Owen Reilly

As a teenager, Owen Reilly boxed out of the LMS Rovers Amateur Boxing Club in Glasgow. They were an affiliate club of the London, Midland, Scottish Railway Company. In 1955, when still 18, Reilly was in the Scotland team that lost to the USA Golden Gloves team at Glasgow.

Reilly won the ABA bantamweight title in 1956 by beating Don Weller of Battersea in the final. Reilly then went to the Melbourne Olympics and reached the quarter-final where he lost on points to the eventual gold medallist, Wolfgang Behrendt of Germany.

Reilly turned professional in 1957 and in four years had 16 contests, with a 10-5-1 record. In the paid ranks, Reilly fought as a featherweight and won his first six contests but then lost to Chic Brogan for the vacant Scottish area featherweight title, That was Reilly’s only championship fight, and his career started to decline after that.

Despite obtaining his Scottish promoter and manager’s licence in the 1970s, Reilly’s career and businesses started to crumble, including the Planet Bar in Maryhill, Glasgow. His career, and life, reached an all-time low in 1993 when he was jailed for eight years at Glasgow Crown Court after being found guilty of sex offences against young girls (one as young as three) over a 25-year period between 1967-92.