Eric Boon

Eric Boon, “Boy Boon”, was a British lightweight champion. Born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, on 28 December 1919, Boon turned himself into one of the great British workhorses of the pre- and post-war game: an orthodox fighter, often listed at around 5ft 4in with a long reach for his height, who built a reputation on crouching pressure, fast hands and an appetite for finishing. Records vary depending on what is counted, but his official totals are commonly listed as 91 wins, 22 losses, and 5 draws, with 62 stoppages, while other compilations credit him with 97-22-5. Either way, the picture is the same: a small-town phenomenon who boxed incessantly, learned on the job, and hit hard enough to make seasoned men take a step back.

His early boxing was rooted in East Anglia’s halls and booths, and by the time he made his formal professional start, he was already fighting like a man in a hurry. On 17 January 1935, at the Corn Exchange in Peterborough, he beat Young Snowball of Stamford when the referee stopped the contest in the sixth. He piled up rounds at a furious rate, then broke into the big London rooms and the national conversation in the winter of 1938. On 15 December 1938 at Harringay Arena, he challenged Dave Crowley for the British lightweight title. He stopped the champion in the thirteenth of a scheduled fifteen, a finishing surge that turned a local nickname, the “Fen Tiger”, into a proper billing.

Two months later, on 23 February 1939, Boon defended against Arthur Danahar at Harringay in a bout that mattered beyond the belt. It became the first boxing match televised by the BBC, and it was also shown to paying cinema audiences, an early collision of sport and broadcast technology that helped change how fights could be consumed. In the ring, it was no museum piece: Boon’s bobbing, crouching aggression kept dragging Danahar into exchanges until the referee stepped in during the fourteenth round of fifteen after repeated knockdowns. That champion’s run was not built on soft living. In 1939, he underlined his authority away from the capital, stopping Johnny McGrory and then knocking out the renowned Len Wickwar in the ninth round over twelve at Leicester’s rugby ground, the sort of result that travelled fast in the days when reputations were carried by newspapers and the word of people who had actually been there.

The war years brought strange matchmaking and odd venues, but Boon remained a drawing card and a champion. He fought at places like the Royal Albert Hall and in 1941 met former British and world-level name Jack “Kid” Berg at the London Coliseum, the contest ending with Boon losing by disqualification in the second round. He stayed active through setbacks, but the title reign ended on 12 August 1944 in Cardiff when Ronnie James stopped him in the tenth round of fifteen. After the belt went, Boon carried on in the only way he knew, taking tough assignments, including a 1945 defeat inside five rounds to Henry Hall at White Hart Lane in front of a reported crowd of 38,000, then returning to win and travel, with a stretch of fights abroad that included a busy spell in South Africa. His last recorded bout came much later, on 31 October 1952 at Brisbane Stadium, where Australia’s Pat Ford stopped him, closing a career that had begun in small halls and ended on the far side of the world.

Away from the ropes, Boon married Wendy Elliot in 1940. After boxing, he surfaced in film work, including small parts in titles such as Champagne Charlie and later appearances in the Carry On series. He died in January 1981, aged 61. What endures is the fighter: a compact, attacking lightweight with serious knockout strength, a champion made by constant work, and a central figure in a uniquely British period when a title fight could be staged at Harringay and, for the first time, beamed into homes and cinemas at the same moment.