Tim Wood (boxer)

Last updated

Tim Wood
Statistics
Weight(s) Heavyweight, light heavyweight
NationalityBritish
Born(1951-08-10)10 August 1951
Camden Town, London, England
DiedSeptember 2010 (aged 59)
Leicester, England
Boxing record
Total fights31
Wins19
Wins by KO7
Losses11
Draws1

Tim Wood (10 August 1951 – September 2010) was a British boxer who was British light heavyweight champion between 1976 and 1977.

Contents

Early life

Born in Camden Town, in North London, Wood moved with his family to Leicester when he was 14, and joined Belgrave Amateur Boxing Club. [1] [2]

Boxing career

Wood was a successful amateur boxer, winning the ABA heavyweight title in 1972. [1] He wasn't selected for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, which led to a media campaign against the decision. [1]

He turned professional and was trained by his father Arthur and Jim Knight in the gym at the Jolly Angler pub on Wharf Street in Leicester, and was managed by Johnny Griffin and later Carl Gunns. [1] From his first nine pro fights Wood win eight and drew one. In January 1974 he met Les Stevens for the vacant BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title, suffering his first professional defeat on points. Defeats to Eddie Neilson and Richard Dunn followed.

Griffin saw Wood as a better prospect at light heavyweight and encouraged him to slim down to that weight. [1] Wood won his first four fights of 1975, including wins over Victor Attivor and Baby Boy Rolle, before losing in a final eliminator for the British light heavyweight title to Roy John by only half a point. He beat Johnny Wall in February 1976 to take the Southern Area light heavyweight title, and two months later faced Phil Martin for the vacant British title. Wood won narrowly on points to become British champion. [1] Wood lost his title in March 1977 when he was knocked out in the first round by Bunny Johnson. [1]

Wood continued to fight until 1979 but never fought for another title.

Death

Tim Wood died in September 2010 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 59. [1] He was survived by his widow Maureen and four children. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Spinks</span> American boxer

Michael Spinks is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1988. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed light heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985, and the lineal heavyweight title from 1985 to 1988. As an amateur he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezzard Charles</span> American boxer

Ezzard Mack Charles, known as the Cincinnati Cobra, was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion. Known for his slick defense and precision, he is often considered the greatest light heavyweight boxer of all time. Charles defeated numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles retired with a record of 95 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw. He was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tate (boxer)</span> American boxer

John Tate was an American professional boxer, and held the WBA heavyweight championship from 1979 to 1980. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Witherspoon</span> American boxer

Tim Witherspoon is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2003. He was a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title in 1984, and the WBA title in 1986. Witherspoon also worked as a regular sparring partner for Muhammad Ali.

Donald John Cockell was an English boxer. He fought for most of his career as a light-heavyweight and became the British and European champion at that weight. Later in his career he moved up to heavyweight and held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. He is best remembered for fighting against Rocky Marciano for the world heavyweight championship. Cockell defeated a number of top heavyweights in his career, including Roland La Starza, Harry Matthews, Tommy Farr, Freddie Beshore, Johnny Arthur, Johnny Williams and Uber Bacilieri. In his earlier incarnation as a Light Heavyweight he defeated top contenders such as Nick Barone, Albert Yvel, Lloyd Marshall and Albert Finch, holding regional titles in both weight incarnations.

Greg Page was an American professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2001, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1984 to 1985. He was also a regular sparring partner for Mike Tyson, famously knocking down the then-undefeated world champion during a 1990 session.

Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen Johnson (boxer)</span> Jamaican boxer

Glengoffe Donovan Johnson is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2015. He held the IBF, IBO and Ring magazine light heavyweight titles between 2004 and 2005, and challenged once each for world titles at middleweight and super middleweight.

Joseph Erskine was a heavyweight boxer from the Butetown district of Cardiff, Wales. He was an Amateur Boxing Association Champion, Inter-Services Champion, and British Army Champion in 1953. He began fighting as a professional in 1954 and was trained by Freddie Elvin. He held the British heavyweight title from August 1956 to June 1958. In all, he won 45 of his 54 professional bouts, losing 8, with one drawn. His best wins were against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Dick Richardson, Uli Ritter, Jack Bodell, Johnny Williams, Joe Bygraves, and Willie Pastrano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Finnegan</span> English boxer

Chris Finnegan MBE was a British professional boxer of Irish descent born in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England.

Pat Thomas was a Light-middleweight boxer, originally from Saint Kitts and Nevis, who took British citizenship and won two British boxing titles in the 1970s and 80s. After leaving Saint Kitts, Thomas settled in Cardiff in Wales, and is recognised as a Welsh fighter taking the Welsh light middleweight Championship in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neville Meade</span> British boxer

Neville Meade was a British boxer from Swansea. Born in Montserrat, he moved to Wales at the age of nine. He rose to prominence when he won the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. He turned professional in 1974 and won the Welsh Heavyweight title in 1976 and then followed this with the British title in 1981. He retired in 1983 after a failed defence of his British title.

Ali Forbes is British former boxer who was British super middleweight champion in 1995 and fought for the World Boxing Federation light heavyweight world title in 2000.

Andy Straughn is a British former boxer who won three consecutive ABA titles, represented the UK at the 1980 Summer Olympics and went on to a professional career which included winning the British cruiserweight title.

Tom Collins is British former boxer who held the British and European light heavyweight titles and fought for three world titles.

Pat McCormack was a boxer who won the British light welterweight title in 1974.

Jermaine Robert Asare is a Welsh professional boxer. He represented Great Britain at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, winning a bronze medal. He turned professional in 2013 and unsuccessfully challenged for the Welsh light-heavyweight title in 2017, suffering a defeat to Nathan Thorley.

Julius Luipa was a Zambian boxer who won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and represented Zambia at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. One of Zambia's best amateur boxers, he was the country's Sportsman of the Year in 1970 and when he turned professional four years later, he defeated George Chisenga to become Zambian light heavyweight champion and held the title until he was dethroned by Lottie Mwale in 1977.

Ngozika Ekwelum is a Nigerian former heavyweight boxer, who held the Nigerian and African Boxing Union heavyweight titles in the 1970s and 1980s.

Adolf Heuser was a German boxer, who was the champion of Germany and Europe at both light heavyweight and heavyweight, and International Boxing Union (IBU) world champion at light heavyweight.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.