Mickey Duff
Encyclopedia
Mickey Duff born 7 June 1929 in Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 is a former British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, manager and promoter.

Born Monek Prager in Krakow, Poland. His rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 father saw the rise of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Nazi party, so the family parents emigrated to England in the late 1930s.

Having turned professional as a boxer illegally aged 15, Duff retired aged 19. After working as a salesman, including selling sewing machines, Duff returned to boxing to make matches across the UK.

A new team began to form in the wake of Jack Solomons
Jack Solomons
Jack Solomons was a British boxing promoter who has been called "one of the greatest boxing promoters in history."He began promoting boxing in London during the 1930s. His first great success came when he put together a match between Jack London and Bruce Woodcock for the British heavyweight title...

, with match maker Duff, manager Jarvis Astaire, and promoter Harry Levine becoming key via a media partnership mainly via the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

.

Duff was involved with 16 world champions and many world class British fighters, including: Frank Bruno
Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...

, Joe Calzaghe
Joe Calzaghe
Joseph William Calzaghe, CBE, MBE is a Welsh former professional boxer. He is the former WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring & British super middleweight champion and The Ring light heavyweight champion....

, John Conteh
John Conteh
John Conteh is a British former boxer who was world light-heavyweight boxing champion.Conteh is one of Britain's most successful boxing champions. At his peak in the mid to late 1970s he was considered good enough that he was touted as a possible opponent of Muhammad Ali...

, Terry Downes
Terry Downes
Terry Downes is a retired British middleweight boxer. He was nicknamed the "Paddington Express" for his aggressive fighting style. As of 2008, Downes was Britain’s oldest surviving former world champion...

, Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan
Lloyd Honeyghan is a retired British boxer. Born in Jamaica, he was WBC/WBA & IBF welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987. and WBC welterweight champion from 1988 to 1989....

, Maurice Hope
Maurice Hope
Maurice Hope is a former boxer from England, who was world Jr. Middleweight champion. Hope lived in Hackney most of his life, but now lives in his place of birth, Antigua. He represented Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.- Biography :Maurice Hope moved at a very...

, Charlie Magri
Charlie Magri
Charlie Magri is a former English flyweight boxer. He is from a Maltese family that settled in Stepney, London where he grew up...

, Alan Minter
Alan Minter
Alan Minter is a former middleweight world champion boxer.-Amateur career:Minter was the 1971 ABA Middleweight Champion. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games...

, John H Stracey, Jim Watt, and Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone
Howard Winstone, MBE was a Welsh world champion boxer, born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. As an amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight title in 1958, and a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff-Boxing style:In his early...

.

After the rise of Frank Warren
Frank Warren (promoter)
Frank Darren Warren is an English boxing manager and promoter.-Early life and early career:The son of a bookmaker, Warren trained as a solicitor's clerk with J Tickle & Co on Southampton Row in London....

 through his partnership with ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 and Sky TV
Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)
Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...

, Duff retired. He has been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...

.
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