oneredtrim 148 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Sort of off subject but came across a short old documentary about a boxer. Paul Sykes came up through watching other videos and I clicked it. Bloke seems an absolute nut case lol. seen that..bit of a headcase lol He was known to do some sub-contract work for Jimmy Saville when things got hairy for him, come down here throwing his weight about sniffing out a floating 5k and bumped into the collyhurst kid (sparkles), he returned with reinforcements and was met by the jersey St. mob..that was the end of yorkshire shouting the odds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WILF 44,650 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Watched some of that Paul Sykes thing, don't know about bare knuckle champ......more like bare knuckle chump !! Bloke sounded like an absolute moron !! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dare 1,103 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Way he went on for his wife's big day was disgusting, felt proper sorry for her. Read comments about him being a c**t to his kids, from what I saw he had some hard words when one stole from their mums purse. If I'd ever done that I'm confident my dad would of came at me with a belt lol. That's not what stopped me doing it though its just morals from young. Both his kids inside for murder and read one became a brown head. Says it all really. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,834 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 (edited) Sort of off subject but came across a short old documentary about a boxer. Paul Sykes came up through watching other videos and I clicked it. Bloke seems an absolute nut case lol.seen that..bit of a headcase lol Seen a doc on him read his book sweet agony. spent over 20 years of his life in prison. Had 10 pro fights won 6 lost 3 drew 1.The british heavyweight John L Gardner beat him in 6 rounds. Died in 2007 2 kids he had are serving life in prison for murder. That man was a stark raving lunatic, he could fight in his heyday. Can't believe quit while challenging for the Commonwealth title. i didnt see the fight but read he turned his back and quit. Reading the book etc he came across as a lunatic. Spoke to Johnny Gardiner many times about that fight he said Sykes was in over his head and shouldnt really of been in the same ring as him.....Sykes turned his back saying " f**k this " in 6 rounds....says it all really you cant put in what nature left out ! Edited October 3, 2014 by gnasher16 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DogFox123 1,379 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 Don't forget though Sykes had only had 8 fights before fighting Gardiner, pretty impressive if you ask me, the man had the talent but he had big mental issues and a massive drink problem. Sykes fought another so called Yorkshire hard man called Neil Malpass. Apparently ex football tough nut Billy Whitehurst knocked the living day lights out of Malpass in a local club of mine, I'm from the next village as Whitehusrt. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oneredtrim 148 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 To rig owt ya need to get the loser reet Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Greengrass 201 Posted October 3, 2014 Report Share Posted October 3, 2014 I A mate of mine who was of the travellers could fight for fun in pubs etc, but could also really mix it in the ring, in fact he was was of the youngest ever Amateur champions up here , I would say that the boxing training he had from a youngster made him more able to fight in the ring than vice versa he was already a tear away but the discipline and training etc fine tuned him in the ring. . Incidentally he took on and beat near enough all the "faces" up here and never to my knowledge got beaten although it may well have happened, no world beater by any means but he could do it both ways. Alas now he is gone with the drugs, what a waste of talent. Gnasher , who would you rate as the best Scottish boxers you,ve seen or met ? Bare knuckle or rules, pm me if you don,t want to name names. Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,834 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Don't forget though Sykes had only had 8 fights before fighting Gardiner, pretty impressive if you ask me, the man had the talent but he had big mental issues and a massive drink problem. Sykes fought another so called Yorkshire hard man called Neil Malpass. Apparently ex football tough nut Billy Whitehurst knocked the living day lights out of Malpass in a local club of mine, I'm from the next village as Whitehusrt. Neil Malpass was a decent fighter but never claimed to be a hardman im not sure where you got that from....big tall rangey f****r with a good jab...as a teenage prospect i sparred a lot of those fellas Neil,Billy Aird,Denton Ruddock,Bob Hennesey they was all much older than me but great experience for me at the time.....what you got to remember is from day 1 Sykes had a lot of hype and publicity behind him based on nothing more than his prison background and the fact he growled and snarled at everyone !....He was fast tracked to a central area title in his second fight !...he was ranked 8th in Britain after 5 fights one of which he lost,by the time he fought Johnny he was number 1 contender even though Neville Mead had already had him on his arse and when he fought Neil he knew he couldnt hurt him so headbutted him mid way through the fight to get disqualified....his purse was suspended and he was fined by the board.............. yet still got his British Title shot a year later simply because he was a colourful character.....when he fought Johnny he knew within a few rounds he couldnt hurt him but instead of doing what he did with Neil Malpass and getting disqualified and his purse stopped he turned and quit instead simply because it was a far bigger purse and he didnt want to risk losing it......Johnny Gardiner wasnt a hard puncher but he was relentless and Sykes couldnt keep him off....Sykes was the sort of fighter who looked good when things were going his way but panicked and got frustrated when he was up against it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,834 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 I Gnasher , who would you rate as the best Scottish boxers you,ve seen or met ? Bare knuckle or rules, pm me if you don,t want to name names. Cheers I wouldnt know about barenuckle but of those ive met and familiar with the obvious one is Jim Watt simply because we was out of the same stable so i got to know him reasonably well even though he was a good bit older than me i saw his career close up,although a favorite of mine even though he was way before my time was a little fella named Bobby Neil who was a British Champion in the 50,s he had 3 or 4 fights with the local hero round here Terry Spinks.....Bobby went on to train Lloyd Honeyghan and a number of other fighters a real gentleman who i developed a nice friendship with over the years so im probably a bit biased ....but of course people like Buchanan and Mctaggart were great fighters i just dont know enough about them to comment.....Ricky Burns i think is a cracking lad and a real good fighter as well 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wales1234 5,451 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Bloke around by me Malcolm price spose have been hard man in his day wrote a book street warriors Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Greengrass 201 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Burns is fighting again tonight, it would be nice to see him get another win after two defeats in his last two fights. No disrespect to the man but I never really thought Jim watt was anything special. A lot of the lads up here used to call him the champion of the kelvin hall as that was where he had nearly all of his fights, still he was world champ so he deserves some kudos. I was talking to wee Paul weir at the commonwealth games, he was a good little boxer, fast and not scared to go forward and take the fight to his opponent. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,834 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Burns is fighting again tonight, it would be nice to see him get another win after two defeats in his last two fights. No disrespect to the man but I never really thought Jim watt was anything special. A lot of the lads up here used to call him the champion of the kelvin hall as that was where he had nearly all of his fights, still he was world champ so he deserves some kudos. I was talking to wee Paul weir at the commonwealth games, he was a good little boxer, fast and not scared to go forward and take the fight to his opponent. Ive never understood this whole Kelvin Hall thing,i dont know for sure without checking but id be surprised if Jim Watt ever boxed their more than 4 or 5 times in a 50 odd fight career.....infact i wouldnt mind betting he fought at the National Sporting Club in Piccadilly more than he fought at the Kelvin Hall.....Jim boxed all round the world places like Nigeria and South Africa as well as different parts of Europe and Britain i dont know why he ever got that tag. He won a legitimate world title.made 3 or 4 defences including beating a big name American in Howard Davis before losing to one of the greatest lightweights in history in Alexis Arguello......and you dont think he was anything special.....i dont know much about fighters like Mcgowan,Buchanan or Mctaggart but id imagine they are the only Scots to rival him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pesky1972 5,051 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Burns is fighting again tonight, it would be nice to see him get another win after two defeats in his last two fights. No disrespect to the man but I never really thought Jim watt was anything special. A lot of the lads up here used to call him the champion of the kelvin hall as that was where he had nearly all of his fights, still he was world champ so he deserves some kudos. I was talking to wee Paul weir at the commonwealth games, he was a good little boxer, fast and not scared to go forward and take the fight to his opponent. Ive never understood this whole Kelvin Hall thing,i dont know for sure without checking but id be surprised if Jim Watt ever boxed their more than 4 or 5 times in a 50 odd fight career.....infact i wouldnt mind betting he fought at the National Sporting Club in Piccadilly more than he fought at the Kelvin Hall.....Jim boxed all round the world places like Nigeria and South Africa as well as different parts of Europe and Britain i dont know why he ever got that tag. He won a legitimate world title.made 3 or 4 defences including beating a big name American in Howard Davis before losing to one of the greatest lightweights in history in Alexis Arguello......and you dont think he was anything special.....i dont know much about fighters like Mcgowan,Buchanan or Mctaggart but id imagine they are the only Scots to rival him. BoxRec has him only fighting 5 of 38 at the Kelvin Hall with over half his fights outside Scotland, mostly in London. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=9526&cat=boxer Makes the tag a bit unfair...wonder how much of that was maybe the Edinburgh-Glasgow thing? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gnasher16 29,834 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 BoxRec has him only fighting 5 of 38 at the Kelvin Hall with over half his fights outside Scotland, mostly in London. 5 out of 46........losses still count as fights .........i knew it was somewhere around thr 50 mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Greengrass 201 Posted October 9, 2014 Report Share Posted October 9, 2014 Howard Davis came over here with a huge reputation then produced nothing when it mattered, when Jim Watt fought Sean o Grady he jumped about three feet forward to stick the nut on him and got away with it ? IMO Watt could not lace Buchanans boots when Kenny was at himself, don,t forget Kenny lived hard and whilst that is,nt Watts fault nothing will change my opinion that in his heyday Kenny would have battered him upside down, no offence Gnasher as you know more about the game than me but we all have opinions. The champion of the kelvin hall thing comes from the fact that Mctaggart, Buchanan, Walter McGowan all travelled seeking out the best fighters at their weight at that time, Jim Watt never. Nonetheless as I,ve said he was made up into a world champion that can,t be taken away but he certainly was,nt one of britans best world champions . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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