Eddie Hearn

The son of a London bus driver, Eddie Hearn enjoyed 17 bouts as an amateur boxer before turning professional. His first major success was in winning the South-West London Heavyweight Championship in 1951. Hearn lost the London Championship to Joe Crickmar that year, but beat him in 1952 to win the title. He also retained his South-West London title that year.

Hearn certainly enjoyed his finest year in 1952 when he added the ABA heavyweight title to his two London crowns, after beating Dennis Rowe on points in the final. Henry Cooper won the light-heavyweight title on the same night.

Hearn represented London in an international match against Frankfurt shortly afterwards, and then went to the Helsinki Olympics, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to local favourite Ilkka Koski. Before the year was out, Hearn had won further honours representing London again, also taking part in the match between Great Britain and Spain.

Hearn turned professional in 1953 and between then and 1957 had 20 bouts with a 13-7-0 record. His last fight was a defeat within two minutes of the first round when knocked out by Ghanaian Joey Armstrong at Leeds. Hearn later became a trainer and an ABA coach, and was assistant to British National coach David James.