By Paul Zanon
SEVEN decades in boxing. Take a moment to think how many people you know who can banded into that same sentence. Well, James Edward Patrick Tibbs does, but he’s better known in boxing circles as Jimmy.
Boxing News had the pleasure of catching up with the septuagenarian of the sport, explaining his introduction into the square ring.
“When I was 11 years of age I went for trials at West Ham Football Club with Frank Lampard [Sr]. He got through and I didn’t,” Tibbs told Boxing News. “That’s when I turned to boxing at West Ham Amateur Boxing Club.
“After making a little bit of progress, my trainer, Jackie Gubbins asked me to come up on Sunday mornings to watch the seniors. After a couple of years, it went from watching them to training with them and by the age of 15 I was sparring with pros.
“Around that time, Billy Walker, the trainer at West Ham, not the boxer, asked me and my dad if I would go to the Duke of Fife, in East Ham, to spar with a fella called Brian Bissmire, who was a flyweight. Billy wanted to use me for my southpaw jab because Brian was getting ready to fight Walter McGowan in 1961. I ended up sparring with him for a few weeks.
“At the time, Terry Lawless had a couple of middleweight fighters there and I also used to spar them, even though I was just a welterweight. I ended up breaking one Terry’s fighters’ jaw before his fight in Shoreditch, which he wasn’t too happy about, understandably.
“I turned senior at 17 and had a few fights at that level, including Pat Dywer, who went into the fight as the big favourite. We sold out West Ham Baths and I gave him a good fight. I had him down in the last round and the crowd were going mad. Back then, they used to put your name on placards, all along Barking Road. Jimmy Tibbs versus Pat Dywer. That’s why we sold the place out. You don’t see that any more.
“In about 80 amateur fights, I lost six, most of which I won down the line. I won the Schoolboys for Great Britain twice, became NABC champion twice, reached the junior ABA finals and became the North East Divisional champion as a senior.”
Tibbs turned pro in 1966 and it’s well documented that he sparred Muhammad Ali, a few weeks before fighting Tom Calderwood on the Ali vs Cooper II undercard on May 21, 1966. Tibbs cast his mind back to the day he sparred ‘The Greatest’.
“I was working down my dad’s mate’s scrapyard, helping to put up a fence and one of my relatives comes round to the yard and says, ‘Terry Lawless has been in touch with me. You’re sparring with Muhammad Ali. They’re all at White City waiting for you.’ I said, ‘Lovely. I’ll need to get me gear though.’ He said, ‘I’ve got it in the motor. Let’s go.’
“I got to White City and Ali was walking around looking a bit serious. I then realised I’d forgotten my groin guard and Ali’s sparring partner, Jimmy Ellis said, ‘There you go Jim. Borrow that one.’ On the front it had his initials ‘JE,’ and I thought, ‘Lovely. My name is James Edward. It was meant to be.’
“Ali’s ready in the ring and I’m now loosened up. As I look over, I’m now thinking, ‘This could be a bit serious.’ I only weighed about 12 stone and he was a full-sized heavyweight. As the spar starts, I flicked out the jab and it literally just touched his head. Bang. He hits the canvas. Everyone is clicking away with their cameras ringside as I’m standing there thinking, ‘Did I even hit him?’ I’ll always maintain, I never sparred with Ali. I shared a ring with the greatest heavyweight in the world.”
A couple of weeks later, Tibbs fought on the undercard of Ali versus Cooper. Tibbs recalled his comeback performance. “It was my fifth fight as a pro and I was fighting at Arsenal Football Stadium in Highbury. As I’m walking into the stadium, there’s this big roar from the crowd. I’ve stopped and thought, ‘Ali must be behind me.’ What I really appreciated that night, was that you box for years as an amateur and then turn pro and throughout those years, your followers follow you along, even the ones you don’t sell tickets to.
“I got into the ring, the bell goes, I’m boxing away and all of a sudden I got clipped and over I’ve gone. I went down, looked at Terry Lawless, got up and then went down again. The second was a slip though.
“Second round I went for Calderwood. Jab, jab, jab, jab, got onto the ropes and when he went to open up on me, he left himself a bit wide and I went crack, crack, crack down the middle and stopped him. When I got out of the ring, Mickey Duff put his arm around me and said, ‘It looks better when you go down, get up and then stop ‘em!’
Tibbs earned a very respectable pro record of 17-2-1, 13 KOs; however, his career was cut short due to extraordinary circumstances. After serving just under five years of a 10-year prison sentence, Tibbs started the second part of his fistic journey after receiving a phone call from Terry Lawless in 1981. Tibbs explained. “Terry said, ‘I’m going to America for a couple of weeks. Could you help me out, Jim?’ I said, ‘If it’s alright with Frank Black, that’s okay with me.
“A few days later I walked into the gym and there’s the likes of Frank Bruno, Charlie Magri, Gary Mason, Horace Notice, Mo Hussein, Mark Kaylor, Tony Wilson and loads more. I arranged sparring with whoever was available and then I got the pads out, which was the first time most of them had ever seen a set of pads. I started all these combinations like hook, cross, hook and once they’d got the hang of it, I’d say, ‘Lovely. Now slip a left hook underneath.’ They loved it and it worked for them when they boxed, which meant they all wanted pad work. I ended up having to draw up a rota on the wall.
“When Terry came back, he gives me a call and says, ‘Can you come down the gym and have a chat with me?’ I went down thinking I’d maybe done something wrong, but instead he said, ‘The fighters want you to train them.’ We shook hands and I started straight away.”
Tibbs reminisced of his charges. “I’d have to say Frank Bruno was the hardest puncher. Lloyd Honeyghan could punch, but I have to say, for his weight, as a flyweight, Charlie Magri was probably the hardest puncher of the lot, pound-for-pound.
“As for talent, I can’t choose one. I would say, Lloyd Honeyghan, Pat Clinton, Jim McDonald, Chris Pyatt, Charlie Magri. I’m not saying they were the best and most successful fighters, but the most talented. Another I have to mention is Kevin Mitchell. He was one of the best fighters I ever trained. On his day, he could beat any lightweight in the world.”
In October 2023, Tibbs received The Joe Bromley Award For Outstanding Services To Boxing from the British Boxing Writers Club. Tibbs recalled the night. “As I’ve got older, I’ve often thought, ‘If only I had kept out of trouble. I could have done so much more.’ I regretted it and regretted it for years and years, until I went to the Savoy that night.
“Anyway. There I am sat at the table, in between you [Paul Zanon] and my son Mark and I’ve had a couple of small glasses of wine by this stage. The guy from the Boxing Writers Club starts his speech saying, ‘The man who’s won this award has been in the game for almost 70 years,’ and I thought, ‘Cor blimey. Whoever that is, they’re gonna have a job getting up them steps to the stage.’
“Mark’s looking straight forward expressionless as the guy doing the talking starts to go through this person’s amateur career. He mentioned Jackie Gubbins was his trainer and I’ve said to the people on my table, ‘Blimey. Jackie Gubbins was my trainer! What a coincidence.’
“He then says, ‘He turned pro in 1966 and made his debut at the Royal Albert Hall against Eddie Lennon. That’s when Mark’s turned to me with a big smile on his face and I realised it was me who was getting the award. I’d only had a couple of wines, but I felt a bit tipsy, which wasn’t great as I was asked to go up on stage and say a few words!”
Tibbs still works with his son Mark, assisting numerous fighters on many levels, as Mark proudly carries the Tibbs torch worldwide. “I’m not saying it because he’s my boy, but he hardly makes any mistakes. I am so proud of Mark and the time he puts into the game. If you don’t put the time in, you ain’t gonna get anywhere. You never know when the next good fighter’s going to walk into that gym and say, ‘Mark. Can you train me?’”
