Mark Kaylor

Mark Kaylor appeared to be a prodigious talent from a very early age as he won numerous junior titles and was British national amateur middleweight champion whilst still a teenager in 1980. He got extremely close to winning a medal at the 1980 Games but was edged out by 3 votes to 2 on the judges’ scorecards in his quarter-final with the more experienced Valentin Silaghi of Romania.

Kaylor wasted little time before embarking on a career as a professional boxer and had his first pro fight just two months after returning from the Soviet Union. He won his first 24 fights, culminating in a victory in an attempt on the British and Commonwealth titles, but in his very next fight he lost his temper and was disqualified for hitting the lightly regarded American journeyman Tony Cerda a number of times after the bell had rung for the end of the ninth round.

He lost his titles in 1984 to Tony Sibson and the next year had an infamous encounter with Erroll Christie. At a time when racial tensions were high in the UK and the far-right National Front political party were gaining momentum, Christie claimed that Kaylor used a racial insult during a pre-fight press conference at a London casino that resulted in the two men being involved in a brawl for which both men were given large fines by the boxing authorities. Christie received racially motivated death threats but the fight still went on, albeit with massively increased security. Kaylor won the fight by knock-out but his career stalled afterwards. He would fight on for five years but lose on all four occasions that he challenged for the European title during that period. He retired with a record of 40 wins, 7 defeats and a draw as a professional. In 1996 he moved to California where he worked as a boxing coach and aerobics instructor in the city of Chino.