Ringside Report Looks Back at Boxer Billy Hardy

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Billy Hardy 37-9-2, 17 KOs, was a hardy man from Sunderland, in the northeast of England, managing to come through the ranks, ending up with more than one world title shot and fighting with distinction at both bantamweight and featherweight. He managed to become British champion at both weights and European and Commonwealth champion at featherweight.

His boxing journey began early, not long after starting school, at Hylton Castle Boys Club. His rise to prominence started after he turned professional in Kent on the 21st of November 1983 when he beat Kevin Downer on points.

It was not an initially undefeated pathway he trod and within his first few years he recorded three defeats but got his career back on the right trajectory with as British title eliminator in 1985, on the 10th of October when he beat Keith Wallace by 7th round stoppage in Alfreton. Hardy had to get off the canvass to win. In 1987 on the 19th of February in St Helens he stopped Ray Gilbody in the 3rd round to become British champion.

He defended his title, successfully, against John Hyland, back in his hometown of Sunderland on the 17th of March 1988, managing to knock Hyland out in the 2nd round. He then defended once more, on Valentine’s Day, 1989 when he beat Ronnie Carroll on points, once more in Sunderland.

In between his last two British title defenses he launched a European title challenge when he fought Vincenzo Belcastro of Italy on the 2nd of November of 1988, but lost narrowly by majority decision. His first European trip had not been a success. He rematched Belcastro on the28th of June, the following year recording yet another Majority decision which this time was a draw.
He returned to the UK to defend his British title once more when he managed to knock Brain Holmes out in the 1st round on the 10th of October 1989, back home in Sunderland.

But his record and his performances were being noted at bantam and it led to an opportunity, against Orlando Canizales for the IBF title. On the 24th of January 1990, in Sunderland, Hardy went in to try and win his first world title. But it was not to be and champion Canizales won a split decision in his very first fight outside of his home country – it was to be one of many as he toured the world in defense of the bantamweight belt.

It was a strange affair. Canizales arrived in the midst of a depressing time in the middle of a depressed neighborhood. A man, who is celebrated in his home country with a park named after him was not what the locals would have expected to come to Sunderland for a world title fight, but here he was. He managed, in his career, 16 consecutive world title defenses. Years later in an interview with the British boxing trade paper, Boxing News he reflected on that fight and his time in Sunderland.

“It was January when I went to Sunderland. It was cold. In fact, it was super-cold. There was a big difference. I’d never heard of Sunderland. I’d only heard of places like London, Glasgow, Birmingham. Never Sunderland. I think it was a purse bid and that’s how we ended up over there. I spoke to my manager; he told me about it and I accepted. To be honest, I would fight anybody, anywhere. It really didn’t matter to me. I travelled all over the world defending my title. To me, it was never a difficulty.” Ironically, Hardy was to fight in the leisure centre he also worked in as a pool attendant (indoor lifeguard). “One day I’m saving kids from drowning, the next I’m fighting for a world title in the same place,” Hardy himself told Boxing News.

“It was all a bit surreal.”

Though he fought hard and well, Hardy lost by split decision. It was close, very close as Canizales was to admit in that interview with Boxing News.

“I think I underestimated him. I thought it was going to be an easy fight for me. It turned out to be a very hard fight. It was one of my toughest ones. I really did think it would be easy for me. When we fought, I had a little bit of a cold. I wasn’t 100 per cent for the fight. Everybody was against me on the night. That’s understandable and expected but I went there to do my job and do what I had to do. It’s not like I went there to make friends or anything like that. I had to defend my title and come back home. That’s the bottom line. I fought all over the world. My experience taught me to block everything out and not to pay attention to other people or the crowd. My goal was to stay focused on the fight and do what I needed to do to win. Billy fought at his best that night. The crowd lifted him up and he fought above his level.”

After the fight, Hardy was to be given a promise which, though it was not to happen immediately, eventually occurred. Canizales’ trainer said, “Billy Hardy fought a great fight. We’ll fight him again. We’ll bring him over to our hometown and see how well he does.”

In the meantime, hardy won his next British bantamweight title defense in another rematch – against Ronnie Carroll – who he beat with an 8th round stoppage on the 29th of November 1990 in that very same leisure center he fought for the world title – Crowtree, in Sunderland.

For his rematch against Canizales Hardy had to travel to Texas and fight the champion in his hometown. Once again, Hardy did not travel well and was stopped in the 8th round. On the 4th of May 1991. For the fight, this Texan town of Loredo had erected a ring in the grounds of the Civic Center. Hardy wilted in the heat of the sun – it was 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the ring – and Canizales put on a unique spectacle. As he told Boxing News in his interview with them, “Never in the history of Laredo had we had a world title fight. There had been some local shows but no big title fights. My manager talked to the city council and the mayor and talked to them about having a world title there. Luckily, they accepted the idea. I was also going to be televised across the world. It was good publicity for the city. It was phenomenal. It’s a great feeling to have the whole city – especially your own people – back you and support you. It was very special. I feel very blessed that the people came out to support me in the way they did.” And so with the same support Hardy had had back in Sunderland and Canizales had been acutely aware of, he now had that self-same support which lifted him to new heights in defense of his world title.

It was time to move up in weight and so Hardy moved to featherweight and gave up his British bantamweight title. On the 7th of October 1992, he fought for and won the Commonwealth featherweight title when he stopped Ricky Rayner of Australia in Sunderland. He then retained his title by beating Barrington Francis of Canada on points, on the 19th of May 1993, again in Sunderland.

On the 24th of May 1994, once more in Sunderland, he put his Commonwealth crown on the table when he faced fellow Brit, Alan McKay for both his title and the British featherweight title and with an 8th round stoppage won both belts.

Further defenses of his Commonwealth belt were made when on the 15th of October 1994, he went to Sun City South Africa and beat local boy Stanford Ngcebeshe on points and then came back home to stop Ghanaian Percy Comney in the 11th round on the 21st of February 1995.

His path now included fighting for the European title at his new weight and on the 28th of October 1995, near Paris he faced Algerian Mehdi Labdouni and won on points to become European champion.

Successful defenses of his European titles followed as he beat Michael Alldis in Sunderland on the 14th of February 1996 and then on the 20th of June 1996, in San Remo, Italy, beat Stefanno Zoff, both victories on points.

Then came a domestic fight that showed how good Hardy was – he defended his European title in Sunderland, against former world champion Steve Robinson on the 1st of February 1997. Winning by a wide points margin, Hardy had been dominant. Robinson was coming off a loss to British boxing’s superstar, Prince Naseem Hamed.

Destiny seemed to be suggesting where Hardy was going next.

On the 3rd of May 1997, Billy Hardy went to Manchester, to face the biggest British boxing star of his era. On the line were the WBO and IBF titles. It was a huge fight, and many fans made the journey to follow their hero. Hardy lasted 93 seconds, came away with a broken nose and a broken cheekbone and no world titles. As it turned out, Hardy was hardly the only fighter to suffer like that at the fists of Prince Naseem Hamed.

But he dusted himself down and on the 27th of January 1998 kept his European crown when he rematched and beat Mehdi Labdouni on points in York Hall, London.

But the end was nigh and a few short months later, in September, in York, he was stopped in the 8th round against former IBF world title holder, Paul Ingle. Straight afterwards Hardy retired.
His association with his home city of Sunderland, as the most successful boxer that the city produced, continued and aside from having a leisure center named after him he was also involved in endorsing a play about the sport which came to the theater in the city called, Fire Engine. Sucker Punch, penned by Roy Willaims tells the story of two best friends, Leon and Troy, who have spent their teenage years growing up in a boxing gym. Hardy took part in a Question-and-Answer session prior to the show. Interviewed in the local paper about the show he said, “I think it’s great that boxing is taking center stage in a theatre production. They might seem like very different worlds, but there are similarities there in terms of performance, nerves, entertainment, confidence and bravery.”

And whilst there are memories, where Hardy was to reign supreme, the Crowtree Leisure Center was demolished in 2013. Both Hardy and Canizales have hometowns proud of them, willing to have their name given to parts of their civic infrastructure. Hardy’s career should never be seen through the prism of trying to get a world title, but through the prism of a man who did himself and his city, proud.

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