![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/200px-George_Chaplin.412.jpg\")
<\/a>By Donald \u201cBraveheart\u201d Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n1976 was a very good year in the United Kingdom. It was a heat wave. We all thought summer was going to last all the way into 1977 it was just so good.<\/p>\n
The Olympics that year was a classic \u2013 at least that is what my memory is telling me. <\/p>\n
For the American boxing team, it was the year of the dream team \u2013 Sugar Ray Leonard, the Spinks brothers, Leo Randolph and Howard Davis, JR. \u2013 who all won Gold, 4 of them to become world champions.<\/p>\n
It was the Olympics that the British colony, Bermuda, got a Bronze Medal and became the smallest country to win a Summer Olympic medal whilst Britain could also only manage a gold \u2013 in the bantamweight division for Patrick Cowdell.<\/p>\n
Suddenly it doesn\u2019t seem so golden anymore as the United Kingdom only managed to get 13 medals and only 3 of them were Gold \u2013 the record books will show they included a Scot \u2013 David Wilkie in the 200 metres breaststroke. It was also the Olympic year in which 29 African countries boycotted the Summer Games.<\/p>\n
So, 1976 was not so golden after all\u2026 Shows you how nostalgia can affect your memory\u2026<\/p>\n
For George Chaplin, 23-9-2, 10 KO\u2019s, former air force serviceman, it was the year that this heavyweight became a professional boxer.<\/p>\n
Despite not being mentioned in many people\u2019s memories from that point onwards, Chaplin was more than a decent fighter. In the 1980\u2019s he managed to convince enough people he had the skills to compete with the best.<\/p>\n
It began so well with a straight 7 wins in his first 7 contests before losing, picking himself up and making his mark by beating the guy who was the first to beat him. It was a mark of him that the records will show he fought on and he fought bravely but not without a great deal of skill.<\/p>\n
Frequently his foot movement may have been criticized but his hand speed and head movement were noted for their clear connection to his ability to win.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he was in an era where being good enough was actually not nearly good enough and there were some questions over his power at heavyweight that haunted any progress he could have made. Most notably his two losses to Greg Page in 1980 in Page\u2019s home town of Louisville on points and in 1981 on a split decision for the USBA title and the one to Michael Dokes in 1981 on points over 10 rounds come to mind but again there were plenty who felt he beat Page on both occasions. He also in 1981 took Gerrie Coetzee the distance losing on points in Honolulu.
\nIt was typical of the time that had he won these battles we could have been talking of a very different history to this Baltimore boxer.<\/p>\n
Having said that he was certainly top 15 of his time and though the power may have been absent he entertained and was a tricky fighter.<\/p>\n
Who he did beat included Larry Alexander, Mike Koranicki \u2013 the man who beat him first, Duane Bobick and Earnie Shavers \u2013 no slouches in themselves \u2013 with the retirement of Bobick in 6th round of their contest due to deep cuts over Bobick\u2019s eye particularly notable and noted at the time.<\/p>\n
By the time Chaplin took on Shavers in Baltimore in 1983, Shavers was already a \u201cveteran\u201d of no fewer than 85 fights. In the 9th Shavers suffered a disqualification for repeated low blows, handing the win to Chaplin. To take some of the shine off the win, Shavers admitted afterwards that he had only trained for a couple of weeks. It showed and on all the scorecards at the time of the stoppage Chaplin had shut Shavers out the contest. Never mind what Shavers said afterwards the history books, unlike my memory can be relied on to show what actually happened and they show the result first, explanations after.<\/p>\n
The Cooney fight in 1984 was as fascinating outside of it as it as inside the ring as Cooney got arrested whilst his \u201cbodyguard\u201d got knocked out in his next fight some months later! As for the contest in the ring Cooney was able to knock Chaplin out in the 2nd round. It was a slow burn to the end for Chaplin as he fought 3 more times losing two and winning one. The end came in Las Vegas on the 1st August 1987 when he faced Jesse Ferguson and was knocked out in the 8th round.
\nIt must have been hard for him to combine the rigors of training whilst holding down a job as an orthopaedic technician after gaining a degree from Michigan State University \u2013 an articulate young man with gloves on in this day and age would have been a gift to promoters the world over…<\/p>\n
His gift however is in the record books and alive in his and our memories. It\u2019s a decent legacy, perhaps it could have been more sparkling \u2013 if only all those really good heavyweights of the 1980\u2019s hadn\u2019t come along but then again we wouldn\u2019t be able to allow our memories to cloud our judgement so much then, would we?<\/p>\n