Sunday, 6 December 2009
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Retrospective: Kaylor vs Christie - Punch for Punch
As everyone was getting ready for Bonfire Night 1985, British Boxing fans had only one thing in mind. The British Middleweight title eliminator between West Ham's Mark Kaylor and the touted amateur from Coventry Errol Christie.
Kaylor (pictured right) was a highly touted boxer, a tough boxer-puncher with plenty of heart and skill but sometimes let his emotions get in the way of his boxing. He had held the British and Commonwealth titles, as well as the number five ranking in the world at middleweight before losing to the excellent sharpshooter Tony Sibson in a unification fight for Sibson’s European title and Kaylor’s British and Commonwealth titles.
Kaylor was now a year on from losing his titles and wanted a way back to the top. Christie was touted ever since he won the 1981 ABA final at light-middleweight. An excellent boxer with a snappy jab and a hard straight right he impressed the legendary Emanuel Steward who gave him his blessing to wear the famous golden Kronk shorts.
Christie looked in fine form before this bout, producing his career best performance in beating Barry Audia in two rounds. However he had been beaten, just once, in a first round KO loss to Jose Seys and many people felt he couldn’t take a good shot. The bout garnered huge interest because of a brawl Kaylor and Christie had outside of a casino the previous month. There was apprehension about the fight taking place due to a large threat of violence from Kaylor’s staunch support from the fans of West Ham Untied Football Club who were infamous for their hooliganism.
The previous year, 200 Kaylor fans had been ejected from the Wembley Arena following their man's loss to the brilliant Tony Sibson. However, the threat of violence was amplified due to racist undertones between the ‘white’ Kaylor fans and the ‘black’ Christie fans who himself was a black man. It did not help that there was genuine needle between the two main participants what over boiled into two instances of ‘street fighting’ outside the previously mentioned casino and at a pre-fight press conference.
However, it did make this bout one of the most anticipated British battles of the decade. For the night extra police reinforcements were called into to keep a watch of the crowd as well as Terry Lawless drafting in a security firm to mingle in with the crowd. As another precaution no alcohol was to be sold at the arena or consumed inside the arena. So the bout got under way despite the threat of violence and crowd trouble.
In front of a packed pro-Kaylor Wembley arena crowd, both boxers looked in marvellous shape. The referee, Harry Gibbs, called both fighters to the centre of the ring. Both stared straight into each other's eyes with killer intent. Gibbs motioned them back to their corners to await the bell. DING-DING! Both fighters came out into the centre of the ring and stood off each other, Kaylor then started the scoring with a lead right hand followed by a left hook to Christie's head before rolling underneath Christie’s return left hook before holding. On the break Christie got up on his toes and started to show the skills he was famous for by jabbing and moving keeping Kaylor at range with Kaylor wondering how to get inside and do damage. Christie kept jabbing as Kaylor started to narrow the distance between them and before long Kaylor slipped inside a jab and landed a straight right of his own that detonated on Christie’s jaw with sickening impact. Christie looked hurt and shaky legged as he got up at the referee's count of three and held onto the ropes to steady his uncontrollable legs. Gibbs waved them on, Kaylor was straight in on the inside landing right uppercuts to Christie but these were smothered by Christie who held on desperately. Just then perhaps mirroring what was going on in the ring a Firework exploded among the fans, fortunately no one was hurt and this was the only incident of crowd trouble the whole evening. Both boxers remained focussed on the task at hand though and did not seem to notice the distraction.
The fight seemed to take a rhythm now as Kaylor bustled forward with straight rights followed by left hooks to the body as Christie feebly tried to keep the advancing Kaylor off with a jab. As Kaylor kept advancing Christie seemed to burst into life landing a one-two combination on Kaylor’s jaw which resulted in Kaylor falling to his knees a few seconds later. But Kaylor was straight back up at a count of three and ready for more action.
Christie, like a shark smelling blood, went to work with solid one-twos and left uppercuts on the hurt Kaylor, who seemed in dire trouble. With about 15 seconds left in the round Christie advanced looking to halt Kaylor but walked on to a massive straight right which staggered him but Errol came fighting back with solid one-twos as the bell rang with a right hand landing after the bell. Kaylor clearly annoyed stuck his right glove into Christie’s face which drew a warning from Harry Gibbs. Christie returned to his corner with a cut over his left eye, however it didn’t have much bearing on the fight except colouring referee Harry Gibbs shirt a nice crimson colour.
The bell for round two was barely audible above the excited drone of the crowd. Christie came out popping his jab and moving off looking to keep to his boxing. With his jab getting more and more success Christie started landing some solid combinations off the jab, in particular his one-two, as Kaylor came forward unsuccessfully. As Christie looked in good form, an echo of ‘Forever Blowing Bubbles’ reverberated around the arena, looking to inspire Kaylor. The effect of the morale boosting chant was shown instantly as Kaylor started to counter Christie's jab as he came forward by moving his head to his right and came back with a straight right over Christie's jab and landing on his chin.
Christie, feeling the need to disrupt Kaylor’s rhythm, grabbed hold of Kaylor as he came forward. Upon the break Christie again began circling and popping the jab and landed a good right hand behind a jab. Mark Kaylor imposed himself on the inside again with some jolting uppercuts followed by some short rights. Christie managed to create some room but Kaylor cut down the space again and landed some more heavy uppercuts to head and body.
Round three, Christie again came out snapping the jab and moved away from the ever advancing Kaylor. As Kaylor advanced, Christie landed a sharp left hook on his head that got his supporters clapping. But it didn’t deter Kaylor who started slipping the jab and landing some straight rights and left hooks to head and body of Christie, before falling inside and landing some more ripping uppercuts. Christie, knowing he needed room, stepped back and feinted a jab before following through with a straight right to Kaylor’s exposed jaw. Kaylor fell backwards onto his bum and took a small rest on his haunches before rising at eight.
As soon as action restarted, Kaylor took a good hold of Christie to prevent any further punishment. As they emerged from the clinch Christie’s ripping left hook and uppercuts forced Kaylor backwards onto the ropes forcing Kaylor to grab on for survival. As the clinch broke up Christie got back on his bike, landing jabs to keep Kaylor off balance as Kaylor advanced forward landing some good hooks and uppercuts to Christie's exposed mid section.
As Christie back-pedalled a big left hook from Kaylor landed on the side of Christie’s head making Errol hold on. All of a sudden Christie was hurt and staggered forward onto a left hook to the ribs and he was shaken as he fell into the arms of Kaylor. Just as they untangled the bell rang and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Christie who wobbled back to his corner for a well needed but deserved minute's rest.
At the start of round four both guys fell into an inside fight as Kaylor landed some good left hook wallops to the head and body of Christie. Christie knowing he couldn’t beat Kaylor on the inside started to get some room and establish his jab and movement again and looked to disrupt Kaylor’s rhythm by holding when Kaylor got near. Kaylor kept pouring on however and landed some combos to head and body mixing left hooks in well.
Christie started to look more and more tired but landed a good right uppercut and made Kaylor’s retaliation attacks miss through deft head movement but Kaylor started to ignore the head and landed some powerful body shots as the pace slowed down. With about 10 seconds to go Kaylor landed a left to the body which rocked Christie to his boots and followed up with four hooks to Christie’s defenceless head just as the bell tolled. But Kaylor landed a hook just after the bell and Christie retaliated but was stopped by Gibbs who warned Kaylor in his corner for punching after the bell as Christie stormed over to Kaylor’s corner but thought better of it and turned back.
The fifth round resembled the fourth with Christie jabbing and moving and Kaylor stalking forward with combos to the head and body. The pace slowed as Christie did more moving than jabbing, not letting Kaylor near him, and could you blame him? Kaylor however landed some classy body shots that bulled Christie back to the ropes but Christie, showing his class spun off the ropes but looked very groggy as Kaylor was straight on him with solid body shots punctuated by a straight right on the bell.
Kaylor seemed to want to come on strong at the end of the rounds but seemed to run out of time making the rounds very hard to score. Again the sixth is more of the same but still brilliant to watch as Christie seemed to be a bit more rejuvenated and sprung around the ring behind a tidy jab, Kaylor still stalking forward behind some combinations off counters but really seemed to be tiring after such a high pace and having Christie looking fresher.
Christie's jab controlled the round and about mid way through it, Kaylor pinned the elusive Errol down with a one-two left hook, straight right combo but Errol came straight back with an eye-watering jab to Mark’s nose. At the conclusion of the round Kaylor got Christie on the ropes and landed a handful of body punches but it was not a good round for Kaylor. The fight seemed to have taken on a rhythm in the seventh round as Christie again looking fresh jabbed the weary looking Kaylor and controlled the ring. Early in the round Christie's jab was pinpoint accurate but Kaylor came back with some fine left hooks and Christie, as if punishing Kaylor for the left hooks, upped his own work rate and landed some combinations that oozed of silk.
Kaylor as a result looked more tired and hopeless as Christie landed a straight right that stunned Kaylor and Christie turns it on but looked very scrappy doing so and didn’t do much damage. Just as Kaylor looked hopeless he showed he was still in it by landing a classic left hook, straight right combination from nowhere that kept Christie honest. Errol heeded the warning of Kaylor and retreated to long range and landed a still jab followed by a stiffer right hand to see out round seven.
Round eight started just as any other with Christie using his sharp jab to pick off Kaylor and fast movement to keep Kaylor at long range. About 30 seconds in Kaylor exploded into action with a one-two, left hook and Christie fell forward and looked to hold onto Kaylor who sidestepped away and let Christie descend to the canvas. Christie called on every sinew of his body to rise and got to his knees and dragged himself towards the ropes at the count of six. At the count of nine he reached the ropes but the count of ten was bellowed as Christie slumped to the canvas from his knees.
Kaylor jumped in joy from his win as Christie solemnly sat in his corner getting a drink of water. The two fighters headed towards each other and embraced, erasing all that memory of bad blood between them as Christie sportingly took Kaylor’s hand and raised it skywards as the whole arena applauded both boxers' courage, fitness and sportsmanship.
Despite being an eliminator, neither man ever got another British title shot. Kaylor had limited success after the bout with two wins before taking on the European Champion at middleweight, Herol Graham and being stopped in eight rounds. Kaylor then moved up to light-heavyweight and campaigned fairly well getting two further European title shots and winning an eliminator for the British title but again the title shot never materialised.
Christie on the other hand campaigned pretty unsuccessfully after this bout going 12-6-1 but never really recapturing that amazing form he showed he was capable of and went down as an underachiever.
This bout went down as one of the greatest bouts in British history for eight rounds these two warriors went punch for punch and showed superb skills and powers of recovery. But ultimately Kaylor had too much heart for Christie and wore him down.
And this was only an eliminator for the British title. Imagine if this fight had been for the title itself?
Kaylor (pictured right) was a highly touted boxer, a tough boxer-puncher with plenty of heart and skill but sometimes let his emotions get in the way of his boxing. He had held the British and Commonwealth titles, as well as the number five ranking in the world at middleweight before losing to the excellent sharpshooter Tony Sibson in a unification fight for Sibson’s European title and Kaylor’s British and Commonwealth titles.
Kaylor was now a year on from losing his titles and wanted a way back to the top. Christie was touted ever since he won the 1981 ABA final at light-middleweight. An excellent boxer with a snappy jab and a hard straight right he impressed the legendary Emanuel Steward who gave him his blessing to wear the famous golden Kronk shorts.
Christie looked in fine form before this bout, producing his career best performance in beating Barry Audia in two rounds. However he had been beaten, just once, in a first round KO loss to Jose Seys and many people felt he couldn’t take a good shot. The bout garnered huge interest because of a brawl Kaylor and Christie had outside of a casino the previous month. There was apprehension about the fight taking place due to a large threat of violence from Kaylor’s staunch support from the fans of West Ham Untied Football Club who were infamous for their hooliganism.
The previous year, 200 Kaylor fans had been ejected from the Wembley Arena following their man's loss to the brilliant Tony Sibson. However, the threat of violence was amplified due to racist undertones between the ‘white’ Kaylor fans and the ‘black’ Christie fans who himself was a black man. It did not help that there was genuine needle between the two main participants what over boiled into two instances of ‘street fighting’ outside the previously mentioned casino and at a pre-fight press conference.
However, it did make this bout one of the most anticipated British battles of the decade. For the night extra police reinforcements were called into to keep a watch of the crowd as well as Terry Lawless drafting in a security firm to mingle in with the crowd. As another precaution no alcohol was to be sold at the arena or consumed inside the arena. So the bout got under way despite the threat of violence and crowd trouble.
In front of a packed pro-Kaylor Wembley arena crowd, both boxers looked in marvellous shape. The referee, Harry Gibbs, called both fighters to the centre of the ring. Both stared straight into each other's eyes with killer intent. Gibbs motioned them back to their corners to await the bell. DING-DING! Both fighters came out into the centre of the ring and stood off each other, Kaylor then started the scoring with a lead right hand followed by a left hook to Christie's head before rolling underneath Christie’s return left hook before holding. On the break Christie got up on his toes and started to show the skills he was famous for by jabbing and moving keeping Kaylor at range with Kaylor wondering how to get inside and do damage. Christie kept jabbing as Kaylor started to narrow the distance between them and before long Kaylor slipped inside a jab and landed a straight right of his own that detonated on Christie’s jaw with sickening impact. Christie looked hurt and shaky legged as he got up at the referee's count of three and held onto the ropes to steady his uncontrollable legs. Gibbs waved them on, Kaylor was straight in on the inside landing right uppercuts to Christie but these were smothered by Christie who held on desperately. Just then perhaps mirroring what was going on in the ring a Firework exploded among the fans, fortunately no one was hurt and this was the only incident of crowd trouble the whole evening. Both boxers remained focussed on the task at hand though and did not seem to notice the distraction.
The fight seemed to take a rhythm now as Kaylor bustled forward with straight rights followed by left hooks to the body as Christie feebly tried to keep the advancing Kaylor off with a jab. As Kaylor kept advancing Christie seemed to burst into life landing a one-two combination on Kaylor’s jaw which resulted in Kaylor falling to his knees a few seconds later. But Kaylor was straight back up at a count of three and ready for more action.
Christie, like a shark smelling blood, went to work with solid one-twos and left uppercuts on the hurt Kaylor, who seemed in dire trouble. With about 15 seconds left in the round Christie advanced looking to halt Kaylor but walked on to a massive straight right which staggered him but Errol came fighting back with solid one-twos as the bell rang with a right hand landing after the bell. Kaylor clearly annoyed stuck his right glove into Christie’s face which drew a warning from Harry Gibbs. Christie returned to his corner with a cut over his left eye, however it didn’t have much bearing on the fight except colouring referee Harry Gibbs shirt a nice crimson colour.
The bell for round two was barely audible above the excited drone of the crowd. Christie came out popping his jab and moving off looking to keep to his boxing. With his jab getting more and more success Christie started landing some solid combinations off the jab, in particular his one-two, as Kaylor came forward unsuccessfully. As Christie looked in good form, an echo of ‘Forever Blowing Bubbles’ reverberated around the arena, looking to inspire Kaylor. The effect of the morale boosting chant was shown instantly as Kaylor started to counter Christie's jab as he came forward by moving his head to his right and came back with a straight right over Christie's jab and landing on his chin.
Christie, feeling the need to disrupt Kaylor’s rhythm, grabbed hold of Kaylor as he came forward. Upon the break Christie again began circling and popping the jab and landed a good right hand behind a jab. Mark Kaylor imposed himself on the inside again with some jolting uppercuts followed by some short rights. Christie managed to create some room but Kaylor cut down the space again and landed some more heavy uppercuts to head and body.
Round three, Christie again came out snapping the jab and moved away from the ever advancing Kaylor. As Kaylor advanced, Christie landed a sharp left hook on his head that got his supporters clapping. But it didn’t deter Kaylor who started slipping the jab and landing some straight rights and left hooks to head and body of Christie, before falling inside and landing some more ripping uppercuts. Christie, knowing he needed room, stepped back and feinted a jab before following through with a straight right to Kaylor’s exposed jaw. Kaylor fell backwards onto his bum and took a small rest on his haunches before rising at eight.
As soon as action restarted, Kaylor took a good hold of Christie to prevent any further punishment. As they emerged from the clinch Christie’s ripping left hook and uppercuts forced Kaylor backwards onto the ropes forcing Kaylor to grab on for survival. As the clinch broke up Christie got back on his bike, landing jabs to keep Kaylor off balance as Kaylor advanced forward landing some good hooks and uppercuts to Christie's exposed mid section.
As Christie back-pedalled a big left hook from Kaylor landed on the side of Christie’s head making Errol hold on. All of a sudden Christie was hurt and staggered forward onto a left hook to the ribs and he was shaken as he fell into the arms of Kaylor. Just as they untangled the bell rang and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Christie who wobbled back to his corner for a well needed but deserved minute's rest.
At the start of round four both guys fell into an inside fight as Kaylor landed some good left hook wallops to the head and body of Christie. Christie knowing he couldn’t beat Kaylor on the inside started to get some room and establish his jab and movement again and looked to disrupt Kaylor’s rhythm by holding when Kaylor got near. Kaylor kept pouring on however and landed some combos to head and body mixing left hooks in well.
Christie started to look more and more tired but landed a good right uppercut and made Kaylor’s retaliation attacks miss through deft head movement but Kaylor started to ignore the head and landed some powerful body shots as the pace slowed down. With about 10 seconds to go Kaylor landed a left to the body which rocked Christie to his boots and followed up with four hooks to Christie’s defenceless head just as the bell tolled. But Kaylor landed a hook just after the bell and Christie retaliated but was stopped by Gibbs who warned Kaylor in his corner for punching after the bell as Christie stormed over to Kaylor’s corner but thought better of it and turned back.
The fifth round resembled the fourth with Christie jabbing and moving and Kaylor stalking forward with combos to the head and body. The pace slowed as Christie did more moving than jabbing, not letting Kaylor near him, and could you blame him? Kaylor however landed some classy body shots that bulled Christie back to the ropes but Christie, showing his class spun off the ropes but looked very groggy as Kaylor was straight on him with solid body shots punctuated by a straight right on the bell.
Kaylor seemed to want to come on strong at the end of the rounds but seemed to run out of time making the rounds very hard to score. Again the sixth is more of the same but still brilliant to watch as Christie seemed to be a bit more rejuvenated and sprung around the ring behind a tidy jab, Kaylor still stalking forward behind some combinations off counters but really seemed to be tiring after such a high pace and having Christie looking fresher.
Christie's jab controlled the round and about mid way through it, Kaylor pinned the elusive Errol down with a one-two left hook, straight right combo but Errol came straight back with an eye-watering jab to Mark’s nose. At the conclusion of the round Kaylor got Christie on the ropes and landed a handful of body punches but it was not a good round for Kaylor. The fight seemed to have taken on a rhythm in the seventh round as Christie again looking fresh jabbed the weary looking Kaylor and controlled the ring. Early in the round Christie's jab was pinpoint accurate but Kaylor came back with some fine left hooks and Christie, as if punishing Kaylor for the left hooks, upped his own work rate and landed some combinations that oozed of silk.
Kaylor as a result looked more tired and hopeless as Christie landed a straight right that stunned Kaylor and Christie turns it on but looked very scrappy doing so and didn’t do much damage. Just as Kaylor looked hopeless he showed he was still in it by landing a classic left hook, straight right combination from nowhere that kept Christie honest. Errol heeded the warning of Kaylor and retreated to long range and landed a still jab followed by a stiffer right hand to see out round seven.
Round eight started just as any other with Christie using his sharp jab to pick off Kaylor and fast movement to keep Kaylor at long range. About 30 seconds in Kaylor exploded into action with a one-two, left hook and Christie fell forward and looked to hold onto Kaylor who sidestepped away and let Christie descend to the canvas. Christie called on every sinew of his body to rise and got to his knees and dragged himself towards the ropes at the count of six. At the count of nine he reached the ropes but the count of ten was bellowed as Christie slumped to the canvas from his knees.
Kaylor jumped in joy from his win as Christie solemnly sat in his corner getting a drink of water. The two fighters headed towards each other and embraced, erasing all that memory of bad blood between them as Christie sportingly took Kaylor’s hand and raised it skywards as the whole arena applauded both boxers' courage, fitness and sportsmanship.
Despite being an eliminator, neither man ever got another British title shot. Kaylor had limited success after the bout with two wins before taking on the European Champion at middleweight, Herol Graham and being stopped in eight rounds. Kaylor then moved up to light-heavyweight and campaigned fairly well getting two further European title shots and winning an eliminator for the British title but again the title shot never materialised.
Christie on the other hand campaigned pretty unsuccessfully after this bout going 12-6-1 but never really recapturing that amazing form he showed he was capable of and went down as an underachiever.
This bout went down as one of the greatest bouts in British history for eight rounds these two warriors went punch for punch and showed superb skills and powers of recovery. But ultimately Kaylor had too much heart for Christie and wore him down.
And this was only an eliminator for the British title. Imagine if this fight had been for the title itself?
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