Caldwell V Gilroy
North Belfast's Freddie Gilroy had been a friend and rival of Caldwell in both the amateur and professional ranks. Gilroy had made a name for himself in the world bantamweight division and a clash with Caldwell for the British and Empire titles was set for the King's Hall on Saturday, 20 October 1962. The prize at stake was a crack at Jofre and a record crowd of 15,000 were in attendance. Gilroy, the underdog, won the fight when Caldwell was forced to retire with a cut eye at the end of the ninth round. For the victor, there was to be no crack at Jofre, only speculation of a rematch, which would have been a promoter's dream. However, the rematch that never took place as Gilroy retired after the King's Hall clash.
Gilroy is on the record as saying that in his view the fight was a needless one that should never have taken place. There is no doubt that the media hyped the occasion as a grudge match between North Belfast’s Gilroy and West Belfast's Caldwell. For Caldwell, due to the damage his eyes received during the fight, it was a bout that signalled the waning of his career. "I thought truly that I was ahead when the fight was stopped and I really wanted a rematch with Freddie ... had a feeling though when I saw him afterwards that he would never fight me again and I was proved right in the end. In that fight, I suffered very severe cut eyes and after that I was always having difficulty with my eyes."
Read more about this topic: John Caldwell (boxer)
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