Joe Bygraves

Joe Bygraves (26 May 1931 – 16 January 2012) was a British heavyweight boxer. Bygraves turned professional in 1953, and after an impressive early career he successfully challenged Kitione Lave for the vacant Commonwealth Heavyweight belt in 1956. Bygraves defended the title on three occasions, knocking-out Henry Cooper and holding Dick Richardson to a draw before losing the championship to Joe Erskine. Bygraves immigrated to Britain as a youth but did not take British citizenship until the end of his fighting career in 1967.

Boxing career Bygraves was born into a large family of 11 siblings, in Kingston, Jamaica in 1931. He immigrated to Britain at the age of 15 and settled in Liverpool. He began his amateur career at the age of 17 first as a light heavyweight and then moving up to the heavyweight division. his first paid encounter was against Don Maxwell on 12 February. The fight lasted just 65 seconds, Bygraves winning by knockout. Bygraves won the next five fights, six and eight round encounters, mainly on points decisions, but he was stopped for the first time in his professional career by Joe Crickmar in a novice heavyweight competition. Despite the loss Bygraves' career continued to impress and by the end of 1954 he had accumulated 24 wins to only 4 losses. His final fight of 1954 was a loss by points decision to Polly Smith, a fighter he had beaten just two months prior.

Bygraves began 1955 in the same way he ended 1954, with a loss. After several months away from the ring, Bygraves returned to face rising British fighter Henry Cooper. The eight round scheduled fight went the distance, with Cooper given the decision. Bygraves followed this with a string of four wins, including a victory over Tongan Kitione Lave, and his first fight outside the United Kingdom, a technical knockout of Hugo Salfeld in Germany. Bygraves then travelled to Italy, for a string of three fights. He lost the first to European Boxing Champion Franco Cavicchi when he was disqualified in the eighth round, but then took two victories when he beat Aldo Pellegrini in Milan and Uber Bacilieri in Bologna.

On 24 February 1956, Bygraves travelled to Sweden to face the then unbeaten Ingemar Johansson. The eight round contest ended in a points decision for Johansson. Two months later, Bygraves was back in a British ring, facing ex-British heavyweight champion Jack Gardner, whom he stopped in the second round. A second successive win, this time against Marcel Limage in Cardiff, gave Bygraves a shot at the vacant Commonwealth Heavyweight title. Despite living in Britain for near ten years, Bygraves was not allowed to fight for the British titles as he was not born there. His opponent for the title fight was Kitione Lave, who he had beaten the previous year. Held at the Empire Pool in London on 26 June 1956, the match was scheduled for 15 rounds, the first time Bygraves had contested a fight of this length. The bout went the distance, with the judges declaring Bygraves the victor, and new Commonwealth champion.

Bygraves lost his next fight to American Wayne Bethea, and this was followed by a win over another ex-British Heavyweight champion, Johnny Williams. His first title defence was on 19 February 1957, against Henry Cooper. The fight is regarded as one of Bygraves best of his career, stopping Cooper via technical knockout in the ninth round. His third and final defence of his Commonwealth title again came from Wales, this time against Joe Erskine. As with the Richardson fight, the bout went the full fifteen rounds, but on this occasion the decision went to Erskine, stripping Bygraves of his title.

After the Erskine fight, Bygraves struggled for success, and in more and more fights he ended as the loser. He still faced some notable fighters included losses to Americans Willie Pastrano and Zora Folley, and another failed attempt at Ingemar Johansson. One of his last wins was over Olympic gold medalist Franco De Piccoli in 1963, and in 1965 he failed to beat Canadian heavyweight champion George Chuvalo at the Albert Hall in London. His last recorded professional bout was against Hector Eduardo Corletti on 20 March 1967.

Professional boxing record

Loss

PTS 10 20 Mar 1967

Loss

PTS 10 7 Dec 1965

Loss

PTS 10 6 Mar 1965

Win

KO 1 13 Feb 1965

Loss

DQ 6 28 Jan 1964

Loss

TKO 9 8 Nov 1963

Loss

PTS 10 13 Sep 1963

Loss

DQ 5 22 Aug 1963

Win

KO 5 7 Jun 1963

Loss

TKO 6 21 Apr 1963

Draw

PTS 10 8 Apr 1963

Loss

PTS 3 30 Nov 1962

Loss

UD 10 22 Sep 1962

Loss

TKO 7 9 Feb 1962

Win

KO 2 4 Dec 1961

Win

TKO 4 3 Nov 1961

Loss

PTS 10 27 Jun 1960

Loss

PTS 8 18 May 1960

Loss

UD 10 25 Aug 1959

Loss

PTS 10 19 Apr 1959

Win

TKO 7 2 Mar 1959

Loss

TKO 9 24 Nov 1958

Loss

PTS 10 21 Apr 1958

Win

TKO 3 10 Feb 1958

Loss

PTS 15 25 Nov 1957

Win

PTS 10 18 Sep 1957

Loss

DQ 6 15 Jun 1957

Draw

PTS 15 27 May 1957

Loss

PTS 10 7 Dec 1965

Win

KO 9 19 Feb 1957

Win

TKO 6 16 Nov 1956

Loss

TKO 5 24 Sep 1956

Win

PTS 15 26 Jun 1956

Win

RTD 8 7 May 1956

Win

TKO 2 24 Apr 1956

Loss

PTS 8 24 Feb 1956

Win

PTS 10 23 Jan 1956

Win

KO 1 17 Dec 1955

Loss

DQ 8 31 Oct 1955

Win

PTS 8 19 Sep 1955

Win

TKO 5 4 Sep 1955

Win

PTS 8 6 Jun 1955

Win

KO 4 5 May 1955

Loss

PTS 8 18 Apr 1955

Loss

PTS 8 4 Nov 1954

Win

PTS 8 25 Oct 1954

Win

PTS 8 12 Oct 1954

Win

PTS 8 2 Oct 1954

Win

KO 3 19 Aug 1954

Win

PTS 8 2 Jul 1954

Win

PTS 8 30 Apr 1954

Win

PTS 8 14 Apr 1954

Win

TKO 3 30 Mar 1954

Win

PTS 8 18 Mar 1954

Win

KO 1 12 Mar 1954

Loss

PTS 8 23 Feb 1954

Win

PTS 8 11 Feb 1954

Win

PTS 8 18 Dec 1953

Win

TKO 7 10 Nov 1953

Win

KO 2 29 Oct 1953

Win

TKO 3 20 Oct 1953

Win

DQ 3 8 Oct 1953

Loss

PTS 6 17 Sep 1953

Win

PTS 6 3 Sep 1953

Win

TKO 1 13 Aug 1953

Loss

TKO 5 16 Jul 1953

Loss

KO 2 9 Jun 1953

Win

TKO 1 14 May 1953

Win

PTS 8 23 Apr 1953

Win

PTS 6 9 Apr 1953

Win

PTS 6 26 Mar 1953

Win

PTS 6 12 Mar 1953

Win

KO 1 12 Feb 1953