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Horace William Shinfield was born on 2nd September 1906 in Alfreton, Derbyshire. Billy took up boxing when he was ten years old, his father Nehemia had been a bare knuckle fighter. Aged thirteen he followed in his father’s footsteps and went straight to work at Blackwell Colliery, children at that time were allowed to work part time from thirteen until reaching the school leaving age at fourteen.
In the 1930s he was a professional boxer, with thirty-four recorded matches between 1930 and 1934. He also boxed with the Billy Woods fairground booth, notching up hundreds of contests and finally retiring in 1939. Following retirement he obtained a boxing manager’s licence and trained boxers at his gymnasium in the Three Horse Shoes public house in Ripley, Derbyshire.
Billy promoted boxing and in 1959 began promoting wrestling in association with Joint Promotions.
Billy owned an internationally renowned maker and supplier of boxing rings. He supplied rings used in the Ali-Foreman world heavyweight title fight in Zaire and the Bugner v Bruno fight in Tottenham. He was in the unfortunate position of being ring erector at the Preston Guild Hall in 1976 when Masambula was seriously injured following a posting.
In 1986 boxing promoter Ron Gray presented 81 year old Billy with an award in recognition of 73 years service to boxing.
Billy Shinfield continued to manage a number of boxers up to the time of his death on 26th May 1989.
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