Young McCormack

Last updated

Young McCormack
Born
John McCormack

(1944-12-11) 11 December 1944 (age 79)
Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Statistics
Weight(s) Light heavyweight
Boxing record
Total fights42
Wins33
Wins by KO27
Losses8
Draws1

John McCormack (born 11 December 1944), better known as Young McCormack, is an Irish former boxer who was Irish and British light heavyweight champion in the 1960s.

Contents

Career

Born in Dublin, the son of boxer Spike McCormack, John McCormack grew up on Sean McDermott Street with five brothers and eight sisters. [1] Known as "Young Spike" early on, he became better known simply as "Young McCormack".

His professional career began in September 1963. From his first 23 pro fights he won 19, drew one and lost three, one of these to Belgian heavyweight champion Lion Ven. In June 1966 he faced his namesake John McCormack in an eliminator for the British light heavyweight title at the Royal Albert Hall, winning on points. [2] He went on to win a final eliminator four months later against Derek Richards, setting up a fight against Eddie Avoth in June 1967 for the vacant title, preceded by wins over Victor Chapelle, Ven, and Valere Mahau. McCormack stopped Avoth in the seventh round at the National Sporting Club to become British champion. [1] McCormack successfully defended the title against Richards in November 1967, and in February 1968 faced Bob Dunlop at the Sydney Stadium for the vacant Commonwealth title; Dunlop stopped McCormack in the seventh round.

McCormack made a second defence of his British title against Avoth in January 1969, and lost after being forced to retire in the eleventh round due to a cut to his left eyelid. McCormack had five further fights in 1969, winning three but losing to Guinea Roger and Tom Bogs. In April 1970 he had his final fight, another shot at the British title against Avoth; McCormack was disqualified in the eighth round.

His younger brother Pat was also a successful boxer, at lightweight through to welterweight, winning the British super lightweight title in 1974. McCormick went on to work with his brother Pat with young boxers at St. Saviours Olympic Boxing Academy on Dorset Street in Dublin. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

During the 1970s, boxing was characterized by dominating champions and history-making rivalries. The decade had many superstars, who also had fierce rivals. Alexis Argüello, for example, who won the world Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight titles in the '70s, had to overcome Alfredo Escalera twice before the decade was over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxing in the 1930s</span>

The sport of boxing in the 1930s was affected by one of the biggest economic struggles in the history of the United States: the depression era. Because of the suffering American economy, many boxers were offered lower amounts of money causing them to only box for passion. When the decade began, the world Heavyweight title belonged to no one. The sport of boxing suffered because of the lack of money to pay the boxers.

Boxing in the 1920s was an exceptionally popular international sport. Many fights during this era, some 20 years away or so from the television era, were social events with many thousands in attendance, both men and women.

Charlie Nash, is a retired Irish boxer. As just an amateur, he held an Irish national title and represented Ireland in the 1972 Olympic Games. As a professional, he won the professional British and then European lightweight titles but lost to Jim Watt, when he challenged him for the World Boxing Council title. He has given several interviews about having to check several bodies laid out in a hospital morgue in order to identify that of his brother William, who was killed during the Bloody Sunday massacre.

Darren Corbett, nicknamed Raging Bull, is a Northern Irish professional boxer. Corbett's weight fluctuated significantly throughout his career and although he had some fights at both heavyweight and light-heavyweight, the bulk of his contests and his success came at cruiserweight.

Noel Magee is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1997. He held the Commonwealth light heavyweight title in 1995.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Murray (boxer)</span> English boxer (born 1984)

John Murray is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2014. He held the English lightweight title from 2007 to 2008, the British lightweight title twice between 2008 and 2010, and the European lightweight title from 2010 to 2011. He also challenged once for the vacant WBA lightweight title in 2011. John is the brother of British former Olympian Joe Murray. Since retiring, Murray has opened his own gym in Reddish, where he trains both amateur and professional boxers.

Lee "Aberdeen Assassin" McAllister is a Scottish professional boxer nicknamed the "Aberdeen Assassin". McAllister held the Commonwealth lightweight and light-welterweight titles, the IBO International light-welterweight title, and challenged once each for the European and British titles. He captured the junior-middleweight WBU World Championship on 5 October 2019 against Richmond Djarbeng by 2nd-round TKO. Lee is also a very successful promoter; Assassins Promotions boxing, which holds events in his hometown of Aberdeen, where he also runs and operates a very prestigious boxing gym called Assassin's Health & Fitness. On 22 July 2018 he fought his most high-profile fight whenever he moved up 5 weight classes and challenged British WBU #1 contender Danny Williams, who beat Mike Tyson, in eerily similar fashion; McAllister dominated Williams and KO'd him in round 10 to become the WBU Heavyweight champion of the world.

PJ Pat Gallagher is a former boxer who was the undefeated British super featherweight champion in 1996.

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.

Dennis Jeffrey Avoth was an Egyptian-born British heavyweight boxer. Avoth was a promising amateur boxer who turned professional in 1967. He held the Welsh Heavyweight Championship title from 1971 to 1973. He was the brother of Eddie Avoth, who was also a boxer and who became British, and Commonwealth Light-heavyweight champion, and European Light-heavyweight challenger. Dennis Avoth died in Glamorgan on 20 December 2023, at the age of 76.

Petty officer Matthew 'Nutty' Curran was an Irish professional heavyweight boxer, from 1900 to 1930. His fighting name, "Nutty", was derived from the English slang term for someone who is mentally unbalanced. Curran won the Irish heavyweight title, British Empire heavyweight title, and vied for the British Boxing Board of Control British heavyweight title. British heavyweight title bouts featuring Curran were neither recognized by the National Sporting Club (NSC) at the time, nor retroactively by the British Boxing Board of Control, because the bouts did not take place on National Sporting Club premises. His professional fighting weight varied throughout his career from 178 lb. (81 kg) to 199 lb. (90.3 kg).

Philip Cilia was a Welsh Middleweight boxer who fought under the name Phil Edwards. Edwards was Wales middleweight champion from 1957 until his retirement in 1962. One of the best British fighters at his weight, Edwards was unfortunate to box during the reign of Terry Downes, and he twice failed in a challenge for the British title against Downes.

2014 in Bellator MMA was the tenth season for Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion. It began on February 28, 2014 and aired on Spike TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dejan Zlatičanin</span> Montenegrin boxer

Dejan Zlatičanin is a Montenegrin professional boxer. He is the first Montenegrin boxer to win a boxing world title, having held the WBC lightweight title from 2016 to 2017.

George Aldridge is a former middleweight boxer who was British champion from 1962 to 1963 and fought for the European title in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Cordina</span> Welsh boxer

Joe Cordina is a Welsh-Maltese professional boxer. He is a two-time super-featherweight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title from April 2023 until May 2024 and previously in 2022. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth lightweight titles between 2018 and 2019. As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and gold at the 2015 European Championships, both in the lightweight division. He also represented Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

2016 in Bellator MMA was the eighth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promoter based in the United States. Bellator held 23 events in 2016.

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

References

  1. 1 2 Corrigan Kearns, Kevin (1998) Dublin Voices: An Oral Folk History, Gill & Macmillan Ltd, ISBN   978-0717126507, Chapter 9: Battlers and Champions
  2. Hannan, Martin (2014) "Obituary: John ‘Cowboy’ McCormack, boxer", The Scotsman , 27 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015
  3. Banting, Erinn (2002) Ireland: The Culture, Crabtree Publishing Co, Canada, ISBN   978-0778793519, p. 34
  4. "Bite Down on that Gumshield Son", RTÉ, 19 October 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2015