Jack Doyle

Early years and start of boxing career Doyle was born into a working-class family in Queenstown in County Cork, Ireland in 1913. Doyle's father was a sailor in the British navy, but his career was cut short by an injury and he was forced to take work variously as a farm labourer, on local coal boats, and as a quay labourer. Doyle himself left school at 12 years of age and like his father, mostly found work on Cobh's docks.

In Doyle's youth, he came into possession of the book How to Box by Jack Dempsey, the great world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. Doyle would learn the techniques in the book to develop his own boxing skills, and Doyle is reputed to have knocked out a Donkey with a right-hand punch once during a practice session. Although Doyle and Allen were reported to have a genuine and passionate relationship, Doyle nevertheless continued to pursue and seduce other women continuously. Doyle and Allen would travel first to London, where Doyle performed a concert tour. Doyle and Allen were less well received in conservative Catholic Ireland; Doyle's marriage to an American divorcee was highly controversial and ultimately forced several scheduled gigs at the Theatre Royal to be cancelled. An undeterred Doyle and Allen returned to Hollywood, where Doyle reputedly caroused with the likes of Errol Flynn and Clark Gable, and otherwise lived the life of a socialite. A fourth fight was scheduled for 25 August 1935 in Madison Square Garden, New York City against Buddy Baer. The fight was somewhat of a grudge match: Previous to marrying Doyle, Allen had been the girlfriend of Baer's older brother Max Baer.

The fight itself was a disaster: Doyle lost in the very first round to Baer by technical knockout, This prompted the Dodge family to intervene; they reportedly paid Doyle $10,000 to leave the Dodge women while also threatened to have a hitman kill him if he broke the deal.

End of boxing career Doyle left for the UK and continued to box, only to once again become mired in controversy as he was disqualified during a bout against Alf Robinson after Doyle struck Robinson while he sat on the bottom rope. 16,000 attendees witnessed the 24-year-old Cole effectively end Doyle's (then a 29-year-old) fighting days when Cole floored Doyle in earlyNotetag|Sources differ how early; one source states 2 minutes 30 into the first round,

Professional wrestling

In the early 1950s, Doyle entered into the world of professional wrestling. In February 1951, Doyle and former boxing rival Eddie Philips had a professional wrestling "rematch" while on 8 June 1951, Doyle faced “Two Ton” Tony Galento in a professional wrestling match at Tolka Park, Dublin in front of 22,500 attendees. while on 10 August 1953 Doyle faced his friend Michael "Butty" Sugrue in a professional wrestling in Killorglin, County Kerry as part of entertainment for the "King Puck" fair.

Life in London For approximately the last 30 years of his life, Doyle lived in London with an Irish woman, Nancy Keogh. It is alleged that Doyle would be violent with Keogh on occasion. Keogh left Doyle approximately 16 or 15 months before his death, at which point Doyle became homeless. The last months of Doyle's life are described as Doyle wandering shoeless from pub to pub, doorway to doorway, his health deteriorating due to syphilis.

Shortly before his death, he was interviewed by a journalist who asked him if he had any regrets about not spending his money more wisely. "None at all," he said, "twas never a generous man went to hell." RTÉ again featured Jack Doyle in their series True Lives in a programme called Jack Doyle, a Legend Lost in September 2007. A book to accompany the programme called Jack Doyle: The Gorgeous Gael was released in late 2007.

The popular Irish song The Contender written by Jimmy MacCarthy around 1983 was a song about Jack Doyle, and has been performed by many musicians including Finbar Wright, Christy Moore, Tommy Fleming and Paul McGrath (footballer)

In the late 2010s Cork County Council had a number of debates over whether or not to build a statue honouring Doyle in his hometown of Cobh. Councillors against the move cited the allegations of domestic violence against Doyle, in particular against his second wife Movita Castaneda. Councillors in favour of the statue claimed that the allegations of domestic violence are "unsubstantiated".

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1935 McGlusky the Sea Rover McGlusky 1937 Navy Spy Lt. Don Carrington 1954 The Belles of St Trinian's Assistant trainer 1957 The Counterfeit Plan Racketeer (final film role)