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Mark Kaylor-West Ham Assassin


BoztheMadman
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Mark Kaylor was an exciting and hard-hitting middleweight from England, who fought between 1980 and 1991. He was known for his boyish good looks and lethal punching power, making him a fan favorite, especially in his hometown of West Ham. He was especially known for his domestic rivalry with Errol Christie and the two engaged in some infamous bantering before finally settling their differences in the ring. However, he lost all the rest of his important fights and was never able to progress from national level-success. He retired from the sport rather young, at the age of 30, after losing his last chance at winning the Euro title and never fought for a world title. He still remains a pretty popular figure and was one of the most popular British fighters of his time.

 

Born 11 May 1961 in Canning Town in London, Kaylor was brought up in Stanford le Hope in Essex. At 16, he won the British Schoolboy title and he moved back to Canning Town to train at a boxing club in West Ham. At 17, he won the National Association of Boys Clubs Championship and in 1980 he became the Amateur champion of Britain at middleweight. That same year he represented Britain in the Olympics in Moscow and was eliminated by split decision in the quarterfinals. He then turned pro in October that year and won his first 24 fights, 21 by knockout. Among his victims was Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts (who once beat Marvin Hagler), whom Kaylor stopped by TKO 4 in 1983. Later that same year, he knocked out Roy Gumbs in 5 to win his only titles, Commonwealth and British one. In his next fight however, he lost by disqualification in 9 against Tony Cerda. He then beat Ralph Moncrief by TKO 5 and Randy Smith by UD10 before he ran into Buster Drayton, the future IBF light middleweight champ, who stopped him by TKO 7 in a fight at Wembley in May 1984. After beating unknown David Todt by TKO 6, he was given a match against the European, Commonwealth and British champion: Tony Sibson of Leicester. The fight took place 27 November at the Wembley arena. Sibson was a veteran of 55 fights and far more experienced than Kaylor, but the match was rather even. After 12 hard fought rounds, the judges gave the decision to the champion from Leicester, but each only by 2 points.

 

He went back to fighting journeymen for a while and then came Errol Christie; the two had built up a heated rivalry and had come to blows before the fight. It didn't help that Kaylor's racist fans had hurled death threats against Christie also. Christie was also a hard puncher like Kaylor and had lost only one fight in 21, but in the end, Kaylor proved to be too much for him to handle as he knocked him out in the 8th round at Wembley, in a fight that was the eliminator for the British title. Despite all the controversy, Kaylor and Christie showed great respect for eachother after the fight and Kaylor later said "Back then, I had a quick temper that I'd rather not have had. There was always this spark in my head! Today, I'm embarrassed by it. Errol was a nice guy. There's no way I could behave like that now." After that he avenged the loss to Tony Cerda by TKO 6. He also defeated Tony Harrison by TKO 9 in a fight over the 160 limit. It was then time for another shot at the Euro title and it happened on 4 November 1986. The opponent was the splendid boxer Herol "Bomber" Graham, who was undefeated at 36-0. He proved too much for Kaylor to handle and he retired after 8 rounds of punishment. He then started campaigning as a light heavyweight, since he was with his 6 foot frame outgrowing the middleweight division. In his first fight in April 1987 he stopped Tommy Taylor by TKO 4, after dropping him three times. It was an impressive debut at the new weight class. He also knocked out his next four opponents, all within 6 rounds. And then he landed a shot at the European title against the hard-hitting journeyman Tom Collins. Everything went well until the 9th round, when he was caught by a big right hand and knocked out cold.

 

Having failed the big test at light heavyweight, he then decided to move down to super middleweight and in March 1990 landed a fight against the Euro champion Mauro Galvano, but lost on points in Sicily, Italy. He then beat Shannon Landberg by TKO 6, stopping him on cuts and the Swedish Roland Ericsson by TKO 4 before making his fourth and final attempt at becoming the European champion against James Cook on 1 June 1991, but surprisingly, lost that fight too when he was stopped by TKO 6 in York Hall in Bethnal Green. With that, he retired and left behind a record of 40 wins, 34 by ko, 7 losses and 1 draw. His popularity and good looks led to him receiving a role in the 1996 film called Real Money, a drama about young boxers from the East End. A role well suited for him. He also moved to California in 1996 and now coaches boxing and is aerobics instructor in a gym in Chino.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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