Who is the Dartford Destroyer? by Russ Middleton Jan 28th 2008

Dartford. Pizzas and pound shops. No cultural hotbed this, I should know, it is my hometown, born and raised. Of course, to offset the mediocrity we have a certain Jagger and Richards to crow about, though maddeningly, crow we do not, not like Liverpudlians crow about The Beatles (or even Gerry and the sodding Pacemakers). The odd better than average cricketer has flown our ever dwindling green bits into an all too fleeting limelight. And now… I'm struggling. But all is far, far from lost. I give you my personal favourite son, The Dartford Destroyer, Dave Charnley. Though standing at just a humble 5ft 6in his diminutive stature belied the character seen from this lightweight in the ring. Dave was a ferocious and ultimately unlucky fighter. Though a southpaw, there was none of the awkwardness sometimes associated with the right foot forward brigade, he was well-organized, attacked relentlessly, and could be a murderous finisher. It has been contended that Charnley possessed a coldness, a hostile stare, that something lurked deep behind those matinee idol looks. Not only could there be a cold professionalism to his finishing he could seem aloof and enigmatic on the quieter side of the ropes too. In 1958 in his thirty-second fight, the twenty-two year old Charnley, by now British champion, fought the popular Peter Waterman who had lost just two of his forty-four fights. Charnley dispatched a troublesome Waterman in five. Waterman had never been stopped, this was to be his last fight.  He was twenty-three. As the champ bathed post-fight, an admirer hazarded a ““Good fight, Dave,” only to receive a murmured and derisory “There's no such thing as a good fight." The late fighter, trainer, matchmaker, jack of all trades, master of most Ernie Fossey, never a man to mix his words, had Charnley down as the greatest British fighter (not lightweight but pound for pound) since the war. Who am I to argue? Others suggest only the heroic Ken Buchanan tops him as the greatest British lightweight of all time. The thing is, the big, glaring drawback when shouting Charnley's cause is that he never won a world title, he came close though, he came very, very close. Nothing in Britain or Europe could stop Charnley. Having already won a Commonwealth bronze medal at featherweight in 1954 in Vancouver, he was British Lightweight champion at twenty-one and never lost it. He went on to become Commonwealth champion from 1959-62 and European top dog from 1960-61. It was mainly left to those from different continents to upset him. Indeed, he lost the first fight with the very good South African Willie Toweel on points before leaving matters more certain in the rematch, knocking Toweel out in the tenth to claim the Commonwealth (Empire) crown. He did lose a points call to Algerian/Frenchman Guy Gracia and another distance reverse to the great Puerto Rican Carlos Ortiz on his way to earning a shot at the all-time great lightweight, American Joe ‘Old Bones' Brown. Charnley travelled to Texas in the winter of 1959 to face the adroit Brown; it was one of Charnley's worst performances, he failed to do himself justice before an appalling cut above his right eye forced matters to a close at the end of the fifth. Charnley was not going to let this defeat trouble him for long however, knocking out Mario Vecchiatto to claim the European crown just three months later. It was a year on at Earls Court that Charnley almost had his day. Brown was summoned to the capital and the British public were determined that Charnley would send him home empty-handed. Brown started well, displaying his sleek boxing skills, Charnley was in danger of being out-boxed until at around half-way, he stepped it up. He launched one violent assault after another landing vicious shots to the head and body. Right to the final bell the Dartford man hammered away while walking through all that the skilful but tiring Brown could throw. The British press, almost to a man, along with the fervent audience had the Kent mauler down as the victor, surely he had done enough. Charnley and his corner certainly thought so. It was not to be. The Dartford Destroyer had narrowly lost The Ring Magazine's 1961 Fight of the Year (to their fighter of the year). Dave contested this defeat into old age, as did most of the UK fight trade that witnessed it. "No such thing as a good fight"? Revenge was served lukewarm a couple of years later in Manchester, Brown came over to complete the trilogy in a non-title affair (he'd lost his strap to the great Ortiz). Charnley knocked him out toward the end of the sixth. Dave fought five more bouts, culminating in a shot at the legendary Emile Griffith at welterweight. He was stopped in nine, only his second early night reverse in forty-eight fights; he could not replicate at welter the fierce force of nature that he had been at lightweight and called a halt at the age of thirty. Charnley had possessed as they say, the lot: good looks, great chin, power, stamina, bravery, popularity but it just so happened he had a very top drawer nemesis in an era where one really did have to beat-the-man-who-beat-the-man to claim number one status. There was no other way, no three or four (or is it five or six?) ‘champions' to choose from, the principle of choosing your champ would have seen Charnley as some sort of world champion for about a decade. Plenty will disagree with Ernie Fossey. It would be a brave man to call Charnley top of the Brit pile but the best Brit never to be world champ? It's hard to think of a worthier recipient of that dubious honour. This ‘accolade' hardly does the man justice, he has been criminally neglected as a name receiving no where near the credit he deserves. After the ring Dave opened a string of hair salons and did very well, his various business interests have seen him enter old age a very wealthy man. Did he know as a young man, back on that night in '58 that there was more to life than the ring? Probably. Did it stop him straining every last cell against the very best to prove his worth? No, not ever. "No such thing as a good fight"? Sorry, Dave, there is not a person out there that saw you in battle agreeing..

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It's a choker Jan 29th 2008, 08:59:19 by rj Thanks Kev. Yep. It's a crying shame he lost that decision to Brown, if he hadn't, I really believe we would be mentioning him in the same breath as McGuigan, Benn, Buchanan et al. Cheers again. Russ   A real unsung hero Jan 28th 2008, 17:35:11 by webmaster Russ, another great article. Dave Charnley is certainly up there when it comes to All time greats of the British ring. So under-rated by many, but ask any who know their stuff and Charnley gets a mention Kev