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Johnny Bos, the gifted, colorful boxing matchmaker who developed the early careers of Mike Tyson and Gerry Cooney but had fallen on hard times as he feuded with the New York State Athletic Commission in recent years, died in his home in Clearwater, Fla., on Saturday. Bos, 61, was found by his brother Jeffrey and Jeffrey’s fiancé Suzanne McBee around 10:30 p.m., she told the Daily News on Sunday. Bos had been suffering from congestive heart failure.
A towering figure with bleach-blond hair and faux fur coats, Bos, whose birth name was “Bosdal,” was a popular, colorful matchmaker who was responsible for finding opponents for many of the area’s top young fighters.
A product of Brooklyn, Bos had the unique ability to ferret out the right opponent for a fighter he was developing, allowing his boxer to learn and gain experience while also winning. But Bos, trustful to a fault, didn’t believe in signing his boxers to contracts and relied on handshake agreements instead. As a result, many of the fighters he helped nurture soon left him after winning a title, according to the Manhattan-based promoter Lou DiBella, who worked with Bos for years. Bos was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009. [Click Here To Read More]
A towering figure with bleach-blond hair and faux fur coats, Bos, whose birth name was “Bosdal,” was a popular, colorful matchmaker who was responsible for finding opponents for many of the area’s top young fighters.
A product of Brooklyn, Bos had the unique ability to ferret out the right opponent for a fighter he was developing, allowing his boxer to learn and gain experience while also winning. But Bos, trustful to a fault, didn’t believe in signing his boxers to contracts and relied on handshake agreements instead. As a result, many of the fighters he helped nurture soon left him after winning a title, according to the Manhattan-based promoter Lou DiBella, who worked with Bos for years. Bos was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009. [Click Here To Read More]
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