Sugar Ray's conqueror dies

The name of former British middleweight champion Mick Leahy has been added to a long list of former boxers who died recently.

Leahy, who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s for several years, died in England earlier this month. He was 74 years old.

He held the distinction of outpointing the great Sugar Ray Robinson in Scotland in September 1964.

Their fight was at the end of the legendary American’s career. The shorter Leahy, despite being down for a count, attacked throughout to win a narrow decision.

Leahy was born in Cork, Ireland, on March 12, 1935. As an amateur he won the Irish lightweight title and reached the ABA semifinals in 1956.

The ginger-haired Leahy had to battle to obtain British citizenship so that he could challenge for the British welterweight championship.

At the time only boxers born in Northern Ireland could challenge for British titles.

In February 1961 he outpointed Jimmy McGrail in an eliminator for the right to challenge Welshman Brian Curvis, whose British Empire welterweight title was also on the line.

They fought at the Empire Pool in Wembley, London. Curvis, whose record stood at 21-0 at the time, knocked Leahy out in the eighth round of a fight that I was provileged to attend.

Leahy then moved to middleweight and won the British title in May 1963 when he stopped George Aldridge at one minute 45 seconds of the first round.

He also beat Empire welterweight champion George Barnes in Australia and fought in New Zealand, America, Italy and Germany.

Among his opponents were classy boxers such as Joey Archer, Ted Wright, Wilf Greaves, Gomeo Brennan and Wally Swift. He also went 15 rounds with triple Olympic gold medallist Laszlo Papp from Hungary when challenging for the European middleweight title in Vienna.

Leahy’s boxing career was cut short when he was involved in a car accident in Coventry and lost the sight in one eye. He was 30 years old.

He won 46 professional fights, 16 by knockouts, lost 19 and drew seven.

Other recent deaths

Former Finnish heavyweight champion Tony Halme, 47, died recently in what appeared to be a suicide. He fought from 1995 to 2002 and compiled a record of 13 wins and 6 losses.

Antoine Palatis, a southpaw French heavyweight who at one time went the distance with British champion Danny Williams, has died at the age of 39.

Palatis, who was a diabetic, was out for a run in his hometown of Chamoux. His body was later found in the snow. He was taken to hospital but could not be revived. He finished with a record of 32-27-3; 16.

Federico Thomson, who stopped world welterweight champion Don Jordan in a non-title fight in 1959 and lost in a challenge for the title against Benny “Kid” Paret, died on January 8. He was 82.

The Panamanian made his professional debut in his home country in 1952 before moving to Argentina, where became a citizen and won the national welterweight title. He finished his career with a record of 150-14-15-1nc; 72.

Scottish featherweight Edward McCairn who fought in the late 1940s and had approximately 50 fights, passed away on December 31 at the age of 81. He fought under the name of Eddie McCormick and faced top fighters such as Hogan “Kid” Bassey, Bobby Neill and Billy “Spider” Kelly.

Former Japanese middleweight champion Yoshiaki Akasaka died from a kidney disease recently. He was 66. He lost to world middleweight champion Nino Benvenuti in a non-title fight in 1968. He retiiredn 1970 with a record of 20-18-1; 9.

Manager, promoter, matchmaker, agent and cutman Henk Ruhling of Holland died on December 31. He was born in 1920 and began promoting in 1946. He also worked for South Africans Rodney Berman, Alan Toweel and Cedric Kushner.

Well-known boxers who passed away in 2009 were: Alexis Arguello, Yama Bahama, Daan Bekker, Johnny Caldwell, Cliff Curvis, Mario D’Agata, Vernon Forrest, Ludumo Galada, Arturo Gatti, Mickey Goodwin, Bill Graham, Vince Hawkins, Billy Lotter, Raul Macias, Freddy Mack, Alfredo Marcano, Pat McAteer, Norman Motsoaledi, Saensak Muangsurin, Greg Page, Giovanni Parisi, Ray Shiel, Simon Skosana, Darren Sutherland, Billy Thompson, Tony Thorton, Jose Torres and Bruce Wells.