Memorabilia relating to a British amateur boxing champion will go under the hammer next month.
Sworders Auctioneers, in Stansted, is casting the spotlight on Hugh ‘Pat’ Floyd, once dubbed by the New York Daily Times as “the greatest amateur heavy that England has ever produced”.
The four times ABA heavyweight champion, born in Dalston, fought from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s.
He won the heavyweight title in 1929, 1934, 1935 and his last in 1946 – 17 years after his first, and still the world record span for championship wins to this day.
Floyd represented England in the 1934 European Championships in Budapest, was the Empire Games Champion and captain, and won the Golden Gloves tournament in New York in the summer of 1935, when Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney advised him to turn pro. He ignored their advice.
He was also a member of the first official boxing contest between England and Norway on December 8, 1935 in the Oslo Colosseum, where his opponent was Erling Nilsen.
During the war Floyd was commissioned in the RAF Regiment, returning to the ring just afterwards to ensure the title stayed in Britain by beating the favoured French competitor in the final.
The following year he qualified as a referee and imposed his 6ft 6ins frame to impressive effect as an official in the ring until he retired. In later life he was chairman and acting president of the London Ex-Boxers’ Association, and in 1984 he won the Joe Bromley Award for Outstanding Services to Boxing.
The archive going up for auction on December 5 includes an autograph book containing signatures he collected over his career – including Muhammad Ali, Henry Cooper and John Conteh.
It also includes the 1935 International Golden Gloves United States vs Great Britain Heavyweight Championship belt, a British Empire Games 1934 patch, Floyd’s Frank Bryan Service Champion boxing gloves and a selection of his trophies including his silver 1946 ABA Heavyweight title trophy.
Numerous certificates, and an archive of photos – some signed – and newspaper cuttings are also going under the hammer.
The archive is estimated at £3-5,000 in Sworders’ Winter Country House sale.
Sworders director John Black said: “The extraordinary nature of this archive matches the extraordinary nature and achievements of a man who deserves to be remembered much better among the greats of British boxing.
“I hope this sale at Sworders helps to put him back in the spotlight where he should remain.”
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