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Throwback Thursday: Johnny Owen's Fatal Fight

35 years ago this week, Johnny Owen slipped into a coma following his world title fight with Lupe Pintor.
Photo by PA Images

There are three bronze statues in Merthyr Tydfil that celebrate the Welsh town's achievements in boxing. One is for Howard Winstone, who became WBC Featherweight Champion in 1968; another commemorates Eddie Thomas, himself a British and European champion and later Winstone's manager.

The third — with spindly limbs attached to an impossibly wiry frame — is of Johnny Owen. But while Winstone and Owen's statues depict young men who would eventually grow old, Owen's represents a man who lost his life fighting for a world title aged just 24. That contest took place 35 years ago this week, on September 19, 1980.

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Physically, the 5ft-6 Owen looked nothing like a fighter. Even as a bantamweight, he did not look capable of competing in a boxing ring.

But his record spoke for itself: by the time he fought Lupe Pintor, the Matchstick Man had won the Welsh, British, Commonwealth and European bantamweight titles. Though initial reaction to his death asked if he should have been allowed to fight the Mexican in Los Angeles at all, the results show that a world title shot was Owen's logical next step.

"The opponents that fought him for the championships must have thought it was going to be their night, because when you looked across the ring at him, there's no fighter in the country that wouldn't have said they fancied the job," recalled friend and fellow fighter Colin Jones in a BBC documentary remembering Owen's life.

"But by the time Johnny had got into his role they soon had a big shock!"

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Merthyr is among the foremost boxing towns in an area of Wales that takes great pride in its fighters. In the '50s and '60s champions like Thomas and Winstone were world famous and Owen — one of eight children — quickly fell in love with the sport.

After a successful spell in the amateur ranks Owen turned pro, partly for the financial support this would bring but also to "meet different opponents and see a bit of the world."

In only his sixth contest as a pro he won the Welsh bantamweight title against George Sutton in March 1977. Later that year he was British champion, beating Paddy Maguire in London, and in April 1978 he made a successful defence again the much-fancied Wayne Evans.

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Asked afterwards how he'd celebrate, teetotaller Owen replied, "With a pint of orange juice," then gestured to friends and supporters and added, "these lot will celebrate for me. I'll celebrate in about eight years time, when I retire." That year, he also became Commonwealth champion.

In March 1979 Owen did begin to see the world, fighting Juan Francisco Rodriguez for the European bantamweight title in Almeria, Spain. He lost a close decision but, less than a year later, he convincingly won a rematch in his homeland to become European champion. For Owen, a shot at the world title was now inevitable. But he was also thinking of a life after boxing: in a diary entry written in 1980, he hoped for enough money to retire at 29.

In 1980 he must have felt he was edging closer to that dream when he was handed a world title shot against the Mexican Lupe Pintor. Few gave Owen much of a chance against Pintor, who had won a controversial split decision over his countryman Carlos Zarate the previous year. The fight would be held at Los Angeles' Olympic Auditorium, a centre for Hispanic boxing, guaranteeing a highly partisan crowd. His final diary entry read: 'Hope everything comes right on the night. If only. It's a big if.'

"It was jam packed there," Owen's trainer Dai Gardiner later recalled to the BBC. "Three quarters of them were Mexican, and they gave us a bit of a time, but Johnny was very professional. He took it in his stride, went into the fight and started off very good."

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In fact, Owen looked capable of causing an upset, coming forward from the bell and giving Pintor a surprisingly difficult time.

"Up to eight rounds things were going really good," recalled Gardiner. "The American promoters were getting worried."

However as the fight wore on the power of Pintor's punches began to take their toll on Owen.

"In the ninth he got caught and went down for the first time in his career," said Gardiner. "I was worried, but in the corner Johnny wondered what all the fuss was about. The 10th and 11th went pretty good. And then disaster in the 12th round."

It was to be Owen's final round. Pintor was looking to close out the fight and knocked Owen down for a second time; the Welshman rose to his feet again, but this time looked less certain as he headed back into battle. Soon afterwards the Mexican fighter caught him with a powerful right; Owen's body seemed to go limp as he sunk to the floor.

"I knew it was bad straight away because he just crumbled," said Gardiner, while the Welsh boxing journalist Gareth Jones described Owen going down like "a marionette that had had its strings cut."

Owen was taken to hospital and operated on for a blood clot on his brain. However, he never regained consciousness and succumbed 46 days later on November 4th, 1980.

"I carry Johnny in my heart all the time," said Gardiner in 2010, marking the 30th anniversary of Owen's death. "I always think about the fight, obviously."

The roads of Merthyr were lined for miles when the funeral car passed through town, with a huge outpouring of respect for the fighter. However, speaking recently, his brother Kelvin was dismissive of those who called Owen's death tragic.

"There was nothing tragic about John. Nothing tragic at all. John loved boxing, he loved life, and he was living his life the way he wanted. Thousands of people loved him. Not a lot of us can go to our grave saying that so many people truly loved us, that we achieved something in our lives, and that we really enjoyed our lives."

Lupe Pintor struggled in the aftermath of Owen's death, but was encouraged to continue fighting by the Welshman's parents, who knew that boxing had been their son's greatest love. The Mexican was in attendance when the bronze Johnny Owen statue was unveiled in Merthyr in 2002. Johnny's parents had invited him to the ceremony; as the covers came off, Owen's father Dick laid a hand on Pintor's shoulder.