By Terry Dooley
Terry Lawless’ death on Christmas Eve was a sad blow for the British boxing scene as it marked the passing of a man who had made a massive impact in his role as a trainer and manager. Lawless, who passed away aged 76, guided Jim Watt, Charlie Magri, Maurice Hope and John H Stracey to world title wins. In Watt’s case Lawless took a 27-year-old boxer whose career was rapidly going nowhere all the way to some memorable lightweight victories, including a successful WBC title defence against Howard Davies Junior.
Also, in 1975 Lawless took John H. Stracey to Mexico for a ‘mission impossible’ WBC welterweight title challenge against living legend Jose Napoles. Stracey came through some tricky moments before TKO-ing Napoles at 2:30 of the sixth round.
Similarly, Lawless was in the corner with Lloyd Honeyghan when the ‘Ragamuffin Man’ travelled to Atlantic City and ripped the undisputed welterweight title from the seemingly unbeatable Don Curry in 1986. ‘The Lone Star Cobra’ had been dreaming of showdowns with Marvin Hagler and Ray Leonard only to be stopped in his tracks by the rampant Honeyghan.
Throw in Magri’s WBC flyweight title win over Eleoncio Mercedes in 1983, just a year after Charlie had been TKO’d by nonpareil Jose Torres, a defeat Charlie later avenged, and the already impressive record of Lawless takes on an even great shape.
Indeed, Terry had a magical period in 1979 with Jim Watt and Maurice Hope both netting world title belts during a wonderful two-month purple patch. Success breeds success in boxing and this was arguably Lawless’ finest year as a trainer as he also guided both men to winning title defences.
In addition, Terry worked with Joe Calzaghe, when Joe was just starting out, Mark Taylor, Frank Bruno, who Lawless treated like a son, Jimmy McDonnell and many others, proving that Lawless was right up there when it came to spotting and shining British boxing talent.
Still, Lawless’ work lives on in the work of Dean Powell, Jimmy Tibbs and everyone else that was mentored by Lawless. Powell, who worked with Lawless and Tibbs at the famous Royal Oak gym between February and May of 1991, caught up with Boxingscene to pay tribute to Lawless.
Powell believes that it is fitting that one of the last big fights Lawless watched was Kevin Mitchell’s points win over Breidis Prescott in December. Powell also thinks that Mitchell and Tibbs are a perfect mix.
“I kind of put them together,” said Powell when talking about the Tibbs-Mitchell union. “Kevin was talking about going to America and I steered him away from that for different reasons. I told him he should go down and work with Jimmy and Mark [Tibbs]. Everything worked out and I’m pleased for all of them, it is good for all of us that it worked out well.
“I know that Terry was very pleased for Jimmy. He saw the fight and was happy because of the time he’d had with Jimmy as a young fighter and as a trainer later on [Writer’s note: Lawless trained Tibbs when Tibbs was a pro and later handed Jimmy a start in the training business]. I like to think that Terry Lawless has left a great legacy. Don’t forget, he had four world champions in a time when Mexican and American boxing were going through their best period.”
He concluded: “All Terry’s fighters would have a picture card and they had have written on them ‘Sole Direction: Terry Lawless’.”
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