BACK in 2019, I wrote about the glorious end of the career of Jack Bodell, the British heavyweight champion from 1969 to 1970, and again from 1971 to 1972. Sadly, Jack will will always be remembered for the last three competitions of his career, the very quick end of which fell at the hands of Jerry Quarry, Jose Urtain and Danny McAlinden. It’s time to fix this image we have of him.
Jack competed in 71 professional competitions, of which he won 58. He won the ABA light-heavyweight belt in 1961 against Johnny Evans of Hammersmith and six weeks later he won a silver medal at the European Championships. Europe, held that year in Belgrade. He had to withdraw from the semi-final with a frown as he had every chance to progress. Jack is also a coal miner, and he excelled in the Miners championship, which was then an integral part of the amateur season.
Bodell turned pro in 1962 and he won 36 of the first 42 contests with some stellar wins over the likes of Dave Ould, Ron Gray, Ron Redrup, Johnny Halafihi, Freddie Mack and Billy Daniels. His shortcomings were obvious from the start as he was prone to losses against heavyweights. Even so, he was considered good enough to take on the highest rated American, Thad Spencer, in a 1966 competition at Belle Vue, Manchester. Once again, he appeared narrowly, knocked down in two rounds.
He got his spirits up with six straight wins before Henry Cooper repeated the feat with a two-round win to win the British Championship at Molineaux, home of the Wolverhampton Wanderers, in 1967. Jack could was forgiven for being kicked out of the game at that point, as it looked like he had hit his limit.
The following year, however, he won five more sprints, with four wins in overtime, one of which was a nine-round win over Brian London in the British heavyweight belt elimination, and into Later that year, he was again the number one contender for the Cooper title.
Four more wins in 1969 helped him win the title with Rhyl’s Carl Gizzi. Both were vying for the vacant title, which was recently vacated by our ‘Enery’, and this time Jack put on a much better performance, beating the Welshman by more than fifteen rounds. In doing so, he became the first male tennis player to win the British heavyweight belt. Predictably, he lost to Cooper in the first defense. Again, Jack could have been forgiven for pulling out of the game, but he persevered with it, and in 1971 he was pitted against Joe Bugner, the new champion. Bugner, then the rising star of British boxing, beat Cooper in a controversial bout that I think he won fairly.
Few gave him a chance with the young champion, but Jack proved many of his doubts wrong. BN reports that “Bodell, disparaged for his clumsiness in the south, claimed Bugner’s British, European and Commonwealth titles with a determined fight. He took the lead right from the first round and accumulated a huge number of points. Bugner faces certain defeat unless he can stop Bodell, and this never seems possible. Edinburgh referee George Smith scored for Bodell after 14 innings. The crowd gradually came to love Bodell, who fought so hard, and they gave him a standing ovation when it was all over.”
Bodell has won the ABA title, a two-time British heavyweight champion, and has also won both European and Commonwealth titles. Jack died in 2016, at the age of 76, after a long battle with dementia. He’s accomplished more than many heavyweights before or since, and despite his obvious shortcomings, he doesn’t deserve to be remembered solely for his setbacks.
Admittedly he is not one of our better champions, but, as someone who never gives up, in or out of the ring, he has earned his place in the history. British boxing history.
