| Biography | Colin Jones was a Welsh boxer, who became British, Commonwealth and European welterweight champion. Before turning professional he represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
In 1976 Jones was the youngest British boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games until Amir Khan appeared at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
He was one of the hardest punching welterweights of his generation and his ability to knock fighters out with a single shot (with either hand) allowed him the luxury of being a notoriously slow starter. A second round stoppage of Danish fighter Hans-Henrik Palm (in Copenhagen) won him the European crown and confirmed his arrival as a world class fighter.
He lost three times, one by disqualification (Curtis Ramsey), one by split decision (Milton McCrory) and once when he was stopped in four rounds (cuts) by a peak Donald Curry. The latter two losses came in challenges for the world title after he had drawn with McCrory in his first attempt to claim it.
Despite these setbacks at world level (both fights against McCrory were in America and could have gone either way), he was dominant at domestic level with his two "come from behind" knockout victories against the gifted Kirkland Laing particular highlights.
A modest and well-respected fighter, Jones, still regarded as boxing royalty in his native Wales, won the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1983.
Jones was national coach of the Welsh Boxing team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. |