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Johnny Owen A True Tragedy in the Ring – But We Still Remember This Ring Warrior!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Tragedy is an often used expression in sport. Most of the times it is used to describe a loss or some form of non-catastrophic event that could be better described less dramatically.

Boxing differs.

When tragedy strikes it does so in a way that leaves many questioning their allegiance to the sport and how it can continue when the person they have supported has simply died?

For some sports people that comes at the end of a long career, as part of a tragic mental health journey or through contracting a terrible illness like cancer. Few other sports have the awful distinction of seeing and having deaths from the practice of their sport.
Boxing does.

In Scotland just over a year ago we had Mike Towell, 11-1-1, 8 KO’s, lose his life. We have George Groves, 27-3, 20 KO’s, going into the ring soon, having talked of the injuries he inflicted on Eduard Gutknecht, 30-5-1, 13 KO’s, and how they have changed him.
We have many such tragic tales.

Unfortunately, death does not always bring lasting memorials that allow us to eulogize of the fantastic achievements of the boxer as tragedy can strike at any time and often does early or midway through a career. We then forget them quickly as the sport moves on like a juggernaut.

One such boxer whose life was tragically cut short was Welshman Johnny Owen, 25-2-1, 11 KO’s.

The “Bionic Bantam” fought 28 times professionally and only recorded 2 losses. He was the British champion as well as European and the first ever Welsh Commonwealth champ at that weight in his time and when, on the September 19th of 1980, he fought for the world title against Lupe Pintor, 56-14-2, 42 KO’s, he lost after 12 hard rounds.

Following that loss, he went into a coma and spent the next 7 weeks deep within it until, on the November 4th of the same year, he died.

Owen was a working class boy from the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil. He fought in the amateurs a reported 126 times, winning over 100 times and this modest young man turned into a professional in 1976.

He looked stick thin and his distinctive look, topped off with fantastic looking ears, gave a presence that was gangly but also very stealthy and incredibly strong. He was someone whose environment – the steep hills up which he ran – gave him such strength and stamina that his appearance could fool anyone. His approach to training became part of his legend as he was reported to have run backwards at the end of runs to improve the strengths of his calves!

Six fights into that pro career he was champion of his country – Wales.

After just ten, he was the British champion.

In 1978, he added the Commonwealth title after lasting 15 rounds against the champion, Paul Ferreri, 78-13-5, 26 KO’s. Owen was the underdog, but his superior stamina held him in good stead going into the later rounds and Owen became the Commonwealth champ on points.

Owen was ready for a European title and went off to Spain to face the European champion, Juan Francisco Rodriguez, 20-9-4, 9 KO’s in Almeria. Owen lost for the first time in his professional career but dominated the fight.

It was his 18th professional fight and with allegations swarming around the fight that Rodriguez was overweight, that his camp had tried to disrupt Owen and their fighter had employed as many dirty tricks as could be fitted into a dirty tricks book, including allegedly smearing something on Rodriguez’s glove to obscure Owen’s vision it was never going to end with Owen as European champion. They even withheld his purse!

Rodriguez, 12 months later, came over to Wales and lost to Owen, in a far fairer fight.

It meant Owen was a world title challenger and Las Vegas beckoned.

He went in the ring against Mexican Lupe Pintor for the WBC belt. Owen was once again the underdog. He looked frail in comparison to the Mexican champ but once again proved how dogged and determined he was.

By the 8th round, most people had Owen ahead, then in the 9th he hit the canvas. Pintor grew and started to take the fight to Owen. In the 12th Owen was down again and the fight was off. Owen had lost. He stayed on that canvas for a full five minutes. He was out cold before he hit the floor and he fractured his skull.

Owen had a thin skull but a thick jaw. Most boxers would have absorbed Pintor’s punch but Owen found his jaw being driven into his skull.

He was then taken out.

The crowd were a disgrace. They had already booed and added to the hostile atmosphere and as Owen was carried out they threw cups of urine at the ring. Many stole from the people who were trying to get Owen into an ambulance by picking their pockets.

His tragedy ended with compulsory brain scans. The promoter had insurance and paid out less than $100,000 in medical costs; they paid nothing for his death.

Owen never regained consciousness.

There were several surgeries, but there was no success.

On November 4, 1980 at the young age of just 24, Johnny Owen lost his life.

In 2002, in his home town of Merthyr Tydfil, a statue was unveiled of Merthyr’s Matchstick. The man who unveiled the statue? Lupe Pintor.

Owen’s father had gone to Mexico and met with Pintor. Pintor took him to a boxing match and many spoke warmly of Owen and apologized for their behavior at the fight.

Sometimes the boxing family knows no blame; after all tragedy brings us back to reality and Owen was the true and real epitome of a gentleman boxer who was legendary and should never be forgotten, not for the end but for the journey up to it.

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