Pierre Cossemyns

Pierre Cossemyns
Data
Birth Name	Cossemyns, Jean Pierre
Weight class	Bantamweight
nationality	Belgian
birthday	October 21, 1930
place of birth	Ukkel, Brussels
Date of death	December 22, 2001
style	Left-hand boom
size	1.62 meters
Combat Statistics
Struggles	86
Victories	62
Knockout victories	18th
Defeats	19th
draw	5

Pierre Cossemyns (born October 21, 1930 in Ukkel , Brussels , † December 22, 2001 ) was a Belgian boxer . He was European bantamweight professional boxer champion

Career

Pierre Cossemyns, known as "Cosse", grew up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels and began boxing there in 1943. As an adult, he usually weighed around 55 kg with a height of 1.62 meters and competed in the light weight classes. As an amateur in the flyweight and later as a professional in the bantamweight and less often in the featherweight .

Amateur career

As an amateur, Pierre Cossemyns belonged to the Belgian elite from 1947. In 1948 he represented Belgium in two country battles in Ireland . In Dublin he lost on August 5, 1949 in the flyweight against Paddy Kelly on points and on August 7, 1949 he won in Mullingar over P. Nolan on points. In 1951 he became Belgian bantamweight champion and also represented his country at the European Championships in Milan . In bantamweight he was defeated there in the round of 16 against Jacques Dumesnil from France on points and came in 9th place

Profile career

In the middle of 1951, Pierre Cossemyns joined the professional boxers. His manager was Ploegaerts-Tillière. He made his professional ring debut on September 23, 1951 in Brussels with a points win over his compatriot Pierre Baeckelandt. On December 8, 1952, he came in Leeds to a point victory over the Nigerian Hogan Kid Bassey , one of the most colorful figures in boxing at the time.

On January 29, 1953 he was in Verviers with a point victory over Jean Kidy Belgian bantamweight champion. He defended this title on April 28, 1953 in Antwerp with a points victory over Alex Bollaert, on December 2, 1953 in Brussels with another point victory over Alex Bollaert and on March 13, 1954 in Brussels with a point victory over Jean Kidy.

In the fall of 1954, Pierre Cossemyns boxed several times in Australia . On September 20, 1954, he defeated the Australian bantamweight champion Bobby Sinn on points in Sydney . This was his 29th straight fight without defeat in his professional career. He lost the 30th fight on October 18, 1954 in Sydney against the American Billy Peacock . Against the same opponent he lost on November 29, 1954 in Sydney also in the meeting of revenge on points.

On February 25, 1956, he lost his Belgian championship title in Liege to Jean Renard, who defeated him on points. He won this title back on November 12, 1956 in Brussels with a knockout victory over Alex Bollart.

Between 1957 and 1959, Pierre Cossemyns fought a number of fights against boxers from the absolute top European class in his weight class, with varying results. On May 22, 1957, he was defeated in Brussels by his compatriot Jean Sneyers on points. On March 8, 1958, he had to admit defeat on points to the Northern Irishman Freddie Gilroy in Belfast . On May 20, 1958 he was defeated in Kensington against the Englishman Terry Spinks . On February 29, 1959 he was defeated in Paris against Alphonse Halimi from France by Techn. KO. On October 10, 1959, he won in Brussels over the Algerian Cherif Hamia starting for France on points. Sneyers, Halimi and Hamia were former or future European champions, Terry Spinks was Olympic flyweight champion in 1956 and, like Freddie Gilroy, a British Empire champion.

On May 12, 1960, Pierre Cossemyns defeated the Italian bantamweight champion Federico Scarponi in Brussels on points and on October 15, 1960 he finally got the chance in Brussels for the European title, albeit in the featherweight, to be allowed to box against Gracieux Lamperti from Italy. He lost this fight on points.

After almost ten years as a professional, he finally achieved his goal of becoming European champion on May 27, 1961. In the fight for the vacant bantamweight title of Europe, he beat the Northern Irishman Freddie Gilroy KO on May 17, 1961 in Brussels and was thus European champion. He defended this title on November 4, 1961 in Cagliari with a points victory over the Sardinian Piero Rollo . In the revenge on April 13, 1962 he was knocked out in Brussels against Rollo and with it the title.

On September 28, 1963 he played his last fight in Antwerp, in which he beat his compatriot Jean Claude Loroy on points. The best world rankings he achieved in his career was a 3rd place.

Title fights from Pierre Cossemyns as a professional boxer

date	place	for the title of	Weight class	Result
January 29, 1953	Verviers	Belgium	Bantam	Points victory over Jean Kidy
April 28, 1953	Antwerp	Belgium	Bantam	Points victory over Alex Bollaert
December 2, 1953	Brussels	Belgium	Bantam	Points victory over Alex Bollaert
3/13/1954	Brussels	Belgium	Bantam	Points victory over Jean Kidy
February 25, 1956	Lounger	Belgium	Bantam	Point defeat against Jean Renard
11/12/1956	Brussels	Belgium	Bantam	KO victory over Alex Bollaert
10/15/1960	Brussels	Europe (EBU)	feather	Losing points against Gracieux Lamperti, Italy
May 27, 1961	Brussels	Europe (EBU)	Bantam	Knockout victory over Freddie Gilroy, Northern Ireland
November 4, 1961	Cagliari	Europe (EBU)	Bantam	Points victory over Piero Rollo, Italy
April 13, 1962	Cagliari	Europe (EBU)	Bantam	Knockout loss to Piero Rollo

Web links

• Pierre Cossemyns in the BoxRec database
• Obituary for Pierre Cossemyns