Jack Bodell (born 11 August 1940 in
SwadlincoteSwadlincote is a town and unparished area in the district of South Derbyshire, Derbyshire, England. It is the main town of the district and the site of the South Derbyshire District Council's administrative headquarters based on Civic Way...
,
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
) is a retired
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
who was active during the 1960s and 1970s.
Bodell started out as a
Light heavyweightIn boxing, the light heavyweight division is the weight division between cruiserweight and super middleweight...
, winning the 1961
ABAThe Amateur Boxing Association of England is the governing body of amateur boxing in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Ireland being organised on an All-Ireland basis....
championships and a bronze medal at the
European amateur championshipsThe European Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest competition for boxing amateurs in Europe, organised by the continent's governing body EABA, which stands for the European Amateur Boxing Association...
the same year. He won the
British heavyweight championship in 1969, before losing it to
Henry CooperSir Henry Cooper OBE, KSG in South East London, is a retired English heavyweight boxer and was the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion in 1970...
in his first defence.
Jack Bodell (born 11 August 1940 in
SwadlincoteSwadlincote is a town and unparished area in the district of South Derbyshire, Derbyshire, England. It is the main town of the district and the site of the South Derbyshire District Council's administrative headquarters based on Civic Way...
,
DerbyshireDerbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains...
) is a retired
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
professional
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
who was active during the 1960s and 1970s.
Bodell started out as a
Light heavyweightIn boxing, the light heavyweight division is the weight division between cruiserweight and super middleweight...
, winning the 1961
ABAThe Amateur Boxing Association of England is the governing body of amateur boxing in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Ireland being organised on an All-Ireland basis....
championships and a bronze medal at the
European amateur championshipsThe European Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest competition for boxing amateurs in Europe, organised by the continent's governing body EABA, which stands for the European Amateur Boxing Association...
the same year. He won the
British heavyweight championship in 1969, before losing it to
Henry CooperSir Henry Cooper OBE, KSG in South East London, is a retired English heavyweight boxer and was the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion in 1970...
in his first defence. Bodell regained the title a year later by out-pointing
Joe BugnerJózsef Kreul "Joe" Bugner is a British/Australian former heavyweight boxer.Born in Szőreg, Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the 1956 Soviet invasion and settled in England. During the 1970s, Bugner twice held the British and British Commonwealth heavyweight titles and he was a three...
. He lost the European title in 1971 after a defeat by Spaniard José Manuel Urtaín, and after losing both his British and Commonwealth titles to a second-round knockout by Danny McAlinden the following year, he retired from professional boxing.
Among his other notable fights were a first-round
knockoutA knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...
loss to
Jerry Quarry"Irish" Jerry Quarry , nicknamed “The Bellflower Bomber,” was an American heavyweight boxer.- Overview :...
after just 64 seconds, and a points win over future world title contender Jose "King" Roman. Bodell's final record was 58 wins (including 31 by knockout) and 13 losses.
Trivia
Jack Bodell is mentioned in the "Boxing Tonight" sketch in episode 37 of
Monty Python's Flying CircusMonty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC sketch comedy programme from the Monty Python comedy team, and the group's initial claim to fame. The show was noted for its surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags, and sketches without punchlines...
, in which he (played by
Nosher PowellNosher Powell is known both as an actor and as a boxer...
) fights Sir Kenneth Clark (played by
Graham ChapmanGraham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, actor, writer, physician and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He was also the lead actor in their two narrative films, playing King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Brian in Monty Python's Life of Brian...
).