- Patrick Cowdell
Patrick ("Pat") Cowdell (born
August 18 ,1953 inSmethwick , West Midlands) is a retired boxer fromGreat Britain . Cowdell now lives in nearby Warley.Amateur career
Cowdell won the bronze medal in the
bantamweight division (– 54 kg) at the 1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal, Canada . In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalistGu Yong-Ju fromNorth Korea .Two years earlier Cowdell won the gold medal, at the
1974 Commonwealth Games inChristchurch, New Zealand . He was a bronze medalist at the1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships held inKatowice ,Poland . He was also the 1973ABA bantamweight champion, lightweight in 1975, and featherweight champion in 1976 and 1977.Olympic results
*1st round bye
*DefeatedLeszek Borkowski (Poland) 5-0
*DefeatedAlejandro Silva (Puerto Rico) 5-0
*DefeatedReynaldo Fortaleza (Philippines) 4-1
*Lost toGu Yong-Ju (North Korea) 1-4Professional career
Cowdell turned pro in 1977 and in 1981 took on WBC world featherweight champion
Salvador Sanchez , losing a close and hard-fought split decision in which Cowdell was dropped in round 15. In 1985 Cowdell challengedAzumah Nelson for the WBC featherweight title, but was caught cold by a bullet of a punch and knocked out in the first round. He fought on but retired in 1988 after being stopped by WelshmanFloyd Havard . He finished up with stats of 36-6-0 (18 KOs) that included spells as British, Commonwealth and European champion.Life After Boxing
Pat runs four professional dinner shows a year at the
Burlington Hotel in Birmingham's city centre. He recently (February 2007) returned to putting shows on at the Burlington after a three-year hiatus at the Holiday Inn - also in the centre of Birmingham.He also trains a band of fighters that include: Bedworth's former Midland Area super-middleweight champion Neil Tidman, Leamington Spa's Richard Mazurek and Coventry foursome Dougie Walton, Sean McKervey, Joe McCluskey and John Ruddock. Cowdell's most famous pupil, Birmingham gypsy Jimmy Vincent, twice challenged for the British title before retiring in 2005.
ee also
*
List of British featherweight boxing champions References
* [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=COWDEPAT01 databaseOlympics]
* [http://www.britishboxing.net/boxers_15024-Pat-Cowdell.html Cowdell's professional record]
*
* [http://www.britishboxing.net/news_1952-Cowdell-Sanchez-Twenty-Five-Years-On.html A reflective piece on the titanic world title struggle between Cowdell and Salvador Sanchez]External links
*boxrec|id=003046
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