Mickey Duff

Mickey Duff (7 June 1929 – 22 March 2014), was a Polish-born British boxer, manager and promoter.[1][2]

Life and career

He was born Monek Prager in Kraków, Poland. His father was a rabbi, and the family fled the Nazis, emigrating to England in the late 1930s. Having turned professional as a boxer illegally aged 15, Duff retired aged 19. After working as a salesman, including selling sewing machines, Duff returned to boxing to make matches across the UK. A new team began to form in the wake of Jack Solomons, with match maker Duff, manager Jarvis Astaire, and promoter Harry Levine becoming key via a media partnership mainly via the BBC.

Duff was involved with 16 world champions and many leading British fighters, including Frank Bruno,[3] Joe Calzaghe, John Conteh, Terry Downes, Lloyd Honeyghan, Maurice Hope, Charlie Magri, Alan Minter, John H Stracey, Jim Watt and Howard Winstone.

After the rise of Frank Warren through his partnership with ITV and Sky TV, Duff retired. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999. Duff died at a nursing home in south London on 22 March 2014 from natural causes at the age of 84, having had Alzheimer's disease.[4][5]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Punch Drunk". New Statesman. 24 January 2000.
  2. ↑ Press Association. "Boxing world pays tribute to promoter Mickey Duff who has died aged 84 | Sport | The Observer". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Brian Viner (1 December 1999). "Duff still boxing clever into retirement". The Independent (London, UK).
  4. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/former-boxing-promoter-mickey-duff-dies-aged-84-9210298.html
  5. ↑ Notice of death of Mickey Duff, bbc.co.uk; accessed 22 March 2014.

References

External links