Pat McCormack (28 April 1946 – 15 February 2012) was a

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 ...

who won the British

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title in 1974.

Career

Originally from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and the son of Irish champion boxer Spike McCormack, Pat McCormack lived in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

and made his professional debut in June 1968, stopping Winston Thomas in the sixth round at the

National Sporting Club The National Sporting Club was a club founded in London in 1891, which did more to establish the sport of boxing in Great Britain than any other organisation. Origins The club was founded on 5 March 1891 as a private club. Its premises were at ...

.McCloskey’s now ready to take on the very best
, ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

'', 20 December 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2015 He won his first ten fights before suffering his first defeat in June 1969 to Ricky Porter. In 1970 he beat Borge Krogh twice, and also beat

Enzo Petriglia Enzo Petriglia (born 23 September 1946) is a retired Italian lightweight boxer who won a bronze medal at the 1967 Mediterranean Games. Next year he competed at the Mexico Olympics, but was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual silver me ...

and Tommaso Marocco, but started 1971 with a loss to

Johnny Gant Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. He only won two fights that year, losing to the likes of

Stoffel Steyn Stoffel Steyn (born 14 August 1941) is a South African boxer. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Ro ...

and Joe Tetteh. In late 1972 and early 1973 he fought future European

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion Joergen Hansen, losing the first and third contests but winning the second. In September 1973 he lost to

Hector Thompson Hector Thompson ( – ) was an Australian professional boxer who competed in four different weight divisions—lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight—during the 1970s and 80s. He was married to Lynette Slee in 1 ...

, but won his next three fights, leading to a challenge for Des Morrison's British light welterweight title in March 1974. McCormack knocked Morrison out in the eleventh round to become British champion. McCormack made his first defence of the British title in November 1974 against Joey Singleton, losing a points decision. He travelled to the United States in March 1975, where he was stopped in the seventh round by Tony Petronelli. He followed this with two fights in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

— a points loss to Gert Craemar and a fourth round knockout of Gielie Buitendag. Back in England he beat Billy Waith and Kevin White, and in December got the chance to win the (then vacant) British welterweight title when he faced Pat Thomas; The fight went thirteen of the scheduled fifteen rounds before Thomas knocked McCormack out. This proved to be McCormack's final fight. McCormack returned to Dublin, where he ran the St Saviours Olympic Boxing Academy on Dorset Street with his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, who was also British champion at light heavyweight. Pat McCormack died on 15 February 2012, aged 65, in Dublin.Callan, Gerry (2012) "Irish Boxing pays tribute to champ Patrick McCormack", ''Daily Star'', 17 February 2012

References

External links

*
Career record
at boxinghistory.org.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:McCormack, Pat 1946 births 2012 deaths Boxers from London British male boxers Irish male boxers Light-welterweight boxers Boxers from County Dublin People from Brixton 20th-century Irish sportsmen