Commonwealth Title and Retirement
Caldwell's career continued. However, his problem with cut eyes came back to haunt him just three months later when he was forced to retire from a bout with Michel Atlan at the Albert Hall. Caldwell won the Commonwealth and British bantamweight titles in 1964 with a win over George Bowes at Belfast’s Ritz Cinema. A year later, with two further victories under his belt, he was forced to retire in the tenth round against Alan Rudkin in a defence of his titles. At age 27, Caldwell had had enough of professional boxing. In 1965, he lost his final bout on points to Monty Laud in Nottingham and returned to his trade as a pipe-fitter in Belfast.
When asked about his views on contemporary boxing, Caldwell replied: "It was an entirely different game to the one that I was involved in fifty years ago ... ou had to be totally dedicated back then, clean-living and prepared to make a lot of sacrifices to survive at the top. It was a game for hard and skilful men and if you couldn’t stick the pace you were found out very easily."
Read more about this topic: John Caldwell (boxer)
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