A Boxing Memory: Dave 'Boy' Green
"He was the hardest puncher I met. Even my father thought I was dead." Dave 'Boy' Green told Boxing News in remembrance of his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980, in what would prove to be his last attempt at becoming a world champion.
That fight in Maryland for the WBC world welterweight title ended in chilling fashion. Green was knocked unconscious by a blistering devastating combination from a fighter who was well on his way to becoming the best fighter of his generation. Green told Melanie Lloyd that he wouldn't have beaten Leonard even if he had trained for fifty years.
Leonard, of course, was a once-in-a-generation fighter. A phenomenal talent who, at his peak, was virtually untouchable. The two fighters would later become friends. Green and Leonard shared a moment that turned into something more.
But the career of Dave 'Boy' Green was far more than that moment. In a seven-year professional career, Green fought for a world title on two occasions. Despite losing to Leonard and Carlos Palomino in failed attempts at the highest level, Green was a two-weight European Champion, holding the super-lightweight and welterweight with a British super-lightweight title also on his resume. But his win over the former world champion John H Stracey in 1977 was perhaps his finest hour. Green stopped Stracey in ten storming back-and-forth rounds at the Wembley Arena. Stracey never fought again, while the hard-earned win would earn Green that fight with Palomino three months later for the WBC world welterweight title.
Born in 1953 in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire Green took up boxing in 1967 and had over a hundred amateur fights before turning professional in 1974 with a second-round stoppage over Yotham Kunda in Nottingham. Green went twenty-four fights unbeaten before his unsuccessful challenge at world honours against Palomino in 1977. The year before the defeat to Palomino, Green won the British super-lightweight title courtesy of a 6th-round stoppage over Joey Singleton at the Royal Albert Hall. A win in nine rounds over Jean-Baptiste Piedvache earned Green the European title, and his maiden attempt at a world followed his career-best win over Stracey.
Palomino was heavily favoured to beat Green, but the unfancied British challenger gave the brilliant Mexican all he could handle before the champion ended the brave challenge of Green in the 11th round when the fight was very much in the balance.
Green didn't lose again for two years until a surprise defeat to Joergen Hansen in three rounds, which cost Green his European welterweight title. Green recovered with two comeback wins before the one-sided defeat to Leonard in 1980. There were four low-key victories before a shocking 5th round stoppage at the hands of the unheralded import, Reggie Ford, in 1981, and that was the end for Green.
Dave 'Boy' Green left the sport with a record of 37-4. A come-forward aggressive fighter with the 'Fen Tiger' moniker attached, Green was an exceptionally exciting fighter to watch. He might be remembered by some for his loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, but those fights with Stracey and Palomino will not be forgotten by anyone who saw them.
Photo Credit: Action Images
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