chauffeur driven car.
Apparently starting off he was on 40k a fight.
Now is earning 20k a fight bare knuckle, but they rip him off there too.
And you can see everything in the film which they are making
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 16:39
by Coco
Don't watch it all, it's time you won't get back, plenty more interviews too
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 17:01
by Coco
He was also supposed to be the next Roy Keane in football
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 17:12
by keithmoonhangover
Coco wrote: ↑21 Aug 2025, 16:26
Been on you tube tonight, and watched some of his stuff, I reckon Walter Mittee would be quite embarrassed!
Had a handful of fights in the 90's, won some lost some, he was around the same time as me, I know that when you are fighting home fighters, but they aren't great, not punchers, you got low end money, which was the case for him.
Listening to him, he never lost a fight, amateur or pro, just got ripped off.
Like he spunked millions, got ripped off for millions, still got a few million left, signed a 15 million pound contract with Hearns, got sent off to Vegas with the Mayweathers, had a luxury apartment, chauffeur driven car.
Apparently starting off he was on 40k a fight.
Now is earning 20k a fight bare knuckle, but they rip him off there too.
And you can see everything in the film which they are making
I'm a stats man. As the home/promoter's fighter, he lost in his third fight to a guy with a 12-87-5 record, who lost every one of his following 55 fights.
Barry Hearn doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would throw money away on a boxer who's that limited. Especially when he didn't have a single major fight in the ams.
You called it Coco, guy's full of shit.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 17:22
by margaret thatcher
Lennox Lewis and Emmanuel Steward were also personally sponsoring him lol
Coco wrote: ↑21 Aug 2025, 16:26
Been on you tube tonight, and watched some of his stuff, I reckon Walter Mittee would be quite embarrassed!
Had a handful of fights in the 90's, won some lost some, he was around the same time as me, I know that when you are fighting home fighters, but they aren't great, not punchers, you got low end money, which was the case for him.
Listening to him, he never lost a fight, amateur or pro, just got ripped off.
Like he spunked millions, got ripped off for millions, still got a few million left, signed a 15 million pound contract with Hearns, got sent off to Vegas with the Mayweathers, had a luxury apartment, chauffeur driven car.
Apparently starting off he was on 40k a fight.
Now is earning 20k a fight bare knuckle, but they rip him off there too.
And you can see everything in the film which they are making
I'm a stats man. As the home/promoter's fighter, he lost in his third fight to a guy with a 12-87-5 record, who lost every one of his following 55 fights.
Barry Hearn doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that would throw money away on a boxer who's that limited. Especially when he didn't have a single major fight in the ams.
You called it Coco, guy's full of shit.
Apparently he lost in his fight to go to the Olympics........
Ripped off........
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 18:59
by dookus
"the older I get, the better I was"
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 21 Aug 2025, 19:00
by Frostieballs
I don’t know about all of that stuff, but I worked with George a little bit and he was a good kid.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 03:46
by THEBUTCH
Walter Mitty
I had reasonably high hopes (British title or contender)for Hillyard. He definitely struck me as a talented boxer, but failed to sparkle unfortunately.
How on earth did get he "ripped off" against Matthew Thirlwall ?
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 04:50
by smiling assassin
Got through 5 minutes and I’ve come to the conclusion that he’d been on the shovel just before the interview started. There is no other explanation for so much waffle coming out of someone’s mouth
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 06:32
by TheLeprechaun
Best thing I've ever seen on him was a recap of his loss to a journeyman in one of those cocky fighters getting their mouth shut or something. Summed him up quite well.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 06:34
by TheLeprechaun
Here it is. He was up to all sorts in the fight and the ref had enough and scored it to the journeyman
The 10 minute mark of this vid.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 07:36
by dookus
TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑22 Aug 2025, 06:34
Here it is. He was up to all sorts in the fight and the ref had enough and scored it to the journeyman
The 10 minute mark of this vid.
RIP Ernie Smith (and his journeyman twin brother Billy), true servants to the game
TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑22 Aug 2025, 06:34
Here it is. He was up to all sorts in the fight and the ref had enough and scored it to the journeyman
The 10 minute mark of this vid.
RIP Ernie Smith (and his journeyman twin brother Billy), true servants to the game
How did he die if you don't mind me asking?
That was some record he had at that point, 87 losses.
Ended up with 142 losses. My word thats quite an amount.
These journeymen deserve more respect for sure.
Tragically, Ernie took his life in 2010 a year after failing an MRI scan. Billy died the same way three years later.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 09:24
by tony1234
TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑22 Aug 2025, 06:34
Here it is. He was up to all sorts in the fight and the ref had enough and scored it to the journeyman
The 10 minute mark of this vid.
The dream team of Ian Darke and Jim Watt with John McDonald as MC, couldn't picture John with dreadlocks to his knees
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 12:31
by pat123
I seem to remember him asking for sponsorship on his journey to be the world's best boxer or something, on his website? Seemed strange as I had seen box a few months before on a Lenny Daws card at the York Hall and didn't set the world alight.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 14:30
by SeanBrennan
poor lad, so much bad luck
Going to watch it as it will be amusing knowing the reality.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 22 Aug 2025, 14:33
by SeanBrennan
just checked his record, he lost by 4 points to Tyan Booth in a 6 rounder at York Hall with Tyan clearly the away fighter!
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 25 Aug 2025, 17:11
by norfolkinchance
Pretty sure he got done for battering his girlfriend too. Pleasant guy.
Re: George Hillyard
Posted: 26 Aug 2025, 02:52
by Riddick Bowie
I was ringside for one of his fights, versus Marcus Portman. One of those long York Hall bills full of British fighters engaging in their artless hippo mating dance type fights that the UK seems to specialise in -- no jabs to give you some room to work, no sweet science, just strong lads biffing and mauling each other in gruelling slogs. George was the only undercard fighter who showed a bit of class. Jab here and there, nice moves, punched with good form, coordinated. But he was also podgy and a bit lazy and the very average Portman was given the decision. We were surprised but that fight seemed to sum him up. Talented but wasn't serious.
The above mentioned Billy Smith was in action that night too. Main event was Howard Eastman vs Richard Williams, both of whom had class.
