Gilbert Odd (1902 – 12 May 1996) was a British

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 ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

. Odd boxed briefly as an amateur, then at 18 turned his sights on the sports writing side of the game, becoming a ringside correspondent for the weekly magazine, ''Boxing''. Starting in 1941 and continuing for ten years after, he served as Editor in Chief of Boxing News, the successor to ''Boxing''. In 1944, he began assisting in the publication of ''The Boxers Annual'', which compiled the records of both professional and amateur boxers. In addition, he began the publication of a similar record book, the ''Boxing News Authors' and Record Book''. Throughout the process of compiling and publishing these records, Odd became known as the best boxing historian in England. Odd was a member of the

British Boxing Board of Control The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom. History The British Boxing Board of Control was formed in 1929 from the old National Sporting Club and is headquartered in Cardiff. ...

from 1961 to 1969 and became a founding member of the Boxing Writers' Club. He also is the only journalist to be made an honorary member of the National Sporting Club. Odd was enshrined in the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 1995. He retired to

Northiam Northiam is a village and civil parish in the Rother district, in East Sussex, England, 13 miles (21 km) north of Hastings in the valley of the River Rother. The A28 road to Canterbury and Hastings passes through it. Governance Northiam ...

, where he lived until his death in 1996.

Bibliography

Odd has written literally hundreds of articles on boxing for various publications. In addition, he has published over a dozen books, among them: *Ring Battles of the Century (1949) -- ASIN B0006DCTZA *Was the Referee Right? (1952) *Debatable Decisions (1953) *Great moments in sport: heavyweight boxing— *Boxing, the Great Champions (1974) -- *Great moments in sport: Boxing : cruisers to mighty atoms (1974) -- *Ali—The Fighting Prophet (1975) -- *The Fighting Blacksmith (1976) -- *Boxing, the Inside Story (1978) -- *Lee Harvey, Prince of Boxers (1978) -- *The Woman in the Corner (1978) -- *Kings of the ring : 100 years of world heavyweight boxing (1985) -- *The Encyclopedia of Boxing (1989) --

References

International Boxing Hall of Fame enshrinees: Gilbert Odd
*Roberts, James B. and Skutt, Alexander G. (2006). "Gilbert Odd." ''The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book'',4th ed, p. 739. {{DEFAULTSORT:Odd, Gilbert 1902 births 1996 deaths English sportswriters Boxing writers 20th-century English historians People from Northiam