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This is from 2005.......
''I've had up's and downs, but I can't complain''
''Financially, I made nothing out of fighting'' I think my total purses come to about £108,000(factoring in inflation, that would be roughly $1.2 million today). But after training expenses, managers, trainer's, maybe I was left with £50,000 over seven years''.
''Then I got married, got four kids, and they all went to private school''
''I made my money, outside of boxing. ''I had a night club in London and some betting shops. ''The betting shops did well, not because thy were Terry Downes betting shops, but because it was there and people liked to gamble''
''I understand why fighters make comebacks, the temptation was always there, but I had done a couple of films and a couple of plays, and I had a family and businsess interests''
Was it tough to walk away from the spotlight?
''It was and it wasn't difficult decision to call it a day''. ''I think my last fight was proably my best fight, and if I cound't beat Willie Pastrano that night, I don't think that I ever would have beaten him.''
''I cound't fight that good again''
''I only made £3,000 for that fight, and would have made even less if I went over there,(the US) and fought him in the rematch''
''Now life treats me the same way, I treat life.'' It wakes you up in the morning, and I do what I want with life, which is absolutely nothing, and it does nothing to me''
As a amature Downes won school tournamnets adn area championships, but when he was 13 his progess was hampered by a weired coincidence. Downes had qualifed to box in the semi finals of a event in London, and keen to out do his opponet he read a boxing textbook.
''I read this boxing book to pick up a few pointers''
''It had pictures of how to box, and it showed two boys boxing.'' ''And this bloke I was fighting, Ron Hillier was one of the guys in the book, showing me how to fight''
''I thought, bloody hell, how am I supposed to beat him''? ''He's telling me how to fight, but I had to fight him''
Hiller beat Downes and went on to win the tournament.
When Downes was a teenager he moved to the USA, to be close and support his sister, who was performing in a circus.
Terry boxed for the YMCA, and following a YMCA vs Marine Cops, tournament, a Marine Cops major invivted him to try out for the Marine boxing team. Aware that life on the Marine boxing team squad provided preferential treament and six weeks advance pay, the sixteen year old Downes volunteered, eventually fighting in the Olympic trials.
''I beat the bloke the U.S sent in 1956, the welterweight , I beat him in the All services finals. I was all right to be in the bloody marine Corps catching bullets on the front line, but with boxing gloves they said ''Oh no, you cant represent us'' ''That was one of the reasons I never went back''
On His Fight With **** Tiger
In just his third pro bout, he took a fight that his manager Sam Burns said ''would be a easy nights work'' But future world champion and Hall Of Famer, **** Tiger wasn't a easy nights work for nobody, as Terry soon found out.
''Tiger had lost a few, but he was finding his feet now and he had stopped his last few blokes'' said Downes
My first fight was a 6 rounder, my second was a 8 rounder and my 3rd fight was **** Tiger for 8 rounds''
''Boom, Boom, Tiger hit me in the first round and I was on the floor'' ''I had never been on the floor in my life, and I'd had hundreds of amature fights''
''I got up a bit dizzy, and he put me down again'' ''I thought bloody hell this is getting monotonous isn't it''
It was a good fight after the bad first round'' ''I got up and gave him a good fight, but he stopped me on a cut in the end'' But I fought again 3 weeks later''
On Joey Giardello
''I had to box Giardello because I knew how rough and tough he was. You didn't want to go swinging and winging with him because he was a right tough bastard.
''That was his game. I boxed him and it paid off. It was a relatively easy fight. I came out unscrathed, for once I wasn't cut. I don't think he could get over the fact that I could box him''
On Ray Robinson
''He was just an old man when I fought him, it's just amazing to look at his record, at his best it must have been incredible to watch him fight.
''If I had to fight him, when he was in his prime, I would have run as far as I could go''.
''It wound't have been a match, no one would of been ****** enough to make it, it's an embarrassment to have his name on my record. It's not a privalege to beat up and old man''
Terry Downes
''I've had up's and downs, but I can't complain''
''Financially, I made nothing out of fighting'' I think my total purses come to about £108,000(factoring in inflation, that would be roughly $1.2 million today). But after training expenses, managers, trainer's, maybe I was left with £50,000 over seven years''.
''Then I got married, got four kids, and they all went to private school''
''I made my money, outside of boxing. ''I had a night club in London and some betting shops. ''The betting shops did well, not because thy were Terry Downes betting shops, but because it was there and people liked to gamble''
''I understand why fighters make comebacks, the temptation was always there, but I had done a couple of films and a couple of plays, and I had a family and businsess interests''
Was it tough to walk away from the spotlight?
''It was and it wasn't difficult decision to call it a day''. ''I think my last fight was proably my best fight, and if I cound't beat Willie Pastrano that night, I don't think that I ever would have beaten him.''
''I cound't fight that good again''
''I only made £3,000 for that fight, and would have made even less if I went over there,(the US) and fought him in the rematch''
''Now life treats me the same way, I treat life.'' It wakes you up in the morning, and I do what I want with life, which is absolutely nothing, and it does nothing to me''
As a amature Downes won school tournamnets adn area championships, but when he was 13 his progess was hampered by a weired coincidence. Downes had qualifed to box in the semi finals of a event in London, and keen to out do his opponet he read a boxing textbook.
''I read this boxing book to pick up a few pointers''
''It had pictures of how to box, and it showed two boys boxing.'' ''And this bloke I was fighting, Ron Hillier was one of the guys in the book, showing me how to fight''
''I thought, bloody hell, how am I supposed to beat him''? ''He's telling me how to fight, but I had to fight him''
Hiller beat Downes and went on to win the tournament.
When Downes was a teenager he moved to the USA, to be close and support his sister, who was performing in a circus.
Terry boxed for the YMCA, and following a YMCA vs Marine Cops, tournament, a Marine Cops major invivted him to try out for the Marine boxing team. Aware that life on the Marine boxing team squad provided preferential treament and six weeks advance pay, the sixteen year old Downes volunteered, eventually fighting in the Olympic trials.
''I beat the bloke the U.S sent in 1956, the welterweight , I beat him in the All services finals. I was all right to be in the bloody marine Corps catching bullets on the front line, but with boxing gloves they said ''Oh no, you cant represent us'' ''That was one of the reasons I never went back''
On His Fight With **** Tiger
In just his third pro bout, he took a fight that his manager Sam Burns said ''would be a easy nights work'' But future world champion and Hall Of Famer, **** Tiger wasn't a easy nights work for nobody, as Terry soon found out.
''Tiger had lost a few, but he was finding his feet now and he had stopped his last few blokes'' said Downes
My first fight was a 6 rounder, my second was a 8 rounder and my 3rd fight was **** Tiger for 8 rounds''
''Boom, Boom, Tiger hit me in the first round and I was on the floor'' ''I had never been on the floor in my life, and I'd had hundreds of amature fights''
''I got up a bit dizzy, and he put me down again'' ''I thought bloody hell this is getting monotonous isn't it''
It was a good fight after the bad first round'' ''I got up and gave him a good fight, but he stopped me on a cut in the end'' But I fought again 3 weeks later''
On Joey Giardello
''I had to box Giardello because I knew how rough and tough he was. You didn't want to go swinging and winging with him because he was a right tough bastard.
''That was his game. I boxed him and it paid off. It was a relatively easy fight. I came out unscrathed, for once I wasn't cut. I don't think he could get over the fact that I could box him''
On Ray Robinson
''He was just an old man when I fought him, it's just amazing to look at his record, at his best it must have been incredible to watch him fight.
''If I had to fight him, when he was in his prime, I would have run as far as I could go''.
''It wound't have been a match, no one would of been ****** enough to make it, it's an embarrassment to have his name on my record. It's not a privalege to beat up and old man''
Terry Downes
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