Ringside Report Remembers Benny Lynch

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Indulge me a little as I take two loves and put them together.

The most obvious is the boxing world where thanks to yet another experience with my father he was a part time lover of all things boxing and became a full time (or at least a little close to it) fan.

The second one is my career in the arts where I have directed, written and now review. I also have a son pursuing his acting career so am constantly on hand to advise, guide and be ignored – much of a father’s role.

In the next few months both shall collide as the theatre in Scotland is about to produce an onstage biopic of a man who only lived till he was 33 years old but captured the heart of a nation. A few years ago, I wrote a wee piece on him for Ringside Report and how much he represents the country both in his career and in his lifestyle so dug some of it out here to remind me of the Lynch effect.

Benny Lynch, 88-14-7, 34 KO’s, was more than the working class hero that he is stereotyped as but less of a man that should be lionised than we should allow. He is a cautionary tale but a magical presence in the history of Scottish pugilism and any reflective night of glory for a Scottish boxer – Josh Taylor and Ricky Burns included – is not complete without a nod, a mention or a thank you to a man who became Scotland’s first boxing superstar and world champion.

First Lynch the boxer. He is ranked in the top 80 boxers of all time – number 63 – by BoxRec. He was a flyweight, born just before the beginning of the First World War in 1913, his life was cut off within one year of the end of the Second World War.

In 1986 he was elected to the Ring’s Hall of Fame before his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998. His career as a boxer included taking the Scottish flyweight title in Glasgow in 1934. Then in Manchester, he took the British, European AND world flyweight titles from Jackie Brown. Lynch dropped Brown no fewer than 15 times before the fight was stopped in the SECOND round!

In 1936, Lynch returned to England, this time to London, to take on Filipino Small Montano to decide who was the greatest wee man of them all. It was therefore a massively important win for Lynch on points. Whilst between the years 1932 and 1936 Lynch had lost 5 times the greatest disasters were not in a ring but first on a set of scales as Lynch lost his world flyweight title by failing to make weight against Jackie Jurich of the USA. Lynch stopped Jurich in the 12th round.

Lynch was now firmly in the end game of his career and his life; he was now in the firm grip of his alcoholism. In 1939 the British Boxing Board of Control piled on more disaster as he removed his licence due to him not passing their fitness test; he was 26 years of age.
7 years later he was dead of malnutrition and respiratory failure.

It is easy to see the drama and where the team bringing the story to the stage have got their inspiration. Combined with their perspiration this could be a classic tale, told very well as the people behind the show are pretty impressive in a Scottish context.
This is not designed to glorify his name and make him an untouchable hero but to be a poignant and entertaining look at his life, from his childhood in the Gorbals’ slums, to his boxing success and global stardom, and ultimately to his demise and untimely death in 1946. The show aims to tap into the extraordinary life of a Scottish icon; an ultimate rags to riches to rags story.

It’s not the first attempt to bring his life to a live stage though there never has been a highly successful film of his life. They have brought in the highly popular actor Stephen Purdon to play him, the massively successful David Hayman to play his coach and mentor whilst Holly Jack is the wife – no doubt long suffering – whilst a very important footballing man though principally an actor and creative, Simon Weir, takes the role of the sage to tell the tale that needs to be told. Directed by another great and now much more than “an emerging” director in David Hayman, JR., this promises to be more than the sum of its parts. I hope to combine my love of the sport with my reviewing hat to catch it – I shall let you know how I get on…

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