Boxing and boxers

Derek Richards has died at the age of 78

Wasn't he the Welsh wizard? Little out of my time. But I knew another Coventry boxer name of Tyrrell, but only as an Army boxer. Have no idea of his background, sparred with him a couple of times (exhibition), not sure if he won the forces Middle East title or just took part. Have a photo of him with six other Coventry kids. All of us had survived the Blitz.

Les Allen and I cycled to Gummery's boxing gym at the top of the trams, couple of times a week for about a year, if the raids didn't stop us. But this night we had been laughing and joking as we always did but we reached the gym and 4-5 men were present. We warmed up, skipping and arm exercises, we were then told to get in the ring, tape up, headgear and gloves, told we were to do four 2-min rounds. Gummery walked over to me, then said "Hit him as hard as you can, try and knock him out". This was a big surprise to me, not the usual talk. Les came out fast - well we went hammer and tongs but he was far better than me, knocked me from pillar to post for three rounds, as I knew he would. I hesitated for the last round, but he soon caught me with a left to the nose and blood gushed everwhere and it was over. We cleaned up, grabbed our bikes and cycled home. Les was jubilant, he was told he would be in the schoolboy boxing, and would fight in two weeks' time. I was quiet and thinking something had happened. Through thick lips, I said "You were lucky". He laughed. "Me, I was lucky?" "Yes, I nearly kicked your ----- in. I wanted badly to do you real damage". We cycled the rest of the way without a word, I never answered his good night. Mother took one look, ordered me to bed, fetched dad to look at me. I fell asleep. Next morning my eyes were almost closed, I was black and blue all over. When dad came home from work, mother let fly. "He's going nowhere near that boxing gym again", and stormed off. Dad sat me down. "Look, you can't get like that in the gym, so I want the truth. Who did you fight?". I told him, "Dad, I'm older, taller, and heavier than him." Dad looked at me in disbelief. "We can see him fight in two weeks time". "Okay, we'll go and see him".Dad got up to walk away. "Dad, there's something else". The tone of my voice stopped him. "What?" "I wanted to kill him, anyway I could. I don't like the rules anymore". Dad froze. Then sternly, "Then you don't go boxing anymore". We never spoke about boxing again until we saw Les get in the ring. Les ripped the kid apart, without seeming to move much. In the second round, in went the towel, the kid had run into an avalanche. Dad said, "He will be a champion". He became one of the top three best middleweights in the UK in the fifties. And I trained as a dirty fighter in unarmed combat.

Terry Marsh was one of Britain's all time greats in the boxing ring, he never lost one fight as amateur or pro. Terry was a schoolkid chess champion and he brought the moves to the boxing ring, he also knew that as a light welterweight he was not going to make the big money - heavyweights did - or that boxing would last very long, so he trained as a fireman, for when he quit the ring. But Terry was matched in a huge money fight, but for some reason unknown, the promoter pulled him out, involving a lot of money. Rather than stand the loss the promoter claimed insurance but to gain that he had to declare Terry unfit so he found some one to pronounce Terry epileptic. The council hearing this, sacked him - the ensuing rows, his wife left him. Terry's life went down the drain.

Kaga, If you reference either Wikipedia or Ringnews24 you will see that Terry Marsh was defeated by Eddie Copeland (ABA Champion in 1979) at Wembley, they were amateurs then. During my time in the Royal Navy I saw Terry Marsh, who was then a Royal Marine, boxing for the Navy versus The Army in Portsmouth. In your post you say "....he never lost one fight as amateur or pro." Perhaps you meant to say he lost 'one fight'.

Ken Dickson. Then I got it wrong, we were told he had never lost a fight, my son did six rounds exhibition with him in order to get paid, for a fight a lad refused to box my son and they were not going to pay us.

Hi, the Bobby Arthur at Wickman was "The" Bobby Arthur's dad. He was an inspector and a great bloke.

This has just appeared on Facebook

Randolph Turpin won with a sixth round knock-out, Les Allen lost on a technical knock out, but I'm not sure in which round. Les was fighting for the Southern Area Middleweight Championship, Randolph for the European Middleweight Championship. Randolph was from Leamington and Les from Bedworth, but, although fighting at the same weight, never fought each other professionally.

Belushi. Correction - Les was born in Blackhorse Road, Coventry. We went to school together, Foxford, we boxed in Bedworth together right across the road at the top of the trams - we were the best of friends, we cycled during air-raids together. Belushi, I don't wish to be rude, but if you go back on this forum to the start of the topic there is a lot of history here. My son was a pro boxer, I knew them all, almost. Hope this helps. Kaga. PS. My son's trainer trainer was a Welsh kid, won the South East title when young, went on to train Chris Eubank.

Hi Kaga - I knew you would respond, but after only 18 minutes I'm impressed! Yes, I have enjoyed reading the previous posts on boxing, and I'm aware of you and your son's experiences. My reason for posting was to add some information for people who may have been wondering who won the fights advertised on the poster. The BoxerList website gives Bedworth as Les' residence, not birthplace. However, at this point in time, Blackhorse Road is in Exhall, and Exhall is in the local authority area of Nuneaton and Bedworth. Sorry to be so pedantic Kaga.

A lovely book written by Vicky Ulliott in 2015, called "Our... Bulldog Spirit!" tells the story of her mum, Shirley, who married Les Allen's younger brother, Roy. Les and his boxing career get a good mention in the book.

The Sunday Mercury newspaper of 11 April 2021 reported on the death of Coventry heavyweight Peter Boddington at the age of 78 back in December last year. Peter was an ABA champion and European silver medallist in 1967 before later turning professional. The newspaper article remarked that sadly Peter's passing went without mention in both papers and boxing magazines. In the 70's he had a business in Radford Rd, opposite to the Savoy Bingo. It was a builders yard or a bathroom supplier, something on those lines. I only thought of Peter Boddington's name when it was omitted from the list of Coventry boxers in the Turpin article in the Coventry Telegraph only a week or so back.

At this moment in time, my son is refereeing the Oceanic featherweight title fight in Perth in Oz in front of 2000 fans.

Sad news today of the passing of Tony Riley