| Biography | Patrick ("Pat") Cowdell (born 18 August 1953 in Smethwick, Sandwell) is a retired boxer from Great Britain.
Cowdell won the bronze medal in the bantamweight division ( 54 kg) at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalist Gu Yong-Ju from North Korea.
Two years earlier Cowdell won the gold medal, at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was a bronze medalist at the 1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships held in Katowice, Poland. He was also the 1973 ABA bantamweight champion, lightweight in 1975, and featherweight champion in 1976 and 1977.
Cowdell turned pro in 1977 and in 1981 took on WBC world featherweight champion Salvador Sánchez, losing a close and hard-fought split decision in which Cowdell was dropped in round 15. In 1985 Cowdell challenged Azumah Nelson for the WBC featherweight title, but was caught cold by a bullet of a punch and knocked out in the first round. He fought on but retired in 1988 after being stopped by Welshman Floyd Havard. He finished up with stats of 36-6-0 (18 KOs) that included spells as British, Commonwealth and European Champion. |