Sam Storey

Sam Storey is a Northern Irish former professional boxer who campaigned mainly at super-middleweight. Born Samuel Storey on 9 August 1963 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he became one of the most recognisable figures of his era from the city’s rich boxing tradition. A 6ft southpaw based in Belfast throughout his career, Storey turned professional on 3 December 1985 and boxed on until April 1997, compiling a record of 31 fights with 25 wins, 6 defeats, and no draws, 12 of those victories coming inside the distance.

Storey’s grounding in the sport was thorough and classically Irish. Boxing out of the Holy Family club in Belfast, he won every age-group national amateur title in Ireland at light-middleweight before progressing to the international stage. He represented Ireland at the European and Commonwealth level and reached the pinnacle of the unpaid code when he boxed at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. His amateur background meant he entered the paid ranks at 23, not as a novice but as a seasoned operator accustomed to high-level competition.

His professional debut came at Belfast’s Ulster Hall against Nigel Shingles, where Storey began his ledger with a points win. He was moved quickly and fought regularly across Ireland and Britain. Within two years, he had collected the Irish middleweight title, stopping Rocky McGran in Belfast in April 1987, and by the end of that decade, he was established as a leading domestic contender. In March 1989, he outpointed Kevin Roper at the Ulster Hall in a bout for the British super-middleweight title, and followed that with further wins over the likes of Tony Burke and Noel Magee in Belfast as he tightened his grip on the domestic scene.

Storey’s peak years came in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s, when he stepped from domestic champion into full European and world-class. In March 1988, he travelled to Boston to meet the rising Irish star Steve Collins for the Irish middleweight title, losing on the road but demonstrating that he belonged in that company. In August 1994, he received a world-title shot at Chris Eubank for the WBO super-middleweight crown in Cardiff, going in against an unbeaten champion who was then one of the sport’s biggest names in Britain. Storey lost on points but gained invaluable experience at the championship level. Less than a year later, he was back in major championship action, outpointing Ali Forbes by a single point at York Hall, Bethnal Green, in April 1995 to win the British super-middleweight title and secure the coveted Lonsdale Belt.

That success put Storey into wider contention beyond Britain. In November 1995, he challenged Henry Wharton at Halifax in a bout that combined the Commonwealth and European super-middleweight titles, but came up short inside the distance against a noted puncher. Even in defeat, those contests underlined that Storey’s level was firmly within the elite of a strong super-middleweight era, one that included the likes of Eubank, Collins and Nigel Benn at the top of the tree. Through this period, he was known as a tough, well-schooled southpaw, with enough power to end matters early but more often relying on a sound boxing brain, solid fundamentals and a resilient temperament shaped by years of championship competition.

Storey’s final contest came back at York Hall in April 1997, when he met the unbeaten David Starie for the vacant British super-middleweight title. Starie prevailed, and Storey, then in his early thirties and more than a decade into his professional career, did not box again, bringing the curtain down on an 11-year, four-month stint in the paid ranks from December 1985 to April 1997. In retirement, he remained close to the sport as a television pundit and columnist, while also building a life outside the ring in his native Belfast. Taken as a whole, his career stands as that of a skilled and durable Belfast professional who climbed from national amateur honours to British champion and bona fide world-title challenger in one of the most competitive divisions of his time.