Patrick ("Pat") Cowdell (born 18 August 1953 in

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

, Staffordshire) is a retired

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from Great Britain. He challenged twice for the WBC world featherweight title in 1981 and 1985.

Amateur career

Cowdell won the bronze medal in the

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from Ba ...

division (– 54 kg) at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada. In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalist

Gu Yong-Ju Ku Yong-jo (July 17, 1955 – March 2001) was a boxer from North Korea, who won the gold medal in the bantamweight (–54 kg) division at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the final, he defeated American boxer ...

from

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. Two years earlier Cowdell won the gold medal, at the

1974 Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The Games were off ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. He was a bronze medalist at the 1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships held in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland. He was also the 1973 ABA bantamweight champion, lightweight in 1975, and featherweight champion in 1976 and 1977.

1976 Olympic results

*Round of 64: bye *Round of 32: Defeated

Leszek Borkowski Leszek Borkowski (born 27 June 1952) is a Polish boxer. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1976 Summer Olympics. At the 1976 Summer Olympics, he lost to Patrick Cowdell Patrick ("Pat") Cowdell (born 18 August 1953 in Smet ...

(Poland) by decision, 5–0 *Round of 16: Defeated Alejandro Silva (Puerto Rico) by decision, 5–0 *Quarterfinal: Defeated

Reynaldo Fortaleza Reynaldo "Rey" Fortaleza (born December 26, 1957) is a former Olympic boxer who represented the Philippines in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In 1990, he immigrated to Canada where he became a community leader and media entrepreneur. Early life Bo ...

(Philippines) by decision, 4–1 *Semifinal: Lost to

(North Korea) by decision, 1–4 (was awarded bronze medal)

Professional career

Cowdell turned pro in 1977 and in 1981 took on WBC world featherweight champion

Salvador Sánchez Salvador "Sal" Sánchez Narváez (January 26, 1959 – August 12, 1982) was a Mexican professional boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México. Sanchez was the WBC and ''The Ring featherweight champion from 1980 to 19 ...

, losing a close and hard-fought split decision in which Cowdell was dropped in round 15. In 1985 Cowdell challenged

Azumah Nelson Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice ...

for the WBC featherweight title, but was caught cold by a bullet of a punch and knocked out in the first round. He fought on but retired in 1988 after being stopped by Welshman

Floyd Havard Floyd Havard (born 16 October 1965) is a Welsh former super featherweight boxer. He was twice British super featherweight champion, from 1988–1989 and 1994-1996. In 1994 he made an unsuccessful bid for the IBF super featherweight title agains ...

. He finished up with stats of 36–6–0 (18 KOs) that included spells as British, Commonwealth and European Champion.

Life After Boxing

Pat runs four professional dinner shows a year at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham's city centre. In February 2007, Cowdell returned to putting shows on at the Burlington after a three-year hiatus at the

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

– also in the centre of Birmingham. He also trains/trained a band of fighters that include Bedworth's former Midland Area super-middleweight champion Neil Tidman, Leamington Spa's Richard Mazurek, and Coventry foursome Dougie Walton, Sean McKervey, Joe McCluskey and John Ruddock. Cowdell's most famous pupil, Birmingham-based gypsy Jimmy Vincent, twice challenged for the British title before retiring in 2005.

References

databaseOlympics

*

External links