IMPRESSIVE AMBASSADOR
I HAD the honour of presenting George Groves with the Sportsmanship Award at the BBBOFC Awards Dinner in 2011. This followed on from his defeat of James Degale after a rather unpleasant buildup that George noticeably chose not to engage in – something that the Board rightly recognised. It must be said that in contrast to certain other notable British boxers who do not even bother to attend the annual BBBOFC Awards Dinner (that is held to raise funds for the less fortunate within the boxing community), George has always presented himself with an urbane modesty and actually bothers to turn up. We met on a number of occasions and I enjoyed taking him around the Lloyd’s insurance market where I work and taking him to lunch with colleagues. He was always engaging and good company and an immensely impressive ambassador for boxing.
I will, of course, always remember the stunning night in Manchester against Carl Froch and then the enormity of the rematch at Wembley Stadium. Not forgetting the night that he finally got the prize he rightly sought – a world title. But most of all, and more important than anything else, I will always remember George Groves as quite simply a very nice bloke! I wish him well in retirement. David Doe
THE SPANISH CALZAGHE
SPAIN’S Sergio Garcia was an absolute joy to watch at the O2 Arena recently. Seeing him outclass Ted Cheeseman took me back to 2006, when the great Joe Calzaghe was the underdog against Jeff Lacy, but ended up completely schooling the so-called “Mini Mike Tyson”. Sergio even has a slight passing resemblance to the immortal Welshman, both stylistically and in looks – he even has similar chest hair!
I look forward to watching him in the future, and hopefully a mouth-watering clash with Anthony Fowler is in the offing. Providing Fowler gets past Scott Fitzgerald first. James Glossop
BRILLIANT BENTON
AS a professional trainer for BCB Promotions, I was surprised to see that George Benton was missing from the 10 Count on trainers who also boxed as pros (January 31 issue). Any boxer/trainer should Youtube George Benton’s fights to see what the art of boxing is all about. The fact that George never received a world title shot is a disgrace. As someone who started his career as a trainer under the guidance of Eddie Futch (surely one of the best of all time), his record is remarkable. Matt Sturgess
MEMORIES OF OWENS
I WAS sorry to hear about the death of Reading’s former Southern Area lightheavyweight champion Dickie Owens last month.
In his EBA column in the January 17 issue, Simon Euan-smith described how he saw Owens beat Phil Watford in Reading in 1969. Back in the late ‘60s, I was working for an investment company in London. Also working there at the time was a lady called Susan Coller, who came from Reading. She knew I was a boxing fan, so when I mentioned to her that Dickie was boxing in Reading, she invited me to go to the fight and then stay with her and her husband. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the fight, so I never got to see Dickie box live. However, Euan-smith’s story reminded me of how close I got. Roy Mills