Anyone out there who remembers my dad Johnny Sullivan...

[John T]

My dad won the British & Empire Middleweight title in 1954, beating Gordon Hazell in the first round (2 minutes, 22 seconds).

[Darren]

I found his fight record on http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=033426

There seems to be a lot of info about him. What was he like as a father?

[John T]

Hi Darren,

Many thanks for the link...!

My father was a great fella and father. He genuinely was one of the nicest people you could wish to meet. As well as his professional fights, he tells me that he had a further 500 fights on the fairground boxing booth. My Grandfather had his own booth (Sullivan's Booth) and travelled around all the fair grounds throughout the UK. As you probably know, many champions came from the booths in those days.

Even though he had so many fights, he was a big softy at heart and loved his wife June and family dearly... I was very lucky to have Johnny Sullivan as my father and miss him lots.

Please let me know is you find anything else on the net; I down loaded some fights clips from the PATHE NEWS site, which was great and have loads of photographs / newspaper cuttings at home but I would love to be able to buy a full movie of some of his fights. When he fought in the states all these fights were televised but to date I haven't been able to find any. I believe that my dad was the first British fighter to top the bill at MADISON SQUARE GARDENS; he did this twice.

Good to hear from you Darren

John T

[darren h]

hi john,

just been reading the boxing forums over here in australia and spotted your post. Yes i remember your dad very well, he and my dad (Paul Hallmark) were cousins and close mates. Your grandad Sam who i think ran his own gym took my dad under his wing. my dad had weak legs (i think from polio but not sure) and sammy took him down the gym and tought him how to skip. from then on in my dad never stopped showing off about the size of his calves.
I remember my dad's reaction when he received news of your dads passing. He was in Australia at the time and he was devistated.
I met your dad when i was a kid on many occasions and remember that he always had time to talk to us.

[robsnell]

i have the 5th march 1954 issue of boxing news and your dad and hazel are featured with photos on the front page. I will scan the page for you and send it. very good quality with large photos of each

[John T]

Hi Darren,
Good to hear from you!
I clearly remember visiting your house as a small child...
I was with your Dad at an ex-boxers function in Liverpool about 4-5 years ago and chatted to him for over an hour or so about boxing, family and stuff in general. He was telling me about your shed where you keep your boxing memorabilia!! He always spoke very fondly of his children to me.
I was so sorry to hear of your dads passing away and so soon after my dad. I was very shocked; being as your dad always seemed to be so fit and full of energy! I know that you met up with my mum and sisters at your dads funeral; I'm so sorry that I couldn't attend...
As well as being cousins, our dads were very close and often spoke very fondly of each other.
It would be good to stay in touch with you Darren, please drop me an email.
Take care
John

[robsnell]

Hi Darren,
Good to hear from you!
I clearly remember visiting your house as a small child...
I was with your Dad at an ex-boxers function in Liverpool about 4-5 years ago and chatted to him for over an hour or so about boxing, family and stuff in general. He was telling me about your shed where you keep your boxing memorabilia!! He always spoke very fondly of his children to me.
I was so sorry to hear of your dads passing away and so soon after my dad. I was very shocked; being as your dad always seemed to be so fit and full of energy! I know that you met up with my mum and sisters at your dads funeral; I'm so sorry that I couldn't attend...
As well as being cousins, our dads were very close and often spoke very fondly of each other.
It would be good to stay in touch with you Darren, please drop me an email
Take care
John

do you have any phots etc from that visit whic I can place on the web site

Rob
merseyside and wirral ex boxers

[John T]

I will take a look Rob and see what I can find...

[robsnell]

thanks I would appreciate that

[Liamo]

Hi All
I would love to contact JohnT Johnny Sullivan's son to talk about his Dad's three fights with Gordon Hazell.

I don't think he is monitoring his email, can anyone advise as to contact details?

Thanks

[John T]

Hi All
I would love to contact JohnT Johnny Sullivan's son to talk about his Dad's three fights with Gordon Hazell.

I don't think he is monitoring his email, can anyone advise as to contact details?

Thanks

Hi Liamo,

Did you get my recent email?

John Sullivan