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Jack London had to navigate through the Great Depression and World War II before a British title shot came his way
Jack London reached a British title shot after 13 years and 121 fights, writes Alex Daley
READING of the recent death of Brian London, I was reminded of his father, Jack, and it struck me what a special achievement it was for father and son to hold the British heavyweight title just 13 years apart. Their career paths, though, could not have been more different. It took Brian three years to win the British crown in his 24th fight. After losing the title, he got a chance to regain it, two European title tilts and two shots at the world crown. For his father, there had been just one shot at British honours, and it had taken 13 years and 121 fights to attain it.
Norman Giller is an esteemed author of 114 books, he worked as Muhammad Ali’s European publicist, he was a scriptwriter on This Is Your Life and he was a chief sports writer at The Express. But some of his fondest memories originated from his spell as a Boxing News reporter. He spoke to Alex Daley
Hygiene-obsessed Joe Bloom maintained pristine standards at his famous West End gym
WHEN you think of an old-time gym what do you imagine? Floors, walls and windows thick with grime, dilapidated equipment and a rickety, blood-stained ring? Go back 60 years or more and that’s probably a fair portrayal of a typical British boxing gym. But there was one notable exception.
The Cambridge gym at 9 Earlham Street, off Cambridge Circus, in London’s West End was a bastion of neatness and cleanliness thanks to its eccentric owner, Joe Bloom. “You’d be skipping and he’d be going round sprinkling disinfectant on the floor,” Teddy Lewis, a talented feather and lightweight of the 1940s and ‘50s, once told me. “Woe betide anyone who dropped even a small piece of paper on the floor of Joe’s beloved gym,” recalled Boxing News ‘Old Timers’ doyen Ron Olver.