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Terry Marsh-Fighting Fireman


BoztheMadman
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Terry Marsh holds the distinction of being one of the few British boxers to retire undefeated, and as a world champion. He won the IBF light welter title and defended it once before suddenly retiring, due to epilepsy. He is a rather rare case of a fighter who only scored 10 knockouts in 26 wins, but both of his world title fights ended in knockout victories. He was a pressure fighter with accumulation power and himself he says he never scored a clean knockout. This is the story of the Fighting Fireman, Terry Marsh.

 

Born in Stepney, London on 7 February 1958, Marsh was the ABA amateur lightweight and two time welterweight champion before turning pro in October 1981. He was trained by Ernie Fossey and managed by Frank Warren. His first 6 wins were all by 6-round decisions and then in his 7th fight he experienced a draw against Lloyd Christie, which would remain his only blemish for the rest of his pro career. In his next fight, he scored his first stoppage victory by TKO 5 against Dave Finigan. On 26 April 1983 he faced Vernon Vanriel in a fight for the vacant British Southern Area light welter title. He won on points after 10 rounds to win his first belt in York Hall, Bethnal Green. A year later, he faced Tony Sinnott in a final eliminator for the full British title and won by only half a point in a 12-rounder. Referee was the only judge as well, which was then still possible. On 19 September that year, he finally won the British belt by outpointing Clinton McKenzie, a Jamaican-born fighter. He didn't defend the title and instead concentrated on winning the European one. He got the chance after 3 more victories, one of them by TKO 8 against Peter Eubank, the brother of Chris. He had to go outside of UK for only the second time to fight for the Euro title against the Italian Alessandro Scapecchi, at Stade Louis in Fontvieille, Monaco. He won by TKO 6 after Scapecchi withdrew due to hand injury on that 24 October 1985 and entered history. He defended the title twice, both times on points, against Tusikoleta Nkalankete of South Africa and Francesco Prezioso of Italy.

 

Marsh then vacated the European belt as well and set his sights at a world title. He scored knockout victories over Rick Kaiser by KO 7 and David Taylor by TKO 2, last one being a cut stoppage, before he got to fight the newly-crowned IBF champion Joe Manley of USA. Manley was an excellent amateur and had qualified for the 1980 Olympics but due to the boycott by his country, was unable to compete. He had also defeated Howard Davis jr and Freddie Pendleton as a pro and stopped the world class contender Gary Hinton to win the IBF belt. Manley agreed to come to Basildon, where Marsh was based and the two commenced on 4 March 1987 at Basildon's Festival Hall Super Tent. Marsh was the underdog but surprised by dominating the fight and was ahead on all three scorecards going into the 9th round. It was then that he caught Manley with a short left hook which sent him down. Just before Manley hit the canvas, Marsh got in a right hand as well. Manley beat the count and survived the round but in the 10th Marsh started swarming him and the referee waved it off 20 seconds into the round. It was his best victory and would remain his greatest achievement. Manley had never been stopped previously and only lost to 3 world class fighters. After that fight, he was pretty much a spent force, damaged goods, and would go on to get knocked out 3 more times. Marsh made his first defense on 1 July at the Royal Albert Hall, against Japanese Akio Kameda (no relation to the Kameda brothers). Kameda had previously failed in his only world title attempt against Aaron Pryor and was stopped in 6 rounds. Here he would suffer a similar fate, as Marsh dominated him and won all the first 6 rounds on the scorecards and despite a bad cut over the right eye, he managed to stop Kameda in the 7th round by TKO.

 

After this fight, Marsh was looking to conquer the American boxing scene when he was diagnosed with epilepsy and was forced to retire in December of 1987. He had tried to get licensed in Atlantic City but it was not approved. His career was over at 29. He soon came in conflict with Frank Warren because Warren had been trying to force him to continue fighting and defend his title. On 30 November 1989, Warren was shot outside the Broadway Theatre in London by a masked gunman. The bullet narrowly missed his heart and he recovered. The gunman fled and Marsh was then charged with attempted murder, because Warren claimed a libel suit which Warren had started against him was the reason, after Marsh came open about Warren's attempt to force him to fight again. Marsh was cleared of the charges on 7 November 1990. Marsh had been a fireman at the Royal Marines and hence gained the nickname "Fighting Fireman". He was also a school chess champion and later wrote a book titled "Undefeated". Just after retiring, he appeared in the film "Tank Malling" (1989) where also fellow ex-boxer John Conteh appeared. In 1997, he appeared in an episode of the series Silent Witness. Terry Marsh was an exciting fighter who was unlucky to have his career cut short due to an illness and that makes one wonder how much he could have achieved. When asked how he would do in a fight against Ricky Hatton, he modestly responded "Not very well."

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