Peter Buckley - 291 and out? by Daniel Mole Mar 12th 2008

Flicking through the newspapers this week, I came across a story regarding serial scrapper, Peter Buckley. It seems that, after 291 professional fights, the Birmingham boxer may have finally hung up his gloves. His trainer, Nobby Nobbs, has not heard from him in a while and so the curtain may have finally come down on Buckley's career. There are records in boxing and then there are records. Buckley's tale, although not as glamorous as other fighters, nor filled with much success, is one that should certainly not be forgotten. 291 fights, at any level, deserves recognition. Nine short of the 300 mark, Reggie Strickland (US) is the only active boxer with more fights. For the record Strickland finished his career with 363 bouts and 276 defeats. No current British boxer has fought more times than Buckley and, with 249 defeats on his record; no Briton has lost as many bouts. When he first set out on the road to becoming a boxer, it is not a record he would have aspired to achieve. However, boxers like Buckley deserve, at the very least, a pat on the back and a ‘thank you' from the boxing fraternity for their service to the sport. Digging through his records, his professional career started almost 20 years ago – October 1989 in fact. The light-welterweight drew with Alan Baldwin at the Colosseum in Stafford. A loss at the fists of Ronnie Stephenson followed before Buckley tasted victory not once, but six times, on the bounce. Buckley has held the Midlands Area title on a couple of occasions and, earlier on in his career, had unsuccessful attempts at lifting both the British Masters and WBA Penta-Continental Titles. His last fight was against Leonard Lothian at the Ramada Hotel, Leicester, in December 2007. Unsurprisingly, it ended in defeat. In fact, between October 2003 and that fight against Lothian, Buckley went over five years and 80 fights since last tasting victory. Painting a picture of Buckley as nothing but a journeyman boxer would be doing the 39 year-old a slight disservice. As well as those title forays, he has been in with the likes of Duke McKenzie, Colin McMillan, Scott Harrison and current light-welterweight WBA title-holder, Gavin Rees. He has fought 11 world champions and went the distance with Prince Naseem Hamed. He would take a fight at a moments notice and was always a willing competitor. In the annals of boxing history though, he will forever be remembered for his record of 31-249-11 (8). However, without the likes of Buckley, many a promoter would have struggled to fill their card, many an up-and-coming boxer would have missed out on valuable ring experience and many a fight fan would not have felt that special affinity to those who put everything on the line for nothing more than a small pay day and a love of their chosen sport. Peter Buckley - 291 fights and, by the looks of things, finally out.

Go back Comment on this article | Send to a friend | Print

Please login before posting comments.

There are no comments. Click here to be the first who comment on this article.