Belfast great Caldwell passes away at 71 – News

By David Smith: With sadness, boxingnews24 has learned that Belfast born boxing great John Caldwell (29-5-1, 14 KO’s) died of cancer last week on July 11th. Caldwell, 71, won a bronze as flyweight in 1956 Melbourne Olympics After turning pro, he went on to win the British title beating Frankie Jones. Following that, Caldwell then went on to make the Lonsdale belt his own. In 1961, Caldwell outpointed Alphonse Halimi for world honors. The same year, Caldwell defended his bantamweight title against Halimi, beating him by a 15 round decision.

Next for Johnny was the fighting Brazilian Eder Jofre in Janaury 1962. After a brutal fight, Caldwell was stopped in the tenth. In October 1962, Caldwell took on Freddie Gilroy for the British and European titles, but was forced to retire in the 10th due to cuts.

However, following a 7th round stoppage win over George Bowes in 1964 and a 10th round TKO loss to the great Alan Rudkin in 1965, Caldwell had one more fight, a 10-round decision loss to Monty Laud in October 1965, and retired.