Ringside Report Looks Back at Scottish Boxer Mike Deveney

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Scotland’s Mike Deveney, 22-19-1, 4 KOs was a featherweight who won the British title professionally, having returned from the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He competed at the Olympics at super bantamweight before returning to the UK and starting his professional career at featherweight. When he turned to the professional ranks, he might have felt able to achieve more than he did, but there were demons lurking in himself which ultimately, serve as a cautionary tale for us all.

His debut came in 1991 at the Albany Hotel in Glasgow on the 18th of February when he scored a points win against an unbeaten opponent in John George. Future Welsh world champion, Barry Jones in Cardiff, and the wonderfully named Elvis Parsely in Wolverhampton, were two who, in his formative professional years, scored wins against him. It was perhaps a portent of what was to come as his final record, as a professional, hints at more obstacles than triumphs.

But, by January 1995, he was sufficiently well known that he got his shot at the British featherweight title. In a close contest against Wilson Docherty in the Albany Hotel again in Glasgow, on the 23rd of January 1995, he won a very close contest on points and became British champion – but not for long.

There were challenges outside of the ring for him to deal with as he switched promoters, ending up in a claim and counter claim set of circumstances, worthy of today’s four belt era. According to reports of the time, ostensibly in the Glasgow Herald, he challenged heavyweight promoter, Tommy Gilmour and the contract he signed and then wandered over to the rival stable run by Alex Morrison. It was a time when such skullduggery made national headlines!

At its heart was money. The switch, according to Deveney at the time, was because he thought he would make more money for himself in the new arrangement. Unfortunately, with contracts signed and sealed for either promoter, the expectation was that Deveney would defend his title three times, earning the Lonsdale Belt for himself outright but that was not to happen.

Years later and in an interview with the Daily Record, his ex-wife, spoke of how this was the beginning of some more serious trouble for the young fighter from Paisley. After this win, Annette, his ex-wife spoke to the newspaper about how it affected her husband, “He became terrified of losing to a younger boxer. When he wasn’t training, he was sulking or picking arguments.”

Deveney faced Jon Jo Irwin in his first defense on the 20th of September 1995 in Potters bar, London, when he lost on points. It was far from a surprise as he had previously lost a non-title 8 rounder against the Welshman, Dean Phillips – Deveney hit the canvas twice in his defeat.

Now without his title, Deveney had only two years left as a professional and it became clear, and is borne out by the statistics, that his career was taking the wrong path. In 1996, he was to face Brian Carr twice, both times for the Scottish Area title. He lost both in Glasgow on the 26th of April and on 6th of November 1996.

He continued to box until 1988 when his final professional fight saw him face David Burke on the 23rd of May in York Hall and the result was yet another points loss. But by now a man who had worn with pride his vest as a GB Olympian and had represented Scotland at the 1990 Commonwealth games was described by Annette, his former wife as a “brooding, ranting layabout.”

On Christmas Eve 2002, Deveney hit rock bottom with an arrest for drug dealing. And when he got out of jail the following year, he became someone who was obsessed with his former partner. It led to another conviction after he had punched through her home window.

The reason behind such behavior was plain to Annette as she told the Daily Record, “He started drinking and smoking – things he’d been so against. He’d rant about how now he was nothing, unable to see the point of life. I couldn’t believe it was the same man I’d married. He didn’t realise what mattered most until it was too late.”

And from then until now, there is no trace. Let us hope the demons have been dealt with and the man is what he needs to be for the children he shared with Annette and not delving further into the despair that such addiction brings.

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