Joe Bygraves

Joe Bygraves
Data
Birth Name	Joseph Bygraves
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Jamaica
birthday	May 26, 1931
place of birth	Kingston
Date of death	January 16, 2012
style	Left-hand boom
Combat Statistics
Struggles	72
Victories	42
Knockout victories	22nd
Defeats	29
draw	1
Profile in the BoxRec database

Joe Bygraves (born May 26, 1931 in Kingston , † January 16, 2012 ) was a Jamaican boxer .

Career

Joe Bygraves, who started boxing as a young man in Kingston , left his home country in late 1952 for economic reasons and went to Liverpool to become a professional boxer in England . He signed a contract with Johnny Campbell who became his manager. On February 12, 1953 he played in Liverpool his first fight against Don Maxwell in the light heavyweight division, which he won by knockout in the 1st round. In the same year he remained victorious in his next five fights in Liverpool. In the heavyweight division he fought on June 9, 1953 in London against Joe Crickmar and lost by knockout in the first round. Just a month later he took revenge against Joe Crickmar in Liverpool and lost again, this time through tech. KO in the 5th round.

The year 1954 was marked by a great many fights that Joe fought with the intention of fighting his way up. And although he also suffered a few defeats this year, he lost z. B. on February 23, 1954 against the experienced former British middleweight champion Albert Finch on points, he drew attention to himself through some victories over well-known opponents. He defeated u. a. Peter Bates from England on July 2, 1954 in Manchester on points.

On April 18, 1955 Joe Bygraves got the chance to distinguish himself against the rising Henry Cooper . But he didn't quite succeed. He gave Cooper a good fight, but lost it over 8 rounds on points. 1955 Joe Bygraves won in Dortmund against Hugo Salfeld from the FRG in the 5th round by KO and defeated Kitione Lave from Tonga in Birmingham on points. Against the ex-European champion Franco Cavicchi Joe Bygraves was disqualified on October 31, 1955 in Bologna because of low blows.

Joe Bygraves had established himself in the British and European heavyweight scene. He received many offers and fought very often. Great victories followed, especially towards the end of his career, also many bitter defeats. On June 26, 1956 Joe Bygraves won against Kitione Lave in London, the British heavyweight championship by a points victory over 15 rounds. He defended this title on February 19, 1956 in London by a sensational knockout victory in the 9th round over Henry Cooper and on May 27, 1957 by a draw against Dick Richardson . On November 25, 1957, he lost his title in Leicester by a point defeat after 15 rounds to Joe Erskine .

In the following years he won a. a. nor against Gerhard Zech , FRG, Franco De Piccoli , Italy a. Albert Westphal from the FRG. But he was defeated by the US world ranking boxers Willie Pastrano , Wayne Bethea and others. Zora Folley , against former world champion Ingemar Johansson from Sweden , European champion Karl Mildenberger from the FRG a. George Chuvalo from Canada . After a defeat on March 20, 1967 in London against the largely unknown Hector Eduardo Corletti, he ended his career.

Jos Bygraves then tried his hand at various matiers. He was u. a. also farmers near Dover for several years. In the mid-1990s, however, he went back to Jamaica, where his tracks were lost. He died on January 16, 2012 at the age of 80.

literature

• Box Sport trade journal from 1953 to 1967

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Former boxing champion Joe Bygraves passes on , accessed on September 1, 2012 (English)

Web links

• Joe Bygraves in the BoxRec database
• Joe Bygraves in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia