For anyone who reads Bn 40 or 50 years ago, the 1950s were often presented as a golden age for British boxing. This will have a lot in common with the age of correspondents, with many of them to start a journalistic career at the beginning of this decade, and with nostalgia what it is, a significant photo was painted from the era.

In 1950, 770 tournaments were held in the country. In 1959 it was only 240. It was a rather shocking fall and it largely caused the arrival of television and an economic boom that took place over the years. In 1948, over 1,000 tournaments took place in Great Britain, so until 1950 the rot was already starting.

At the beginning of the decade, Freddie Mills was a world -class airy champion, but he lost this coat by the end of January. In what turned out to be the last struggle of Mils’s career, he was knocked out in 10 rounds by American, Joey Maxima in the exhibition hall, Earls Court. Three months later, Terry Allen raised the empty title of World Flyweight, beating Honore Pratsi compared to the full 15 on the Harringay Arena. Then Allen lost the crown in his first defense, losing to Dado Marino in Honolulu in August 1950. Despite this, Britiska could still say that he had two world champions in the 1950s, and the decade was only nine months elderly.

Randolph Turpin was the hottest prospect of Great Britain in 1950 and proved his value, defeating Ray Robinson’s great sugar in the one that was never avoided in July 1951 in Court Earls. It was one of the best victories that the British warrior ever achieved. Sixty -four days later he was crushed by Robinson in a return in Recent York. And it was that in the 1950s there will be no longer British world champions, as long as Terry Downes and Johnny Caldwell in 1961. Six British fighters tried to win world awards for the rest of the decade and everyone was defeated comprehensively. We had two pretenders in heavyweight, and Don Cockell fell at the hands of all time, Rocky Marciano, in the absurdly diminutive ring in 1955, and then Brian London was crushed by Floyd Patterson in 11 rounds in Indianapolis in 1959. Both men fought boldly, but they were both of their depth.

There were no British contenders either in a featherweight or welterweight, but in a airy weight Dave Charnley became the first fighter of Great Britain who questioned the world championship title from Jacek Kid Berg, 28 years earlier. Charnley fought with “Ancient Bones” by Joe Brown in Houston, Texas in December 1959 and lost in the average eye stop in sixth place, when behind all three results cards.

No wonder that it was lighter weights in which the world title attempts. In Bantamweight Danny O’Sullivan, the great star of Snooker, Ronnie O’Sullivan, recently lost in the European title challenge after it was not less than ten times. A few months later, in December 1950, he traveled to South Africa to deal with the great VIC for the title of world champion. This time, Danny hit deck 14 – yes, fourteen – opportunities, but he went at a distance. In 1952, this tough man from Scotland, Peter Keenan, also lost in Toweeel in the world title. Dai Dower was our Flyight weight representative for World Honors, and his defeat of the Argentine Pascal Perez in March 1957 was destructive. Dai had an advantage of almost six pounds, but was crushed in one round before a crowd of 85,000 in Buenos Aires.

In the 1960s, it would be a slightly greater success for British fighters, but only in the 70s and 80s Great Britain really accelerated and laid a mark on World Boxing, producing a series of really great world champions.

Kevin Batchelor has recently produced a huge book that tells the story of the Belsize boxing club from the very beginning in 1882 until his death 99 years later. For everyone interested in the history and development of amateur boxing in general, the progress of an amateur game in London, and more specifically the history of this lovely aged club, Kevin’s book is a necessity. The research that has been found in it is impressive. Kevin tells a story on a course of 482 pages and is on the basic source material, wherever he can. The pages are interspersed with original press seedlings collected from countless sports magazines to provide first -hand many great stories, characters and competitions that the club is renowned for.

For those who do not know the history of Belsize BC, the title of the book is a hint, The Belsize Boxing Club – Toffs institution that has transformed boxing. The club was renowned for connections with opulent and renowned, wealthy and litany of fascinating people who moved in a high society. For example, in his preface, Kevin talks about the day when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was a finalist of the club’s annual championships in medium weight. Arthur “Peggy” Bettinson from the National Sporting Club (NSC) practically conducted a professional boxing in Great Britain in the last years of the 19th century and was the captain of the Belsize club in 1883. The most renowned judge at NSC in NSC was JH ‘Jack’ Douglas, and became the president of Belsize in 1907. His son, JWHT Douglas, not only won the Olympic Medal in the middle part. 1908, but he was also the captain of England in the victorious series of cricket against Australia in 1911-12. Do you see what I mean about a club moving in high circles?

Nine club members won ABA titles, and Kevin examined them all, and their amateur records were included in significant details. Finding this material is not an uncomplicated task, because I know too well, and I am not aware of any amateur records from the period before the First World War examined so thoroughly, so well done Kevin!

From the top of the head I can come up with four fascinating men who all the boxes in the club and Kevin tell their stories much better than I could. A fighter from the 1930s named Desmond Jeans had a handful of competitions in heavyweight and caused quite a stir, because he regularly wore monocles. He had many duels in Paris and in the main halls in London, and his largest competition was a loss in space for Jacek Pettifer at Royal Albert Hall. Charles McKenzie-Hill, better known as “Butch”, won Ne Divisionals in 1960 in the delicate of ponderous and represented London against Moscow in an international amateur. There were the 10 best amateurs in Great Britain in heavyweight and he really became a very opulent man. Older readers will remember Srikumar Sen, boxing correspondent Times Gazeta and a very good journalist and writer to this day. Srikumar took a box for Belsize in 1947, when he first came to Great Britain as a 15-year-old from India. Then he went to Oxford University, won the boxing blue and after joining TimesHe saw and reported on every great ponderous weight from Ali to Tyson. Finally, my friend John Handelaar, once both the vice -chairman and the president of BBBOc, where he still sits as an administrative flight, is another who took care of the club. John is happening a bit because he won’t mind, but during the day he had many competitions for Belsize and he could look after himself.

Kevin is grateful BN for the support offered during the production of the book and you can contact him directly for anyone who wants to buy a copy: kevinabatchelor@gmail.com

There was no smaller British trainer between the wars than Jack Goodwin. Exilesk himself, like many good coaches and fertile brother Joe Goodwin from Spitalfields, who led the campaign at the highest level throughout the UK in the Edwardian era, Jack knew the game outside.

Writing Bn In 1951, Bill Evans stated that Tommy Milligan should have had Goodwin in his corner at night, in which he lost to Mickey Walker to the title of the world middle weight in 1927. At the moment, the Milligan corner was messy and did not provide him with good, clear advice. Milligan fell in 10 rounds. With Goodwin Evans, he said that before the competition “Goodwin watched Walker every day, and there was no better judge in the world how to defeat the man he learned about.”

At that time, coaches at the highest level, such as Goodwin, often employed a vast brothel, usually on the outskirts of London, in which he founded a training camp for the upcoming championship competition. Goodwin liked to exploit the black bull in Whenstone, near Barnet and trained many good warriors there. His training methods may seem strange to the newfangled eye, but the fighters he educated would be as good as then.

Take, for example, Charlie Hardcastle from Barnsley. Charlie was one of the two British featherweight masters, which Goodwin trained in 1917–1921, and the other is Joe Fox from Leeds, whom Goodwin often quoted as the best man he ever trained. Hardcastle, according to Goodwin, had the most challenging blow to every nine stones he had ever seen. He was never the same after the opponent Louis Hood died after the competition with him in 1916, but he was still good enough to knock out Alf Way in one round the following year to collect the British title. After the victory that took place at the National Sporting Club on Monday evening, Hardcastle went back to Barnsley on the train, and on Wednesday he returned to Jama, directing trade as a coal miner.

The following year, another of Jacek’s fighters, Bandsman Blake, defended his British medium weight title, again at the National Sporting Club, against Pat O’keefe from Canning Town. When Blake was in the wardrobe, warming up immediately before the competition, the raid began. German Zeppelin began to lose bombs around the club, which completely upset Bandman. Goodwin could not do anything to settle him, and the boy went out to meet O’keefe, while the raid was still pending and was knocked down in two rounds. Goodwin was an endless source of yarn like these and his book Me and my boxers Provides a perfect insight into the fight game 100 years ago.

In 1932, Goodwin was called by Larry Gains to lend a hand him prepare for the upcoming competition with the South African, Maurice Strickland at Royal Albert Hall. The competition was at the top of the account on the bulky weight card in this renowned elderly place, and Gains, who in the next fight defeated Primo Carner, was on the way and assessed Top 10. His choice Goodwin was a clever choice by a warrior who wanted the best man available in his corner.

IN Bn Report for the event, the headline read “Threatlls, Ellls and a Tragedy”. Exhibitions and leaks referred to an stimulating competition, which two men put in, with the benefits of winning the decision after full 15. The described tragedy was the death of Jacek Goodwin, who fell in the corner in the 13th round, a victim of a heart attack. In the obituary a week later, Bn He stated that “many, in which the eyes that were saturated with tears when he was incurred from the ring.”

He died, doing what he loved the most, at no age.