BROGAN’S BOUNTY
Excellent work from Concepcion to raise money for Jez
I’M delighted to report that the recent fund-raising family day for Jez Brogan, organised by Leicester EBA member Kevin Concepcion, was a tremendous success.
Over £2,500 was raised for former trainer and matchmaker Jez, who is sadly suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.
To quote the Leicester newsletter: “So many grateful and respectful members of the Leicester boxing fraternity turned up to give Jez Brogan a special day.
“[ Jez] was surrounded by many boxers that he’d helped in their careers at Belgrave ABC and in the professional ranks.” Among former Belgrave boxers present were at least three that went on to win pro titles – European, British and Commonwealth middleweight champion Tony Sibson, British super-lightweight champion Tony Mckenzie and Midlands Area featherweight ruler Kelton Mckenzie.
Fellow-trainer Dave Lambert described Jez as “A cracking bloke, top coach and great friend. Taught me and many others so much.”
Well done to Kevin Concepcion for organising the event – and the Leicester members and everyone else who made it such a success.
Leicester have always supported the Ringside Rest and Care Home, and the newsletter records that the recent ‘Meet the Boxers’ event, organised by Andrew Brace in his Romford store, raised £2,395 for the cause. A great result.
There’s also an entry form for the latest “Competition of 15 Dream Fights” – £5 per entry, all profits to the Ringside Charitable Trust. And the setters have come up with some corkers! I actually saw Henry Cooper and Johnny Nelson, Howard Winstone and Barry Mcguigan, and Carlos
Monzon and Marvin Hagler – but I’ve no idea what would have happened had any of them met. And matching fighters of totally different eras! – Joe Louis vs Anthony Joshua? Ted “Kid” Lewis vs Carl Froch? Benny Lynch vs Walter Mcgowan? Sam Langford vs Dennis Andries? All intriguing match-ups, so get thinking – closing date for entries is November 14.
I received a welcome email from former Sussex EBA chairman Steve Wood, who recalls attending the 2009 Croydon EBA Annual Dinner when the late Roy Beaman was Guest of Honour.
Steve writes: “[Former British lightmiddleweight champion] Larry Paul sat on the Sussex table with us, along with Tommy Mellis (president) and Rob Benson, who was a great secretary, producing an excellent newsletter.
“Larry was good company and started
attending our meetings along with good friends [from Croydon] Barry Penny, Dave Mccarthy, Dave Fowle, Billy Caswell, Eric Pudney, Roy Hollely and of course Nosher Powell.”
I’ve got great memories of Larry Paul. The first show I ever covered for
BN was at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, June 13 1973 – and in the top-liner, Larry delighted his fans with a smashing two-round KO of former Central Area middleweight champion Pat Dwyer. Just over three months later I was back there to see Larry KO former British welterweight champ Bobby Arthur in 10 to become Britain’s first-ever champion at 11st (then called light-middleweight, now super-welter).
Larry moved to the Croydon area after he retired, and was an enthusiastic member of Croydon EBA. He died in 2017, aged 65.
Steve goes on: “I was at the Brighton EBA meeting this month, where Dave Groves – my old clubmate and sparringpartner from Patcham ABC – was welcomed as the new chairman. Dave is an excellent ambassador for Brighton EBA and still does 10-mile training runs.
“I had a long conversation at the meeting with Alan Byrne, son of Paddy – who is in a Hove care home. Alan has a great knowledge of ‘70s/’80s boxing and the numerous Sporting Clubs that were popular boxing venues at the time.
“Finally, after reading Miles Templeton’s column about Tony Sibson, I got out an old boxing programme from 1972. It was the National Schools Championships quarter-finals and includes Freddie Frewin (42kgs), myself (55kgs), Dave Laxen (54kgs), Dave Reid (64kgs) and Tony Sibson (45kgs).”