it is true, he passed away on saturday night at good hope hospital - rip johnny....
Why has no one mentioned Bert Kirby?,British flyweight champion.
His lonsdale belt was hung over the back of a chair in a window somewhere in Newtown Row.Of course,he was an Aston boy,in his time that wasn't in Brum.
wally cox was one of the best trainers in brum, he trained some of the best boxers, billy, danny monoghan,, the gwilliam brothers, i could go on,i was training at the morris, when paul brown joined, i sparred with paul all the time, one of the nicest guys, bugner came to watch paul when we moved down nechells, he underestimated him. the morris was one of the best clubs, if not the best, R,I,P, wally cox,my dad dan davis and my uncle wally cox both new pardoe and rated him highly wally cox trained boxers for morris comercial on alum rock also at duddeston mill he had a good heavywieght called paul brown he turned pro he was matched with joe bugnerwho was having his first pro fight paul ko him in the return joe beat him
slso there was a boxer from saltley called ernie smith think he was a bantam if anyone has any info on his fights would like to here
danny
haha, yes, that sounds about right for danny, he could have been a good pro too like billy but he had a nasty temper, only just calming down, billy used to live by the swan, now he lives not far from me in sutton, dezi was a great, lad, i had,nt seen him for years when i heard about his death in the canaries, tragic, we all grew up together boxing at the morris under wally cox, when we moved to nechells it was,nt the same, wally was eased out, a lot left.Hi Tommy0121 I remember Billy Monogan when he used to train at Kyrle Hall with his mate Johnny Edwards,as you say a great bloke.I used bump into him in the White Swan on Washwood Heath Rd.on Friday nights.I saw Danny Monagon and Des. Gwillam box at Nechells Community Center as amateurs,Danny got disqualified for biting his opponents ear,this was about 1967ish.
hi astonian, nice to hear from you, there are 2--3 families of burns around the inner city area,-or were, the big jacky burns that i remember used to bounce on one or two of the clubs, and yes i,m sure he had a brother , tommy, but i think they were a generation above me, there is also young johnny burns, who i used to box with at sheldon heath, he was from a big family of burns, young john, had lots of bottle, and turned pro with the murry brothers and lloyd hibbert, a brilliant welterwieght, won the lonsdale belt, i had moved down to devon by then so did,nt keep up with them, they all drink over the yew tree the swan? , i used to box with two brothers down nechells, both good, seamus was in demolition i think, and had won the a,b,a, irish title, i keep meaning to go over the yew tree to have a chat, will try this sunday and ask johnny, its a funny old world, when your boxing you build a bond, but then you lose contact, brums getting too big.HI TOMMY
Just been reading throgh some of the threads ; and i was womdering did you ever come across a couple of guys
from years ago by the name of the burns brothers jack burns and his two brothers whom was also boxers
and the Mcroaty brothers ; i think i have spelt that name correct they was also boxers leo and john both boxers from up around the swan
the main one was big jackie burns he had two brotheres the other one was tommy ; and the older one i think was called seamus burns ;
big jackie used to train the kids at the GKN Boxing Gym along with leo mccroatie he and his brother runs a place called the truck stop in tyseley
and as done for at least thirty years to my knowledge as i used to freqent the old place ;
best wishes tommy astonian;