BOXING heroes in 1998 included Lennox Lewis, Prince Naseem Hamed, Joe Calzaghe and John Pearce. Pearce won a second ABA middleweight title and then struck Commonwealth Games gold in Kuala Lumpur.
“I got quite a lot of offers and pro boxing would have suited me,” said Pearce, now 53 years old.
“But I had a good job. I ran a window company and now I have my own.
“I wish I had given it (pro boxing) a go. I do have regrets and that’s why I’m 100 per cent behind Jade.”
Jade Pearce is his daughter and makes her pro debut on manager Carl Greaves’s show in Newark on Saturday night (March 22). Wins over Raven Chapman and Nina Hughes on her 27-bout amateur record suggest she has a good future.
“Dad wouldn’t let me box,” said the 28-year-old from Middlesbrough. “I used to swim for the County and played hockey at a high level as well.
“I did every sport – to keep me out of the boxing gym. I was always athletic and competitive and was in the boxing gym with my dad since I was a baby, but he would never let me train.
“When I was 18, I said: ‘Now I’m an adult, you can either coach me or I will go somewhere else.’
“After my third bout he asked: ‘Have you had enough ?’ and I said: ‘No,’ but dad knew that would be the answer. I didn’t box just to get a taste for it. Dad knew it would become my life.”
Boxing had been her father’s and grandfather’s life.
“I tortured my dad to take me boxing,” remembered John. I was 11 when I first went. Dad was a pro and he knew John Dryden, who had North Ormsby Amateur Boxing Club.
“They put the rent up at the gym and a local brewery came along and said John could have a room above a pub, The Wellington. That was in 1982 and the club’s been there ever since.”
Boxing for Wellington ABC, Pearce won the ABA middleweight title in 1996 with a victory over Wayne Elcock, who went on to win British honours in the pros and fought for the world championship.
Pearce won it again in 1998 and added Commonwealth Games gold after beating future world champion Brian Magee in the last four.
“I didn’t officially retire,” said Pearce, who had 89 amateurs in total and bowed out after suffering an eye injury ahead of the qualifiers for the 2000 Olympics.
“Dad used to put me off going pro because I was turning 30 and I used to miss my kids and didn’t want to be away for weeks at a time. I ended up just drifting away. I used to still go sparring. People would ring and say: ‘We need some sparring for the championship or the pros.’
“I was helping out and when Jade started, I got my coaching badges. I didn’t really want to do it. It wasn’t my plan. I got my Level One (coaching badge) and thought that would be me.
“John passed away and at his funeral, one of the ex-boxers, Michael Devlin, said: ‘I will help you run the gym.’ We do it together. He is the organised one!”
The club has 24 amateur boxers currently carded – and a new pro.
“I’m better suited to the pros,” said Jade, whose father is currently applying for his pro trainer’s licence.
“I don’t think I ever lost the last round in any of my amateur fights. My engine always took over in the end and throughout my amateur career I always boxed above my level.
“In my 10th fight, I boxed someone who was having their 30th. That was the only way I could get a bout.”
Jade’s performances haven’t gone unnoticed.
“It always used to be: ‘Aren’t you John Pearce’s daughter?” and I was so proud when people would say that,” she said.
“Dad loves it now when people ask him: ‘Aren’t you Jade’s dad ?’”
