ON FEBRUARY 27, Joe Taylor of Leyland handed away simply two days wanting his 89th birthday. Only a few will bear in mind Joe at present, however he was the primary man to place Howard Winstone onto the seat of his pants in an expert ring.
Joe was a throwback to the old fashioned, and he turned professional in 1951 aged simply 16. Shortly afterwards, the Board raised the minimal age for an expert licence to 18 and this remained the case till 1975 when it was decreased to 17. Right this moment, it’s 18. Joe, subsequently, was one of many final 16-year-old professionals.
Coming from Leyland, in Lancashire, Joe was naturally drawn to the Public Corridor in Preston for many of his early contests. The promoter there was Fred Bamber, and Fred dominated the roost in that a part of Lancashire. In addition to Preston, Fred promoted usually on the King George’s Corridor in Blackburn and on the Empress Ballroom in Burnley. In 1950 Joe featured twice on skilled exhibits at Preston as a 15-year-old, boxing in three-round exhibition contests, with one and a half minute rounds.
As soon as Joe was sufficiently old to get his licence, Fred was eager to characteristic him in common contests, the primary of which came about in November 1951 towards fellow-debutant, Freddie Deaks of Hanley, who Joe outpointed over 4 rounds. Each lads got here in at underneath 7st 6lbs. The native newspaper described how Joe, although shorter and narrower, attacked all through, decking the Hanley lad for a rely of ‘seven’ within the second spherical. He was then matched with Cheny Barrington of Radford, a professional since 1943 and a veteran of 19 contests, 12 of which had been victories. Joe was a throwback, an actual one. He was nonetheless 16 and but he was glad to tackle a fully-grown man who had been round a bit. Barrington didn’t final lengthy as Joe sparked him in two rounds.
Two weeks later Joe did the identical to a different Nottingham man, George Homer, hammering him in simply three rounds. At this stage Bamber might have been forgiven in pondering that he had an actual prospect on his arms and BN confirmed this in a small entry entitled “KO king at 16”. The article acknowledged that Taylor, a grocer’s errand boy, was seconded by Harry Gent, a star performer from Chorley who boxed the nice Len Harvey in 1925, and that he was being introduced alongside fastidiously however was an ideal prospect.
Joe boxed usually all through Lancashire till 1953, successful 13 of his 16 contests earlier than stepping out of the sport for a few years. He got here again in 1955, boxing twice as a bantamweight, after which took one other couple of years out earlier than returning as a featherweight in 1957. After successful two extra contests at this weight, he then took one other couple of years out earlier than his September 1959 contest towards Winstone.
Howard Winstone was one of many best boxers to have come from these shores because the second world struggle. He received the 1958 ABA title at bantamweight after which received the Commonwealth Video games gold medal three months later. He turned professional in a blaze of glory, successful his first eight contests very simply earlier than being matched with Joe. As everyone knows, Howard received all the pieces, and the best evening of his profession got here in 1968 when he beat Mitsunori Seki to win the world featherweight title.
Winstone received his come-uppance towards Taylor when he was dropped within the first spherical by a crisp right-hander. Winstone then turned it on, dropping Taylor 5 occasions earlier than the referee intervened within the fourth. It was Taylor’s final contest. He stayed in Leyland, working as a motor mechanic and coaching boxers at his native fitness center in Worden Park. He was one of many final of his sort and will likely be drastically missed.
