Boxer of the Past - Del Bryan - Pure Quality by Paul Concannon Mar 9th 2005

A glance at the overall 32-19-1 career stats of former two-time British Welterweight champion, Del Bryan provides no starker proof of the old adage, “There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics.” The mighty 0 is currently the premium currency in the upper echelons of the UK fight scene, but Del Bryan was proof positive that a quality loss can be worth ten meaningless wins. Bryan, a tricky southpaw with good skills could box and brawl, and despite a low stoppage ratio, he was capable of the occasional stunning knockout too. The Nottingham born Bryan turned pro in April of 1986 under the expert guidance of Birmingham boxing legend and former British and Commonwealth champion, Wally Swift Sr. Coming from an unglamorous Midlands stable, there would have been little to gain in padding Bryan's record, and sure enough, after a debut points win over Wilbert Haliday, Bryan gained his first loss, on points over six rounds, in just his second pro bout to undefeated Gary Sommerville. A TKO win over Trevor Hopson followed just two weeks later, before the Somerville jinx struck again with an another points defeat for Del, this time over eight rounds. A little over two months after turning pro, Bryan was just 2-2 and a win over Gary Cass in September of that same year would be see a welcome W to keep his numbers out of the negative. Bryan would prove his character a little over one month later with a third crack at his apparent bogeyman, Sommerville, who by now was 9-0-1. In a hard fought encounter in Birmingham, Bryan upset the odds and finally got the win over his local rival with an eight round point's victory. Another victory followed shortly afterwards, before Bryan's brave management team threw him in with 17-0 prospect, George Collins. Bryan put up an excellent display, despite hitting the deck three times, he cut the Yately banger, and seemed on the verge of shock stoppage win, until a furious barrage saw Collins come way with a fourth round TKO. As he would do so many times in his career, Bryan bounced back; two victories quickly followed, including the notable scalp of former quality amateur, Darren Dyer. Bryan would prove too tricky and experienced for the novice banger. Two fights later, and Del was back in the crucible, this time with fearsome 4-0 prospect Tommy Sheils from Ireland. Sheils, a huge puncher and naturally bigger man, crunched Bryan in two rounds for his second stoppage loss. There would be no question of a little light relief for a man now known more as a fearless trialhorse, than a prospect. After recording a decision victory over 12-2-0 Peter Ashcroft in Hull, Bryan was matched once again with old rival Gary Sommerville in October of 1997. With the Midlands Area welterweight title on the line, Bryan, edged ahead in the series with a stoppage win in the seventh and totally erasing those earlier blips to the Birmingham prospect. Next up for Bryan was a yet another seemingly cruel piece of match-making against another power-punching prospect, Mickey Hughes in December of 1997. Hughes, 11-1, was the possessor of a lethal left hook. Proving that skills can be the perfect antidote to power, Bryan boxed to victory over the exciting slugger. Using his height and reaches advantages and the experience gained in those crushing losses to Sheils and Collins, Bryan came away with an eight round points win. Just 13 days after the Hughes upset, Bryan was matched in scheduled eight-rounder with British Light-Welterweight champion, Lloyd Christie. Despite a 24-16-1 record, Christie had been in with some of the best in Europe, and was famed for a dangerous right hand; he was also fresh of a stunning KO victory of Croydon's undefeated Chris Blake. Bryan would make it a December double, out-foxing Christie for another decision victory in a non-title bout. There would be no respite in the tough match-making stakes. Del would travel to Glasgow next time out to take on quality 17-1 Glasgow Southpaw Gary Jacobs. In a nip and tuck affair, Jacobs, a future world title challenger, took a close verdict over 10 hard fought rounds. Averaging one bout every couple of months, Bryan kept a busy schedule over the next two years, often travelling to his opponent's back yard, and with few easy touches. There were some very notable victories in this period; Bryan beat Gary Sommerville for a third time to officially go ahead in their five-bout series, Manchester prospect Ossie Maddix was bested over eight rounds, future world champion, Javier Castillejo was beaten over the same distance in Spain (the same man who took Oscar De La Hoya the distance) and Damien Denny, a hot prospect out of Belfast was outfoxed over ten rounds in London. There were some noteworthy additions to the L column too. Cristo Espana, a future WBA title-holder at Welterweight, and another bone-breaking banger, beat Bryan on points, Joni Nyman bested him in Finland on a controversial decision and dangerous Phumzile Madikane climbed off the canvas to become the third man to stop Bryan in a war in Capetown, SA. Luckily, that defeat didn't affect his UK standing, and in the very next fight following the Madikane loss, Del finally got a British title fight. Fellow Nottingham stylist and one-time Roberto Duran conqueror, Kirkland Laing would be the man in the opposite corner. Kirkland, AKA ‘The Gifted One' was very much in the veteran stages of his career, by now 38-8-1, with several disappointing losses amongst many dazzling displays of ‘hit me if you can' brilliance. Nonetheless, he was a prohibitive favourite against Bryan, whose similarly chequered career had not had quite the same profile. The two warriors put on a quality display in Kensington, London in January of 1991. There was never much between them, but the better work ethic and desire of Bryan was enough to see him through by a deserved two round margin. It was a brilliant victory against a man who while erratic, had competed at the highest level for over a decade. A little more than five years after he turned pro, the ecstatic Bryan had finally arrived; few men had a tougher route to the Lonsdale belt. Any thoughts of an easy first defence were blown straight out of the water when an angry left hooker with revenge in mind cast a dark shadow over Bryan's celebrations. Some seven months after winning the title, (with a points victory over Antony Ivory sandwiched in-between) Bryan was re-matched with Londoner Mickey Hughes. Since the Bryan defeat, Hughes had flattened Gary Jacobs with a single left hook, and was seen by many as a dead-cert to avenge his early career blip. Sadly for Hughes, it would not be his night; an early head-clash caused a cut leading to a Bryan stoppage win in the third. Bryan was just about in control at the time, but we will never know if Hughes might have caught up with the Nottingham man. Despite an unsatisfactory ending, the fight went in to the record books as a TKO 3 for Bryan, and crucially, he was still champion. Next up was yet another rematch in defence of his title, this time with Gary Jacobs. Jacobs had suffered three defeats since their initial encounter. Those losses had been at a high level, ex-world champion, Buddy McGirt and quality Commonwealth title holder Donovan Boucher had both out-pointed him and then there was the shocker to Hughes in a bout Jacobs had been winning comfortably. Nonetheless, it was another tough fight for Bryan. Hampered further by surrendering home advantage to Jacobs yet again, Bryan lost his title in a razor-tight 12 rounder that could have gone either way. Following on from the Jacobs loss, Del was re-matched in a British title eliminator with old victim Darren Dyer just tree months later. The bout would be one of the year's best. Bounced off the canvas repeatedly by the improved Dyer, Bryan would rally time after time, trading with the much bigger puncher and stinging him on several occasions. Despite multiple knockdowns against him, Bryan roared out for the tenth round and hit Dyer with a volley before walking into a sledgehammer right hand that dropped him like a stone, forcing a stoppage. It had been a great fight, (it was later voted ‘Screensport Bout of the Year') but it seemed like the end for Bryan, who had absorbed terrific punishment. Oddly, it was Dyer who was never the same again; he retired a few short years later after a string of stoppage defeats. Undeterred, Del fought his way back into contention, his wins including a brutal KO of a Belfast-based Panamanian called Oscar Checha. In September of 1993, he got a second shot at the British title, this time against yet another feared banger, Pat Barrett of Manchester. Giving the erratic nature of Bryan's career and Barrett's pedigree as a former British and European champion at Light-Welter, Del was a major underdog yet again. Barrett was a puncher of note; the late Harry Mullan of Boxing News had described him as, ‘A puncher in the Julian Jackson class.' Once again, it was Bryan upsetting the odds; he outworked and out-boxed a strangely lethargic Barrett to make the Lonsdale belt his own property. In an electrifying first defence, Bryan sensationally knocked out former amateur standout Derek Grainger, a savage combination laying-out the 22-1-1 prospect in round seven. He followed that victory up with a good value points win over the useful Linden Scarlett in an all Midlands affair. If there was one criticism of Bryan, he didn't always travel well. A European title shot resulted in a 10th round stoppage loss to Jose Luis Navarrao in December of 1994. In his inimitable fashion, Bryan bounced back with a terrific win against Croydon's Gary Logan. In a superbly-paced and vastly underrated bout, Bryan recovered from a fourth round knockdown to force an eleventh round stoppage; it had been another quite magnificent fight. With the victory, Bryan made a second Lonsdale belt his own property; it would turn out to be his final win. He lost his title next time out to Barnsley's dangerous Chris Saunders, himself a journeyman made good. Del fought the wrong fight against an inform Southpaw, and found himself on the canvas four times in another all out war. The knockdowns were too much to peg back and Bryan lost out on a razor-tight and bitterly debated decision. The wear and tear of a tough career finally began to show. Del fought on until 1998, losing his final six bouts. His last five opponents had a combined record of 58-0, so Bryan went out of boxing as he came into it, taking on all comers. In a career spanning 13 years, Del Bryan ducked nobody. His record shows fights with three world champions, seven men who were either British, Commonwealth and European champions, in some cases all three, a slew of international fighters that were champions in there own countries, 15 bouts with undefeated fighters and several other contenders and top prospects. If one were to look back at the biggest one-punch hitters in UK boxing during the nineties, Barrett would be close to the top with Dyer, Hughes and Christie all likely making the list; Bryan beat all of them. Remember and honour the career of Del Bryan, a true British great, to borrow an old cliché, we may never see his like again.

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