History | Boston Abc

There have been times of both triumph and adversity in the club’s ‘golden’ history,
so let’s take a look at how it all began.
Sixty years ago, a group of lads who regularly met at St Nicholas’ youth club in the town decided
they wanted to improve their fitness levels in the winter months and also receive some training in
the art of boxing. They approached youth club leader Roy Sykes and the wheels were set in motion.
The inaugural meeting was held at St Nicholas’ hall on September 2, 1962, and it was agreed that the
club be open to anyone in the Boston district aged between 14 and 25. The weekly subscriptions
were set at one shilling (5p) for working members and sixpence (2.5p) for schoolboys.

There was an immediate uptake of 40 enthusiastic young men who were thrilled to discover that
their chief coach and trainer was to be none other than the legendary Johnny Cuthbert, former
British flyweight champion and Lonsdale Belt holder. Helping Johnny with the boxing coaching were
Insp. Bob Holmes, Alf Upsall, Jack Kendrick and L. Pearce. Fitness and weight training instructors
were Mr Dear and Mr Siggee.

Thanks to the efforts of Roy Sykes, Holland County Council granted the club permission to use the gymnasium at Kitwood Boys School for training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the first session was held on September 18. The club received donations of gloves and equipment and one businessman, who chose to remain anonymous, gave a donation of £100 towards staging the club’s first tournament.
Though affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association, the Boston club was not yet permitted to stage a fully-fledged tournament so an ‘open night’ was held on December 14 at St. Nicholas’ hall, when 235 spectators enjoyed the action – even though there were no decisions at the end of each bout between Boston boxers and opponents from the newly formed Skegness Club.

The Boston v Skegness bouts were between Brian Manning (14) and Alan Gapper (14); Michael Goodson (14) and Ray Murray (14); Ivan Martin (15) and Tony Featherstone (15); James Ogglesbee (22) and George Booth (19).
Stars of these bouts were Alan Gapper who was reported to have looked ‘particularly promising’; and Ian Ogglesbee who was said to be ‘a quick moving boxer of real promise’.
The bouts between Boston members were: F. Jerman (13) and R. Brown (13)John Sykes (14) and J. Allen (14); Barry Herriot (15) and Brian Pick (15); Brian Mahar (22) and John Lyon (22); Neville Crozier (20) and John Roberts (20); G. Warren (14) and R. Fendyke (14); M. Earle (23) and C. Gunson (22); J. Siggee (22) and A. Tebbs (19).
Insp. Bob Holmes, a qualified ABA referee, controlled all the bouts and responsible for ‘gloving up’ and preparing the boxers for their contests were coaches Johnny Cuthbert and Alf Upsall. Timekeeper was Boston club secretary Graham Gould.
Roy Sykes reported that £10 had been taken in admission charges at the door and £6, 8 shillings had been donated afterwards by ‘satisfied customers’.