Meet the Buxton Brothers
If you lived in and around the Watford area during the 1940’s and 1950’s you would recognise that the Buxton brothers were extremely well known for their boxing achievements.
In this amazing story you will learn that the four brothers took the boxing world by storm while all fighting professionally. Joe, Alex, Laurie and Allan were superstars in the local community and couldn’t walk down the street without being stopped by fans and well wishers.
Allan, who is sadly the last surviving brother, tells the story about how it all began. “The fair used to come to Water Lane in Watford and they used to have boxing booths, I was only 10 at the time and I remember Joe coming home one night with a cup.
"He had won a knock out competition where he had a few fights in one night. That just triggered something off and I suppose we all thought if he can do it then so can we!
"Then we all joined Phil Horwood’s boxing club and we all used to do it together. I then joined the sea cadets at the beginning of the war and used to box for them.”
Allan made his first amateur appearance in 1937. In 1944 at Stoke Newington he won the Open Novice competition where he won four fights in one evening and this moved him up into the intermediate amateur class.
Allan achieved the ultimate goal in British amateur boxing in May 1949 when he won the ABA title in the 10st 7lbs division beating Wally Thom. Allan was fighting out of the Harrow ABC where he was one of the founder members. Shortly after his memorable win Allan turned pro. Although he was quite happy as an amateur he felt the time was right to turn over.
“I would have stayed amateur for longer but there was a team going to the Oslo games and the ABA board were very picky and choosy on who went along. Even though people knew my style was ideal for the continent they turned me down and that gave me the push to turn pro. By then of course of all my brothers were fighting professional too.”
In what surely was a first for British boxing and has probably never happened since, all four of the brothers fought and won on a professional boxing show. On the 27th September 1949, Alex, Laurie and Allan coaxed elder brother Joe out of his semi-retirement to fight on a bill at Watford town hall. Joe agreed to take part and the night was a success as all the guys won their respective bouts. Joe won on points and the other brothers all won inside the distance.
In another notable night for the family Alex, Laurie and Allan all took part on a show at Watford football ground on the 5th September 1950. Once again they all left the ring with another win on their records.
Boxing was just starting to get some TV coverage when Allan was fighting, considering that TV was only on for a few hours a night this proved boxing was big business in this era as it managed to get a slot most weeks. Allan has a special link to the voice of boxing, Harry Carpenter. Allan was lucky enough to be in the first ever boxing contest that Harry covered for TV.
Having close family members involved in each others' careers must have been a great boost for the boys. Boxing was always at the forefront of their minds and Allan thinks it benefited them all.
“We were all very supportive of each other; myself and Laurie being the same weight helped each other out by sparring a lot. When Alex came back from the marines he used to live in London and I would travel there every day to train in the gym."
If it wasn’t enough having three boxing mad brothers Allan explains who his biggest follower was.
"My greatest supporter was my mother; she was suffering from rheumatism and couldn’t go far on her own. I used to borrow my dad's car and take her to all my boxing shows, she wouldn’t miss a show. She was always given a ringside seat and was very well known.”
Allan fought professionally from 1949 to 1953. His record stands at (17-11-2). Being so well known around town meant Allan could never hide away from his boxing connections. Late in 1951, Allan took his wife to the cinema for a night out and was tracked down by his manager who offered Allan a fight in Leeds the next day. Allan always kept himself in good shape and had only fought the week before and felt he was ready to go again. He made the long trip up north and it was well worth while as he scored a good win over Joe Corcoran.
Alex Buxton had an amazing career which took him all over the world. He had two spells fighting out of Australia and had a successful stint in Germany too. He also fought in Italy, France, Sweden and Singapore. During his 125-fight career Alex was famous for beating the Australian heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in his own backyard. Alex finished up with a respectable (78-43-4) record. He won the British light-heavyweight title in 1953 with a tenth round inside the distance victory over Dennis Powell. He also beat Albert Finch for the title in 1954. Then, in 1955, Alex had to defend against the great Randolph Turpin who also bought his Commonwealth belt to the table. This was the second time he had fought Randy and on this occasion he lost via a second round KO. Alex fought Randy again in 1956 and lost for the third and final time.
Allan remembers his brother taking on Randy. “Alex’s temperament got the better of him I think. Even though Alex had fought some great fighters I feel Randolph was a bogey man for Alex.”
Laurie, like Allan, fought at welterweight and finished his fourteen year career with a (43-48-5) record. Starting his career in 1939, Laurie liked to keep active and after one year he had progressed to 11-4. During his career he faced some of the best fighters in the UK like Joe Lucy and Wally Thom. Like his brother Alex, Laurie travelled a lot to box. He was lucky enough to get experience all over the world including Italy, Belgium, Jamaica and America.
Laurie gained a lot of media attention for his 1948 bout versus Mike DeCosmo in New York, not for the result but for an unlikely incident during the fight. After the bell had rung to signal the end of a round, due to the noise in the arena the fighters did not hear the bell and continued to fight. When the ref stepped in to split the guys up he found himself on the deck courtesy of a punch from Laurie.
As mentioned earlier Joe was the one who got the guys interested in boxing but he actually did the least professional fighting. His record ended up as 4-6. During his short career Joe spent some time in Northern Ireland fighting some top Irish boxers.
BoxRec News would like to thank Allan and his wife Pauline for kindly inviting me into their home to talk about his family's fascinating past.
