Billy Taylor

The amateur boxing career of Bethnal Green window cleaner Billy Taylor was a short one, and between 1970 and 1973 he won just three of his nine bouts. His professional career was even shorter at 11 months, although he did win all five of his contests.

An ABA semi-finalist in 1970, Taylor’s finest moment as an amateur was in reaching the bantamweight final the following year, when he lost on points to Liverpool’s George Turpin. Many times an England international, Taylor was selected for the 1972 München Olympics at the expense of Scotland’s Vernon Sollas who was dropped from the squad after being convicted of stealing at an Edinburgh court shortly before the Games.

Taylor turned professional in 1973 and his penultimate fight as an amateur was against the future WBA lightweight champion Arturo Frias in New York. Despite losing to Frias, Taylor was part of the England team that enjoyed a memorable 6-5 win over their American counterparts.

After learning his boxing skills at the St. Monica’s and Colverston boxing clubs, Taylor joined the famous Repton Boxing Club in the mid-1960s that would become a breeding ground for many well-known Olympians such as Audley Harrison, Maurice Hope, and John H. Stracey. The infamous Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie, also boxed at the club in the 1950s.

Taylor retired from the ring in 1974 and turned to coaching at Repton, where he helped develop the skills of many young boxers who became junior champions. Taylor also went into acting and appeared in television adverts and as a movie extra. His brother Brian was also a boxer at the Repton ABC.