Professional Boxer
Gardner won his first 24 fights in a row, remaining undefeated for almost five years, most of his fights won by TKO against a collection of British, European and American journeymen. He defeated Neville Meade, a future British Heavyweight Champion, and the fairly useful Bjorn Rudi and Ngozika Ekwelum during this period, before being caught cold in the first round in 1977 by Ibar Arrington (Gardner was a notoriously slow starter). However, he earned his first title shot that year in 1977 when he defeated Denton Ruddock by TKO for the Southern Area British Heavyweight Championship.
Read more about this topic: John L. Gardner
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or boxer:
“The American character looks always as if it had just had a rather bad haircut, which gives it, in our eyes at any rate, a greater humanity than the European, which even among its beggars has an all too professional air.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Whoever gets up and comes to grips with Love like a boxer is a fool.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)