Joe Erskine (Welsh boxer)

Joseph Erskine (26 January 1934 – 18 February 1990^[1]) was a heavyweight boxer from the Butetown district of Cardiff, Wales. He was an Amateur Boxing Association Champion, Inter-Services Champion, and British Army Champion in 1953. He began fighting as a professional in 1954 and was trained by Freddie Elvin. He held the British heavyweight title from August 1956 to June 1958. In all, he won 45 of his 54 professional bouts, losing 8, with one drawn. His best wins were against George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, Dick Richardson, Uli Ritter, Jack Bodell, Johnny Williams, Joe Bygraves, and Willie Pastrano.

Erskine was a small heavyweight who outmaneuvered rather than overpowered his opponents. Angelo Dundee who saw his prospect Pastrano defeated by Erskine said he was surprised by his skill – further remarking that if Erskine had been just a bit bigger he could have been a world beater.^[2]

On 15 December 1955, Erskine had his first fight against Henry Cooper, at Harringay Arena, in an eliminator for the British heavyweight title, and won the ten-round fight on points.

On 27 August 1956, Erskine won the British heavyweight title, which had been vacated by the retirement of Don Cockell. He beat fellow Welshman, Johnny Williams on points in a fifteen-round fight at the Maindy Stadium, Cardiff.

On 17 September 1957, he added the British Empire (Commonwealth) heavyweight title, when he beat Henry Cooper for the second time. The fight was at Harringay Arena over fifteen rounds, and was won on points.

He successfully defended his British Empire (Commonwealth) against Jamaican-born heavyweight Joe Bygraves on 25 November 1957, again winning over fifteen rounds on points.

On 21 February 1958, he unsuccessfully fought for the European heavyweight title against Ingemar Johansson, in Gothenburg, Sweden, losing on a technical knockout in the thirteenth round.

On 3 June 1958, he defended both his titles against Brian London, of Blackpool in a bout at the White City Stadium, London. Erskine was knocked out in the eighth round.

On 24 February 1959, Erskine fought and defeated the talented American boxer Willie Pastrano, who was later (in 1964) to become World light-heavyweight champion. The fight was at the Wembley Stadium over ten rounds and Erskine won on points.

On 24 June 1959, he fought another Welsh boxer, Dick Richardson in a ten-round bout at Coney Beach Arena, Porthcawl, Wales, and won on points.

In the meantime Henry Cooper had defeated Brian London to take the British and Commonwealth titles from him. On 17 November 1959, Erskine fought Cooper for both titles, having beaten him on their two previous meetings. The bout was held at the Earls Court Arena, London. Cooper won the fight on a technical knockout. Cooper, who was renowned for the power of his left hook, floored Erskine twice with terrific left hooks and Erskine was hanging almost unconscious over the lower rope when the referee stopped the bout.

On 21 March 1961, Erskine fought Cooper again for the two titles, this time at the Empire Pool, Wembley, and again lost on a technical knockout, this time in the fifth round.

Erskine went to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to fight George Chuvalo, who was hoping to show that he had the talent to fight for the world title against Floyd Patterson. Unfortunately for Chuvalo the fight, on 2 October 1961, was stopped in the fifth round and Chuvalo was disqualified for persistent head butting. Erskine claimed that he was butted eight times during the five rounds, while Chuvalo claimed he was retaliating for getting thumbed in the eye by Joe.

On 2 April 1962, he fought Cooper for the fifth and last time, this time at the Ice Rink, Nottingham. Cooper retained his titles by winning on a technical knockout in the ninth round.

On 13 October 1963, he fought the famous German southpaw, Karl Mildenberger, in Dortmund, Germany, and lost the ten-round bout on points.

On 3 March 1964, Erskine fought Jack Bodell, a British champion of the future, and defeated him on points over ten rounds.

His last fight was against Billy Walker on 27 October 1964 at the Empire Pool, Wembley. He lost the ten-round bout on points.

In his 54 professional bouts, he won 45 (13 on knock-outs), and lost 8 (6 on knock-outs). One of his bouts was drawn.

45 Wins (13 knockouts, 32 decisions), 8 Losses (6 knockouts, 2 decisions), 1 Draw [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	12–3–1	Billy Walker	PTS	10	27 October 1964	Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Win	24–3–2	Johnny Prescott	PTS	10	21 April 1964	Embassy Sportsdrome, Birmingham, West Midlands
Win	15–3	Jack Bodell	PTS	10	3 March 1964	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire
Loss	37–2–1	Karl Mildenberger	PTS	10	13 October 1963	Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	19–15–2	Freddie Mack	PTS	10	10 August 1963	Pavilion, Newtown, Powys
Win	3–3	Ray Cillien	TKO	4	29 July 1963	Cardiff Drill Hall, Cardiff
Win	10–11	Alex Barrow	KO	7	12 December 1962	Tower Circus, Blackpool, Lancashire
Win	18–18–4	Jose Mariano Moracia Ibanes	PTS	10	20 November 1962	Leicester, Leicestershire
Loss	25–8–1	Henry Cooper	TKO	9	2 April 1962	Nottingham Ice Stadium, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire	Commonwealth/BBBofC Heavyweight Titles.
Win	20–6–1	George Chuvalo	DQ	5	2 October 1961	Toronto, Ontario	Chuvalo disqualified at 1:27 of the fifth round for headbutting.
Loss	22–7–1	Henry Cooper	TKO	5	21 March 1961	Empire Pool, Wembley, London	Commonwealth/BBBofC Heavyweight Titles.
Win	20–4–6	Ulli Ritter	PTS	10	24 January 1961	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire
Win	30–21–6	José González Sales	TKO	5	22 September 1960	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Loss	19–7–1	Henry Cooper	TKO	12	17 November 1959	Earls Court Arena, Kensington, London	BBBofC/Commonwealth Heavyweight Titles.
Win	24–1–1	Bruno Scarabellin	PTS	10	26 August 1959	Coney Beach Pleasure Park, Porthcawl
Win	27–8–2	Dick Richardson	PTS	10	24 June 1959	Coney Beach Pleasure Park, Porthcawl
Win	47–6–5	Willie Pastrano	PTS	10	24 February 1959	Empire Exhibition Stadium, Wembley, London
Win	9–3–1	Max Brianto	PTS	10	12 November 1958	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Loss	20–3	Brian London	KO	8	3 June 1958	White City Stadium, White City, London	BBBofC/Commonwealth Heavyweight Titles.
Loss	18–0	Ingemar Johansson	TKO	13	21 February 1958	, Gothenburg	EBU Heavyweight Title.
Win	36–10–1	Joe Bygraves	PTS	15	25 November 1957	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire	Commonwealth Heavyweight Title.
Win	14–5	Henry Cooper	PTS	15	17 September 1957	Harringay Arena, Harringay, London	Commonwealth/BBBofC Heavyweight Titles.
Win	23–7–1	Peter Bates	PTS	12	28 May 1957	Doncaster Racecourse, Doncaster, Yorkshire
Loss	37–14–3	Nino Valdes	KO	1	19 February 1957	Earls Court Arena, Kensington, London	Erskine knocked out at 2:03 of the first round.
Win	60–9–4	Johnny Williams	PTS	15	27 August 1956	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff	BBBofC Heavyweight Title.
Win	17–2–1	Dick Richardson	PTS	10	7 May 1956	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Win	17–13–8	Guenter Nurnberg	PTS	10	19 March 1956	Carmarthen Market Hall, Carmarthen
Win	33–7–1	Marcel Limage	PTS	10	16 January 1956	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Win	11–1	Henry Cooper	PTS	10	15 November 1955	Harringay Arena, Harringay, London	BBBofC Heavyweight Title Eliminator.
Win	8–11–2	Bernard Verdoolaeghe	TKO	2	10 October 1955	Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Win	9–1	Antonio Crosia	KO	8	13 September 1955	White City Stadium, White City, London
Win	17–9–6	Uber Bacilieri	PTS	10	29 August 1955	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Win	10–3	Henk de Voogd	KO	1	18 July 1955	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Win	16–19–2	Ansell Adams	PTS	10	9 May 1955	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire
Win	21–22–3	Simon Templar	TKO	8	26 April 1955	Harringay Arena, Harringay, London
Win	16–2	Peter Bates	PTS	10	15 March 1955	Embassy Rink, Birmingham, West Midlands
Win	8–7	Joe Crickmar	PTS	8	28 February 1955	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire
Win	14–11–1	Cliff Purnell	PTS	8	15 February 1955	Embassy Sportsdrome, Birmingham, West Midlands
Win	4–14–3	Hugh McDonald	TKO	6	1 February 1955	Willenhall Drill Hall, Willenhall, West Midlands
Win	13–8–1	Cliff Purnell	PTS	8	7 December 1954	Town Hall, Walsall, West Midlands
Win	1–2	Jack Walker	KO	1	8 November 1954	Granby Halls, Leicester, Leicestershire
Win	12–9	Morrie Bush	PTS	8	11 October 1954	Haverfordwest Market Hall, Haverfordwest
Win	4–7	Dennis Lockton	PTS	6	28 September 1954	Olympia Skating Rink, Hanley, Staffordshire
Win	18–4	Jimmy Moran	PTS	6	14 September 1954	Sheffield, Yorkshire
Win	3–2	Denny Ball	PTS	6	19 July 1954	Ninian Park, Cardiff
Win	--	Joe Farley	KO	2	1 June 1954	White City Stadium, White City, London	Novice Tournament.
Win	1–0	Eddie Keith	KO	2	1 June 1954	White City Stadium, White City, London	Novice Tournament.
Win	2–1	Denny Ball	PTS	3	1 June 1954	White City Stadium, White City, London	Novice Tournament.
Win	3–3	Mick Cowan	PTS	6	11 May 1954	Earls Court Arena, Kensington, London
Win	7–6–4	Frank Walshaw	PTS	6	1 May 1954	Newtown Drill Hall, Newtown, Powys
Draw	5–12–1	Dinny Powell	PTS	6	12 April 1954	Maindy Stadium, Cardiff
Win	5–5	Frank Walker	DQ	5	22 March 1954	Embassy Sportsdrome, Birmingham, West Midlands
Win	1–0	Tommy Rogers	KO	2	16 March 1954	Willenhall Drill Hall, Willenhall, West Midlands
Win	15–8–1	Alf Price	KO	2	9 March 1954	Olympia Skating Rink, Hanley, Staffordshire

Joe Erskine was the cousin of the rugby union, and rugby league footballer of the 1950s and 1960s for Cardiff IAC (RU), Wales (RL), and Halifax; Johnny Freeman. Joe later lived in Newport and frequently visited the Riverview club in Pillgwenlly. Joe stayed involved in boxing, and was a big fan of David Pearce.

He was one of many signatories in a letter to The Times on 17 July 1958 opposing 'the policy of apartheid' in international sport and defending 'the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games'.^[3]

• List of British heavyweight boxing champions

• Brown, Geoff and Hogsbjerg, Christian. Apartheid is not a Game: Remembering the Stop the Seventy Tour campaign. London: Redwords, 2020. ISBN 9781912926589.

• Boxing record for Joe Erskine from BoxRec (registration required)