Terence Joseph Gooding (15 April 1931 – 1 October 2018) was a British professional

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 ...

. After winning several amateur titles, he was selected to represent Great Britain in the men's middleweight event at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland. After winning his first bout, he was eliminated in the second round. He turned professional in 1954, enjoying a strong start to his career by winning his first 12 bouts and earning a Welsh light-heavyweight title bout against Ken Rowlands, which he lost. After a second defeat, he retired from professional boxing.

Career

Amateur

Gooding was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. He began boxing at the age of nine and enjoyed a successful youth career. He was chosen to represent Wales for the first time at the age of 17, winning his debut bout in Dublin. In the following year, he reached final of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association middleweight division and won the Welsh Senior Youth title. In 1952, having begun his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, Gooding won the army and inter-services championship and also won the Amateur Boxing Association 1952 middleweight title, when boxing for the Army. His form resulted in him being selected for the Great Britain boxing team to represent the nation at the

, Finland at the age of 21. One of only two Welsh fighters in the squad, along with Dai Dower, Gooding was the only member of the squad selected without a trial. At the Games, Golding was drawn against Egyptian fighter Moustafa Fahim in the first round, defeating his opponent via a judges decision. In the second round, Gooding fought Bulgarian Boris Nikolov but was eliminated after losing the fight by decision.

Professional

Gooding completed his National Service in 1953 and had no plans to continue his boxing career. However, he was convinced to turn professional by boxing manager Sam Burns and won his first professional fight in May 1954 against Mick Endley by decision. Including his victory over Endley, Gooding won his first 12 bouts in his first year as a professional. His record saw him ranked as the number four light-heavyweight in Britain and prompted a Welsh title bout against fellow Welshman Ken Rowlands. However, Rowlands won the fight by TKO after the referee stopped the fight in the sixth round. Gooding suffered a second defeat against Arthur Howard three months later and retired from boxing.

Personal life

Gooding met his wife Audrey during his boxing career; the pair married in September 1957 at St. Alan's Church in

Splott Splott () is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales, just east of the city centre. It was built up in the late 19th century on the land of two farms of the same name: Upper Splott and Lower Splott Farms. S ...

. The couple had two children together, Paul and Debbie. After retiring from Boxing, Gooding worked as a construction manager and started two companies, Sibex and TG Engineering International. He died in October 2018 at the age of 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gooding, Terry 1931 births 2018 deaths Welsh male boxers British male boxers Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Boxers from Cardiff England Boxing champions Middleweight boxers 20th-century British sportsmen 21st-century British sportsmen