Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Boxing legend Joe Duffy hangs up his gloves after 50 years in the sport
DUNDEE boxing stalwart Joe Duffy has hung up his gloves for the final time after 50 years in the sport.
Although long-retired from bouts, Joe – who has been a member of St Francis Boxing Club for years – bowed out as club secretary earlier this month.
His stint with St Francis came after helping run other clubs across the city.
Starting out in the ring himself aged 11, Joe has also been a coach, international judge and a referee in his half-century association with the sport.
His involvement in the sport has led to meetings with personalities including former two-time World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson.
Joe has also stood down as the president of the Northern District Boxing Committee and as their representative to Boxing Scotland Limited.
Well-known in Carnoustie, Joe has run the Stag’s Head Inn for 10 years, after stints working in the building trade and as a telecoms engineer with BT.
“I started boxing myself when I was 11, but I didn’t box senior, just as a junior,” said Joe, 72.
“At that time there were hundreds of lads doing it, there was nothing much else but boxing to do in those days.
“It was Dundee Central Club I boxed with, in Tay Street Lane. I stopped boxing at about 13.
“I started coaching at Lochee Boys Club when I joined BT, they had a man called Jim Scott, who was running the club at that time.
“He was a telephone engineer the same as myself. I would have been about 23 at that time.
“I had great times with Lochee Boys. I learned a lot from Jim Scott. He was a great mentor to me. At that time I was one of the younger coaches, and I was able to go in the ring with the lads.
“The older coaches couldn’t, they were getting too old for it.”
Joe said over the years he has travelled to Milan, Romania and Amsterdam with his fighters.
“In my time at Lochee there were some great lads who came through the club,” said Joe, a father-of-two.
“We had the Buchanan brothers, Billy and Albert. They both turned professional after successful amateur careers. They were Scottish internationalists, and Billy fought for the Scottish lightweight title.
“The highlight, I would say, of my spell at Lochee Boys, was seeing Billy fighting for the ABA title, down at Wembley.
“That was against Mohammed Hanif in 1980, Billy got beat in the final. That was a great achievement for a lad from Dundee.”
Some of Joe’s fondest memories were when he ran his own club outside Dundee.
“I started my own club in Birkhill, the Birkhead Club, and that was in 1980,” he said.
“It was based in the church hall at Muirhead. I had a lot of success there. I had two Scottish champions – Stevie McIntyre and Grant Scott, they were both lads from Birkhill.
“When I started there, the church minister at that time asked me if I could start a boxing club in the area, because they needed something for the local laddies to do.
“I was a Catholic and he’s a Protestant but it was great, he was really enthusiastic.
“Then it got that big because we had lads coming from Dundee. So we got a chance to move the club to Dundee, to the Lochee United Social Club, which belonged to Lochee United FC.
“They had just built a new gym, and gave us a slot in the gym for training.
“When we moved there the club really took off, we had laddies from all over the place.”
Joe was then approached by local boxing personality Frank Hendry, and asked to merge his club with the St Francis Club.
Joe eventually went on to coach some fighters who had decided to go professional.
He explained: “It comes to a laddie’s time in his amateur career when he has to decide if he’ll keep boxing amateur or if he’ll have a crack at the professional side of it.
“Billy Buchanan had turned professional... he was grossly overweight and asked if I could get him back ready to box again.
“So I took him back on board at St Francis, he started training, and I took out a professional coach’s licence, so I could be his cornerman.
“His first fight back was in Italy and we went across for it, to Milan, to fight a guy called Maurizio Ronzoni.
“Billy stopped him, and the guy was ranked sixth in the world at the time. The guy he was fighting thought it was just a warm-up for him to get a crack at the world title, but Billy stopped him.
“That is definitely a highlight of my career.”
Joe added: “We have had umpteen Scottish amateur champions at St Francis.
“Charlie Doig is with the club and he’s in the Scottish squad for the Commonwealth Games next year. He’s 22 now and we’ve put 10 years of work into him.”
Joe also paid tribute to the coaches and volunteers who have helped throughout his time in boxing.
He said: “I’ve got good lads who are taking over from me. Norrie McVicar and Alex Wolecki – it’s a great stable of boys looking after the club.