Alex Laurell Buxton (10 May 1926 – May 2004) was an English boxer who was British light-heavyweight champion between 1954 and 1955.

Career

Born in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, Alex Buxton's father Claude was from Antigua and his mother Edith from

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It has a population of over 25,000 inhabitants. Bushey Heath is a large neighbourhood south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow ...

.An Interview with Allan Buxton
, Watford Junction. Retrieved 25 October 2014 His three brothers were also boxers. Buxton served in the Royal Marines during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and made his professional debut in December 1941 at the Watford Town Hall. He had mixed results in 1942 and 1943, ending with three straight defeats. In 1945 he travelled to Australia, where he won six straight fights at the Sydney Stadium. His first defeat in Australia came against

Dave Sands Dave Sands (born David Ritchie; 4 February 1926 – 11 August 1952) was an Indigenous Australian boxer. The man the Americans called the "boxer with the educated left hand" received his due when he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of ...

in January 1946, losing a 12-round points decision. Two months later he knocked out Ritchie Sands in the first round and in May 1946 lost to Jack Johnson. Back in England he was undefeated in six fights between August and November 1946. He had a second stint in Australia in 1947 and 1948 which included victories over Ritchie Sands, Johnson, and the Alabama Kid (twice). Back in the UK he won eleven straight fights before losing to former British middleweight champion Vince Hawkins in May 1949. Another run of sixteen straight wins, including victory over South African middleweight champion George Angelo, led to a challenge for the vacant Southern Area middleweight title in February 1951, which he lost to Ron Pudney. Another winning streak was only interrupted by a loss to former world champion

Randolph Turpin Randolph Adolphus Turpin (7 June 1928 – 17 May 1966), better known as Randy Turpin, was a British boxer in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1951 he became world middleweight champion when he defeated Sugar Ray Robinson. He was inducted into the Intern ...

in February 1952. In September 1952 he beat

Bruce Crawford Robert Hardie Bruce Crawford (born 16 February 1955) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy from 2011 to 2012, having held the junior ministerial positi ...

in a final eliminator for the right to challenge for Turpin's British middleweight title, but he moved up to light-heavyweight and in October 1953 beat

Dennis Powell Dennis Clay Powell (born August 13, 1963), is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, and Milwaukee Brewers, in all or parts of eight seasons (–). Pow ...

to take the title. He beat Italian middleweight champion Bruno Tripodi in September 1954, and successfully defended his British title against Albert Finch in November 1954, before losing the title to Turpin in April 1955, a fight in which the Commonwealth title was also at stake.Myler, Patrick (1997) ''A Century of Boxing Greats'', Robson Books Ltd., , p. 351 In November 1956 he fought Turpin again for the British light-heavyweight title; Turpin won by a fifth round knockout, having had Buxton down five times. Buxton's career declined after 1956. Although he fought (and lost) an eliminator for the British middleweight title in 1958, he won only two fights from his last 22 between 1957 and 1963.

References

External links

Career record
at boxrec.com
Sports News - Buxton KO's Finch
British Pathé (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton, Alex 1926 births 2004 deaths Light-heavyweight boxers Middleweight boxers People from Watford Royal Marines personnel of World War II English male boxers

Career

See also

References

External links