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Olympic Class
The lesser known of our Jack Taylor collection in professional circles but one of Britain’s finest amateurs and an influential man in professional circles.
Jack came from the famous Bradford dynasty, being the cousin of Heavy middleweight professional champion Eric Taylor, son of the 1938 British featherweight champion Tom Taylor and nephew of Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games competitor Joe Taylor. Jack too had an equally illustrious amateur career and lower profile professional career.
Jack won the British amateur lightweight title in 1956 and represented Britain in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Jack won one of his three matches, returning home with honour but without honours. Jack had only a short lived professional career, but was the opponent for Jeff Kaye when he made his paid debut.
During his two years National Service Jack served as a physical training instructor in the army. A bricklayer by trade (in later life he kept fit by climbing scaffold using only his hands) Jack trained many amateurs and aspiring professionals at the Leeds Athletic Institute, being responsible for the development of many young wrestlers of the 1960s and 1970s. Al Marshall told us that when Cyril Knowles offered him his chance in the pro ring he was certain that Cyril was greatly influenced by the knowledge he had been trained by Jack Taylor.
Jack Taylor died, aged 83, on 7th October, 2015.
Reviewed 28/02/2022
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