Ringside Report Looks Back at Boxer Courtney Fry

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Right now, Scotland is contemplating making a bid. Not for freedom as they did in 2014, but something very much associated with that year – a bid to host the Commonwealth Games for 2026. We are now only two years away and it is traditional for the run up to such a massive competition to give the host country and city plenty of time to prepare. They need to build venues, work out how to accommodate athletes from around the world and house them as well as work out how many staff and how many volunteers they should recruit to make the whole thing successful.

Scotland were not supposed to be hosting the Games. That privilege had been given to Victoria in Australia, but they decided they could not afford them and pulled their plug. And so, the 2026 Games are in jeopardy.

It’s not the first time that the Commonwealth Games have been a significant media story for Scotland. Edinburgh hosted them in the 1970’s leading to the building of the Commonwealth Swimming Pool, from which emerged a certain David Wilkie. In the 1980s they were in dire straits ready for the 1982 Games until the crooked millionaire Robert Maxwell swooped in to financially save them. In a low-key Games, the athletics stadium built for the 1970s Games hosted what was a fairly low key and run-down looking games; but they happened.

In 2014 Glasgow showed how to do it. We refocused our cultural spree and showed the world what we had to offer, including a “Glasgow Kiss” between two men which was a direct call to arms for LGBT acceptance within a Commonwealth where most countries outlaw gay relationships. It then went on to be the friendliest and best games ever. See what diversity can do for you…

And so, with Birmingham, England having been the host in 2022, Scotland decided to offer to save the Games with venues and hospitality which will not match 2014 in scale but will in openness and joy unconfined. It may look more like Edinburgh in the 80s but, if we get to host them, the Games will happen.

Just how important that can be to the cycle of amateur sport is never more vital than in boxing. Unlike in the Olympics, British amateur boxers fight for their home nations – Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England – meaning that they are open to more opportunity. It is also a time and a place where smaller nations can get their acts together to come and compete with possibilities of medals and pinnacles of careers and real-life competition is increased.

In Kuala Lumper, in 1988, English light heavyweight and cruiserweight boxer Courtney Fry, 19-8, 6 KOs, put on his English vest and came out on top at this Commonwealth Games with a light heavyweight gold medal. Two years later he was to represent Great Britain in Sydney at the Olympics but the top of his amateur time in the sport was that gold. He did manage to represent GB at the quarter finals in Sydney but that didn’t get him a medal.

Fry’s journey in the sport began when he was 15 and his father realized that the young Courtney need an outlet, something to distract him and his energy. The young man was a natural and grew quickly into the sport. As an amateur he became the best in his weight class in Great Britain for seven years. But Fry managed to medal in reverse… He got the gold in his first games, didn’t medal in his only Olympics and then, in his second Commonwealth Games – a home Games in Manchester, England, was beaten in the quarter finals.

But fry’s story – even before he made his professional debut was one filled with unusual details and some vagabond vagaries. He tells of a time in Liverpool when the Liverpool Festival of Boxing was in full swing and Ukrainian and Russians came to fight. The festival was a very notable part of the boxing calendar though it only ran between 1994 and 2001, Fry knew enough about it to want to make his mark. Fry never missed one and in 1999 he was preparing for and Olympics, in Atlanta, a World Championships in Budapest and the Worlds in Houston. Carl Froch lost in the semi-finals, Wladimir Klitschko won the gold and then went to Atlanta and won gold too. David Haye was there, Alexander Povetkin, Audley Harrison, and over 20 world champions made an appearance. It was an exceptional piece of boxing programming.

In 1999 it was an Olympic qualifier for many nations and Courtney Fry mad ethe light heavyweight final where he was due to meet an 18-year-old David Haye. But Fry withdrew. Fry was after other fish. But this event was a kick start for British boxing – it began at a time that we were poor internationally, and by the time it was finished, we had begun the recovery.

Fry continued to catch the eye and in the 2000 Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) finals, future EBU champion, Wayne Alexander watched the future – Carl Froch, David Haye and Fry. But Fry, one of only two British boxers to qualify for the Olympics was beginning to wane on the amateur circuit. The backwards cycle was begun., Sydney was a disappointment as he had injuries and other issues outside of the ring. Charles Adamu of Ghana beat him. Forever an Olympian, Fry came home without any shiny things around his neck.

Still ranked number one in Great Britain, Courtney continued to box but had lost some motivation and desire. He later signed on to the professional ranks, where he continued to achieve sporting triumphs.

His debut came in Wembley when he stopped Harry Butler in the third round on the 29th of March 2003. Six years later he went to the light heavyweight Prize fighter tournament in York Hall where he beat Shon Davies in the quarter final but lost on points in the semifinal to Tony Oakey.

Courtney had hung up his boxing gloves in 2011 but came out of retirement and got back into title contention. Before that retirement and afterwards he had a tilt at a couple of real British legends as he, on the 9th of October 2009, was stopped in the eighth round of a British and Commonwealth light heavyweight fight against Nathan Cleverley in York Hall, and on the 7th of December 2013 was stopped in the 7th round by Enzo Macaranelli in Liverpool.

In 2014, he had the opportunity and boxed Roy Jones Jnr., who many people considered as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world at the time. On the 26th of July 2014, in Riga for the WBU cruiserweight title Fry was retired after the fifth round.

His last fight was actually on the 1st of August 2015 when he lost on points to an unbeaten Tommy McCarthy. Enough really was enough.

Since then, Fry has worked in the community and in 2020, became a BRIT Ambassador. Given his own journey and the trails he has faced, this role, following time as a Youth Sports Trust Athlete Mentor would seem to suit him. BRIT is an organisation partnered with PAPYRUS – Prevention of Young Suicide, Nightline Association, Student Minds and the Charlie Waller Trust. It challenges students to become engaged and give time to raise funds for others. Giving back could not have much of a better ambassador.

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