Kostas Petrou (born 17 April 1959) is a British former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

origin. Petrou was British Welterweight Champion in 1985.

Background

Petrou spent much of his childhood in

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

where he became a renowned

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

fighter learning his ring craft with Willaston ABC.

Professional boxing career

Petrou later moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

in 1981 with the Lynch brothers (Tommy and Paddy). After losing on his pro debut due to a cut eye, he raced to 15 successive victories. Petrou became Midlands Area Champion after outpointing

Lloyd Christie Wesley Lloyd Christie (born 28 February 1962), who fought as Lloyd Christie, is a British former Boxing, boxer who was British light welterweight champion between 1987 and 1989 and also fought for the European title. Career Born in London, the b ...

and British Welterweight Champion on 13 April 1985 after defeating Rocky Kelly by TKO at 1:09 of the ninth round in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. He also contested the Commonwealth (British Empire) Championship against Sylvester Mittee and was at one time the Number 1 contender for the European Title, although Petrou was in fact never afforded the opportunity of fighting for the European crown. Petrou's style was that of a

pressure fighter Throughout the history of gloved boxing styles, techniques and strategies have changed to varying degrees. Ring conditions, promoter demands, teaching techniques, and the influence of successful boxers are some of the reasons styles and strategies ...

who incessantly marched forward and eventually wore down his opponents, hence the label "The Greek Tank". He was a regular on

ITV's ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...

The Big Fight Live ''The Big Fight Live'' is a British boxing television programme, broadcast by ITV Sport regularly from 1984 to 1995 and again from 2005 to 2010. In 2017, over 30 years after it was first launched, ITV announced that 'The Big Fight Live' would retu ...

series hosted by Gary Newbon and was known as a crowd pleaser. The former

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and now

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

pundit Jim Watt often said that Petrou breaks the heart of his opponents with his never say die attitude. The war with Rocky Kelly for the famous Lonsdale belt is still remembered today as one of the great

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

fights of the 1980s. Daniel Herbert,

Managing Director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Boxing News, enthused that it was the best fight he had ever been to, with fortunes back and forth until Petrou proved too strong.

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

Columnist Clive Bernath stated that Petrou's war with Kelly will live with him forever. Earlier in his career, The Greek Tank fought the future undisputed World Champion

Lloyd Honeyghan Lloyd Honeyghan (born 22 April 1960) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1995. He reigned as the undisputed welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987, and held the WBC, '' The Ring'' magazine welterweight titles twic ...

, losing only on points. Petrou took the fight with only 24 hours notice. Petrou lost the British title on 18 September 1985, when he was outpointed by Sylvester Mittee for the

and Commonwealth titles, 116-119 for referee

Harry Gibbs Sir Harry Talbot Gibbs, (7 February 191725 June 2005) was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1981 to 1987 after serving as a member of the High Court between 1970 and 1981. He was known as one of Australia's leading federalist ...

. Petrou's last professional bout was an impressive TKO victory over future British champion and

World Title A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

challenger Ensley Bingham in 1988. Petrou retired at the end of 1988 when he was on the verge of fighting

Kirkland Laing Kirkland Laing (20 June 1954 – 9 June 2021) was a Jamaican-born, British welterweight boxer nicknamed ''The Gifted One''. Laing fought 56 times in a twenty-year career, the highlight of which was a shock split decision win over Roberto Dur� ...

for another British title, with a final record of 30 wins out of 37 fights (12 KOs). Petrou was stopped just once in his career, and that was only due to a cut eye in his first professional fight. Paddy Lynch, who has been in the sport for decades, and was Petrou's manager throughout his career, described Petrou as the third best boxer he ever had in his stable.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrou, Kostas Living people 1959 births English male boxers Welterweight boxers English people of Greek Cypriot descent