There is a long tradition of top boxers becoming referees after retirement. Being third man in the ring isn’t a position to suit everyone, but former boxers, who have been there, especially at the championship level, have more than most to do. dedication when it comes to experience and competence in what is often a challenge. role.
Jack Hart, Johnny Summers and Jim Kenrick were all prime examples of this in the 1920s, and Jimmy Wilde was a capable and very popular referee a decade later. The tradition continued after the war when Tommy Little, Benny Caplan, Ike Powell and Eugene Henderson carried the flag. In 2019, I wrote an article about Wally Thom, who was a very good referee during the 1970s and British welterweight champion in the 1950s, and now I want to thank another person with me. times have followed this path, Mark Hart of Croydon.
Mark was part of a group of boxers from Croydon who made a real impact on the domestic scene in the early 1950s, the others being Pat Stribling, Ron Pudney and Albert Finch. All four compete against each other in the middle or light-heavyweight categories and they will no doubt fight each other often. Stribling is managed by Tom Fisher, a Croydon man whose stables are packed with local boys. Both Pudney and Finch were accompanied by Jack Burns, and Mark was managed by John Harding, the former manager of the National Sports Club.
A very good amateur, Mark won the ABA heavyweight title in 1944, and the following year he turned pro. After starting in the weight class, his trainer, Jack Hyams, decided that he would get a better middle class and slowly reduced his size. This makes him a formidable and powerful opponent in the new weight class. By 1947, he was the Southeast region champion and good enough to share the ring with both Dick and Randolph Turpin (with whom he drew six rounds), Albert Finch and Don Cockell.
By 1949, after switching weight classes again, he was the number one challenger for the British light-heavyweight belt, having previously won the same position in middleweight, and after winning 36 in In his number 47 contest, he fought Reg Spring of Southall for the championship belt. The title of light-heavyweight in the Southeast region.
This match took place at the Royal Albert Hall and Mark won by 12 points in the inning. After an uneventful start until 1950, when he won only two of his first four competitions, he overtook Dennis Powell in a British title elimination and this earned him the right to meet again Don Cockell, this time to win the British title. In a great match at the Harringay Arena, Mark was knocked down in the 14th round. When there was a printer strike at the time, BN It is a pity that did not bring a report of this contest. Mark had five more competitions, with three wins, before hanging up his gloves in 1953.
During most of the 1950s and 1960s, BN did not regularly provide the names of referees for the competitions it reported on. This is standard practice today and has been for over 50 years. It is therefore difficult to provide many details about Mark’s early refereeing career, but he certainly played a third-person role in the mid-1960s and he made regular appearances throughout the martial arts. Southern radio station during the 1970s.
He never achieved the title of ‘star’, but he was good enough to referee the 12-round match between Charlie Nash and Jimmy Revie at the World Sports Club in 1976. I also remember Mark sub. He was in charge of the Randy Neumann vs Billy Aird match in 1975, the nine-round match between Paddy Maguire and John Kellie the following year and Jimmy Batten vs Trevor Francis in 1977. He joined the referee in 1979 and later became the referee. a well-known member of the very active Croydon Association of Former Boxers, where he is still remembered. He passed away in 2004.
