Miles Templeton pays tribute to the heroes of Leeds, Tuohey and Mintus
LEEDS recently lost two of its strongholds from the 1970s with the departures of Dave Tuohey and Terry Mintus.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Leeds was a virtual wasteland when it became a host to professional boxing. Only one tournament is held each year, and it’s a charity show held every December organized by the Jewish Athletes’ Charity. Dave and Terry will therefore need to be on the road often to earn anything from the game. As a result, both choose managers who can help them do this. Dave was accompanied by Tommy Miller, who was based in Halifax, who had a lot of guys ready to work, and Terry was managed by Trevor Callighan, who at the time, was also responsible for Alan Richardson, Les Pearson. Bob Tuckett, Jimmy Pickard, Steve Butler, Malcolm Heath, Ian Pickersgill and Tom Collins, among many others.
The only regular boxing venue in the area is the Yorkshire Executive Club in Bradford, where the two hit each other on a couple of occasions, but with both being travelers in the truest sense of the word. hey, they’re usually boxing in all locations and down the country. The two men are quite different from Terry, a heavyweight boxer, and Dave, a smart featherweight. I remember Dave very well when I used to visit the Leeds Former Boxers Association many years ago, and it was Frank Johnson, from the association, who phoned me last week to tell me the sad news. Dave is a bit of a nimble person, even though I just knew him in his sixties when I got to know him. I never had the pleasure of meeting Terry, but I followed his career closely that day.
Mintus crossed swords with three British heavyweight champions in Bunny Johnson, Gordon Ferris and Neville Meade. It’s no surprise he’s been stopped by all three, but he’s beaten some good men over the course of his eight-year career, and so let’s focus on those. He defeated Ishaq Hussein in the second match.
I miss one BN in January 1977, announced that Hussein was aiming for the British Championship when he was 20 years old. This has never happened, but he is a talent. Terry also beat Liverpool’s Paul Kinsella in three rounds as Southend in 1976, to avenge a one-point defeat the previous year. In 1977, Terry beat Hendon’s Tony Moore, another good prospect at the same time, and he also beat Bjorn Rudi and Austin Oyoke the following year. After defeating George Scott in the Central Heavyweight event, Terry lost to Neil Malpass in the title competition, held at the Irish Center in Leeds, in 1981. He retired after winning 12. out of 31 competitions in 1983.
Dave is only a year older than Terry, but his professional career began many years before that, in 1967. The first reference I could find to him was in BN was in 1962, when he won the National Schools Championship at 6th 2lbs. Shortly after BN picture of a fifteen-year-old boy punching a bag, held in earnest by his mother Harriet, who is considered his coach and biggest fan. He won the NABCs in 1964 in 8th place, and when he turned pro three years later BN reported that his win over Nigerian Jimmy Addy, at the Royal Station Hotel in York, came after Dave had only signed professional applications that day at one o’clock. Ten hours later he had his first win. After another win, Dave took a two-year break, re-appearing in 1970 to win four more.
Dave beat Billy Waith by points in a six-round game in 1971 and also won against Yorkshire colleagues Joey Gilbert and Steve Enwright. During his 52-match career, he fought two British champions, Dave Needham and Alan Richardson. Like Mintus, he was stopped on both occasions, but he managed to outmaneuver prospects Mark Bliss, Billy Smart and Jimmy Flint. The two men are a link to their great city’s boxing past, and both will be sadly missed.
