Bernard Foster

Bernard Foster started boxing as a 17-year-old in 1949 and won his first 10 bouts, six by knockout. He soon captured the Midland Counties ABA middleweight title and went to win two senior ABA titles.

Foster won the 1952 ABA light-middleweight title by defeating the previously unbeaten Bruce Wells with a 93-second knockout in the first round. A Birmingham meat market porter, Foster went to the 1952 Olympics as the reigning ABA champion, but lost on points in his opening bout to the Bulgarian Petar Spasov. Three months after the Finland Games, Foster toured Denmark with an ABA team.

Foster regained his ABA title in 1955 when he beat Ron Garnett, but the following year lost in the middleweight final on points to Ron Redrup. In the semi-final, however, Foster again beat Wells in the first round. Those were the only two defeats for Wells in 19 fights.

Foster reached the quarter-final of the light-middleweight division at the 1955 European Championships in West Berlin. He lost to the eventual champion Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland, however, who captured the first of four European titles.