Paul Sykes (23 May 1946 – 7 March 2007) was a British
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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...
and
weightlifter
Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...
. A substantial portion of Sykes' adulthood was spent inside prison, where he became notorious as one of the most difficult prisoners in the country.
In 1979, he engaged in a consequential match against
John L. Gardner, as he competed for the British and
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
heavyweight titles.
Early life
Born on Thursday, 23 May 1946 in
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
, Paul Sykes was the son of Walter Sykes and Betty Barlow. He spent his upbringing in Lupset Council Estate, where he embraced boxing at the age of 7 as a member of the Robin Hood and Thorpe Amateur Boxing Club. He began heavy drinking at a young age. At 16, he journeyed to Germany for a fight but found himself carried out of a bar the night before the bout, leading to a defeat.
His initial encounter with the criminal justice system occurred when he was just 17 years old.
During a prison term in 1971, he engaged in sparring sessions with
Roger Tighe.
While serving a five-year sentence at
HMP Walton, Sykes secured the opportunity to join the Maple Leaf Amateur Boxing Club in
Bootle
Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...
, which was overseen by a local magistrate. This arrangement allowed him to represent the North-Western Counties team in 1973 while on a temporary release, positioning him as a potential
ABA
ABA may refer to:
Aviation
* AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline
* IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia
Businesses and organizations Broadcasting
* Alabama Broadcasters Association, Uni ...
heavyweight champion. His journey was halted when he was defeated in the semi-final of the championships that year by eventual victor Garfield McEwan.
Following his release from incarceration in 1973, Sykes took on the role of a
lifeguard
A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and Cardiopulmonary ...
on
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
Beach.
[Gavell, Tim (2017)]
Book tells story of boxer jailed in Blackpool
, ''Blackpool Gazette'', 23 October 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2019
Boxing
Sykes experienced alcohol abuse and mental health issues and carried out both petty robberies and violent crime. During a brief period of rehabilitation, he fought ten bouts as a professional boxer between 1978 and 1980. On his release from prison in 1977, having unsuccessfully applied for a professional licence in 1973, he applied again, but 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. ...
(BBBofC) insisted that he wait six months before receiving a licence, probably due to his prison record.
He finally made his professional debut in February 1978, beating Keith Steve Johnson via first-round retirement. In his second fight, he challenged Neil Malpass for th
BBBofCCentral Area heavyweight title, losing via disqualification after he was judged to have deliberately head-butted Malpass in the seventh round. After wins over Tommy Kiely and Neville Meade, he again challenged Malpass for the Central Area title. In July 1978, the fight ended in a draw. In his sixth fight, Sykes knocked American David Wilson unconscious and continued to hit him as he draped over the ropes before the referee managed to pull him away. Wilson suffered a brain haemorrhage, was put on a life support machine, and needed a month in the hospital to recover.
[Roger Greenwood, 1990 documentary, "Paul Sykes: At Large": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXW21DIfrfo]
In June 1979, he challenged for
John L. Gardner's British and Commonwealth titles at Wembley.
Sykes prepared for the fight with three weeks of sparring with
Leon Spinks
Leon Spinks (July 11, 1953 – February 5, 2021) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1995. In only his eighth professional fight, he won the undisputed heavyweight championship in 1978 after defeating Muhammad Ali in a s ...
in
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
.
The fight was stopped when Sykes was overwhelmed. Gardner was seven years younger than Sykes (Gardner referred to Sykes after the fight as "an old man"
), and this was his thirty-first professional fight;
in contrast, Sykes had entered the fight after just eight professional bouts.
Sykes still holds the record for being the British Heavyweight title challenger with the fewest professional fights. After his release in 1978, he found himself in promotional photographs with
Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups.
King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the ...
and
Larry Holmes
Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He is often considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. ...
,
and also travelled to the United States to stand in as a sparring partner for
Leon Spinks
Leon Spinks (July 11, 1953 – February 5, 2021) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1995. In only his eighth professional fight, he won the undisputed heavyweight championship in 1978 after defeating Muhammad Ali in a s ...
. Sykes was a bodyguard to Alex Steene and sparred the future champion
David Pearce. Paul Sykes said; David "Bomber" Pearce was the toughest and most ferocious fighter he faced during his boxing career based on the sparring that took place at the Waterloo Boxing Gym. Sykes, became good friends with Pearce and the Pearce boxing brothers. Sykes' manager, Tommy Miller, later said, "Paul could have gone right to the top, quite easily .. he impressed everybody", but "he was always in trouble one way or another, he'd always loads of worry on his mind."
Sykes said of his ring career: "Boxing has been my salvation. It's the only sport which could have rescued me from my background."
His professional career ended in March 1980 when Nigerian heavyweight
Ngozika Ekwelum knocked him out in the first round of a fight in
Lagos
Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
.
It appeared that Sykes had been billed to fight
Lenny McLean
Leonard John McLean (9 April 1949 – 28 July 1998) was an English unlicensed boxer, bouncer, bodyguard, businessman and actor. He was known as "The Guv'nor", "the King of the Cobbles" and "the hardest man in Britain".
McLean's pugilist re ...
at London's Rainbow Theatre on 20 November 1979,
but this fight never happened. Lenny Mclean, in his autobiography, later explained: "A week before the off, Sykes went into a club in Wakefield where he lives, got well pissed and had a ruck with four doormen. He did them all but one of them got lucky and put a cut above his eye that took eight stitches to pull together".
Sykes was jailed for five years in 1981 for taking out a contract on a union official from Blackpool.
While in prison, he set records for lifting weights. He was the holder of the British amateur squat weightlifting record (deep knee bend, 500 lbs).
Professional results
Prison
Sykes was classified as one of the most difficult prisoners in the UK throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By 1990, he had spent 21 out of 26 years in 18 prisons
for many violent acts against prison officers and police officers. Sykes committed violent offences all over
Northern England
Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...
and was known to locals and the police in
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
,
Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft
* Submarine hull
Ma ...
, and
Rotherham
Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...
.
Paul Sykes is mentioned in the book ''Legends'' by
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in ...
, a guide to the men Bronson regarded as the toughest in Britain. Referring to him as 'Sykesy', Bronson describes him as "a legend, born and bred" and writes: "I first met Sykes in Liverpool in the early 70s and at that time he was probably the fittest con in Britain. A hard man from Yorkshire, a fighting man in every sense. A lot of people never liked him, perhaps they even feared him but I respected the man for what he stood for". Bronson then goes on to relate an incident said to have taken place in HMP Liverpool, when Sykes allegedly killed the prison's cat and fashioned it into a '
Davy Crockett
Colonel (United States), Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennesse ...
' hat.
While in prison, Sykes earned a BA degree in
Physical Sciences
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences".
Definition
...
from the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
and wrote a memoir, ''Sweet Agony'' (1988), which won the
Arthur Koestler Award for prison literature.
Later years
Following his release from
HM Prison Hull
HMP Hull is a Category B men's local prison located in Kingston upon Hull in England. The term 'local' means that this prison holds people on remand to the local courts. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
History
Hull Pr ...
in 1990, producer Roger Greenwood followed him in the course of filming the documentary ''Paul Sykes: At Large''. Greenwood described Sykes as "a fascinating character and incredibly intelligent".
A further documentary explored Sykes's brief post-release career as a debt collector, a business venture he dubbed the 'Last Resort Debt Collecting Agency... "threatenergrams" a speciality', and which was utilised by Wakefield businessman Dennis Flint, who sent Sykes to collect debts in Spain in addition to funding his autobiography, ''Sweet Agony''.
Sykes could not control his drinking. In 2000, Wakefield Council secured a two-year
ASBO banning him from the city centre after a string of aggressive drunken incidents, including shouting abuse and urinating in public.
He was arrested in August 2003 for violating the ban by making an appointment with an optician in Wakefield, but was released on his own recognisance.
Personal life
Paul Sykes has two children; they are both serving life sentences for murder. Paul Leighton Sykes is serving a life sentence for stabbing Michael Gallagher to death in a sudden knife attack in Lupset, Wakefield, in June 2004. In 2008, 25-year-old Michael Sharp was given a minimum 27-year sentence at
Leeds Crown Court
Leeds Combined Court Centre is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, and a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in Oxford Row, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is adjacent to Leeds Magistrates Courts.
History
Un ...
for murdering 38-year-old David Ward, a former police officer, following a botched armed robbery at his home on Denby Dale Road in Wakefield.
Death
Sykes passed away on 7 March 2007 at
Pinderfields Hospital
Pinderfields Hospital is an acute District General Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire operated by the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust.
History
The original acute hospital in Wakefield was established as part of the Stanley Royd Hospital and ...
,
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
. His cause of death was noted as pneumonia and liver cirrhosis.
His death certificate states his occupation as 'author (retired)', and the funeral service was held at Wakefield Baptist Church, which he regularly attended. He is buried in the Alverthorpe cemetery in Wakefield.
Media
Books
Sykes released an autobiography ''Sweet Agony'' in 1988 which won an
Koestler Award the same year. Writer Jamie Boyle has written three books about Sykes, which have been published in 2017 and 2020.
*Boyle, Jamie (2017) ''Sykes: Unfinished Agony'', Warcry Press,
*Boyle, Jamie (2017) ''Further Agony: One More Round with Sykes'', Warcry Press,
*Brenton, Rob (2018) 'It's...Sharks: Paul Sykes & The Straits of Johor'', Warcry Press,
*Boyle, Jamie (2020) ''Final Agony: The previously untold stories of Paul Sykes '' Warcry Press,
Film
The film rights to Sykes' book were acquired in 2017 by Western Edge Pictures, and as of 2019 the film is still in development.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Paul
Alumni of the Open University
English male boxers
English criminals
Heavyweight boxers
Sportspeople from Wakefield
British sportspeople convicted of crimes
1946 births
2007 deaths
Criminals from Yorkshire
20th-century English sportsmen