SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
AT first, football was my number-one sport, but because a couple of my mates were boxing, I ended up drifting into it with them.
Mickey Hughes, who went on to box at the 1984 Olympics, was at the same school as me. And I lived in the same block of flats as ‘Denty’ [David Dent]. They were both at St Pancras Boxing Club, so one day I headed down to the gym with them and it all kicked off from there.
Boxing for St Pancras I got to three ABA finals. I lost the first two at bantamweight, in 1979 and 1980. The one in ‘79 against Renard Ashton was a majority decision. My coach, Ronnie Smith, was fuming after that. He thought I’d won it clearly. The feeling of losing that fight was the worst I ever felt in boxing. I was 18 years old at the time. I still can’t believe I didn’t get the decision. Harry Carpenter was commentating on it and he said: ‘I don’t know what more Jim McDonnell could’ve done to have won.’
On my way to
