is John Conteh the most talented British boxer ever??

[Kirkland Laing]

Colin Hart goes for Kirkland Laing.


I've not seen anyone from this island in the last half-century who possessed as much natural talent as Laing.
Many of his fellow pros from the 1970s and 80s agree. Dave "Boy" Green said unequivocally: "He is as close to Sugar Ray Leonard as anyone in this country has ever been."
Trying to land a punch on him was like trying to catch smoke in a bottle.
Charlie Magri, Maurice Hope and the other world champions who trained at the Royal Oak gym, Canning Town, couldn't lay a glove on him.
So why didn't he make it to the top of the mountain?
The answer can be found in The Gifted One, published this month by Oliver Jarrett of the British Boxing Board of Control.
Jarrett reveals that nearly every time Laing climbed through the ropes he was STONED.
Kirkland arrived in Nottingham from Jamaica when he was nine and, as a Rastafarian, smoked cannabis every day.
Magri once stopped him leaving the changing room for a gym session because he'd forgotten he still had a spliff behind his ear.
Unbelievably, hours before he went into the ring, even before some of the most important fights of his 20-year career, he was puffing on pot.










Stone me! Kirkland Laing was a dope | The Sun |Sport|Boxing

There's a new book out about him if anybody is interested :

Oliver Jarratt

[BIG H]

The mind boggles as to just how good Laing could've been

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

Colin Hart goes for Kirkland Laing.


I've not seen anyone from this island in the last half-century who possessed as much natural talent as Laing.
Many of his fellow pros from the 1970s and 80s agree. Dave "Boy" Green said unequivocally: "He is as close to Sugar Ray Leonard as anyone in this country has ever been."
Trying to land a punch on him was like trying to catch smoke in a bottle.
Charlie Magri, Maurice Hope and the other world champions who trained at the Royal Oak gym, Canning Town, couldn't lay a glove on him.
So why didn't he make it to the top of the mountain?
The answer can be found in The Gifted One, published this month by Oliver Jarrett of the British Boxing Board of Control.
Jarrett reveals that nearly every time Laing climbed through the ropes he was STONED.
Kirkland arrived in Nottingham from Jamaica when he was nine and, as a Rastafarian, smoked cannabis every day.
Magri once stopped him leaving the changing room for a gym session because he'd forgotten he still had a spliff behind his ear.
Unbelievably, hours before he went into the ring, even before some of the most important fights of his 20-year career, he was puffing on pot.










Stone me! Kirkland Laing was a dope | The Sun |Sport|Boxing

There's a new book out about him if anybody is interested :

Oliver Jarratt

Did Kirkland Laing train at the Royal Oak?

Canning Town is my patch.

[Kirkland Laing]

Colin Hart goes for Kirkland Laing.


I've not seen anyone from this island in the last half-century who possessed as much natural talent as Laing.
Many of his fellow pros from the 1970s and 80s agree. Dave "Boy" Green said unequivocally: "He is as close to Sugar Ray Leonard as anyone in this country has ever been."
Trying to land a punch on him was like trying to catch smoke in a bottle.
Charlie Magri, Maurice Hope and the other world champions who trained at the Royal Oak gym, Canning Town, couldn't lay a glove on him.
So why didn't he make it to the top of the mountain?
The answer can be found in The Gifted One, published this month by Oliver Jarrett of the British Boxing Board of Control.
Jarrett reveals that nearly every time Laing climbed through the ropes he was STONED.
Kirkland arrived in Nottingham from Jamaica when he was nine and, as a Rastafarian, smoked cannabis every day.
Magri once stopped him leaving the changing room for a gym session because he'd forgotten he still had a spliff behind his ear.
Unbelievably, hours before he went into the ring, even before some of the most important fights of his 20-year career, he was puffing on pot.










Stone me! Kirkland Laing was a dope | The Sun |Sport|Boxing

There's a new book out about him if anybody is interested :

Oliver Jarratt

Did Kirkland Laing train at the Royal Oak?

Canning Town is my patch.

That's the Terry Lawless gym, right? Terry was Kirk's manager before he signed with Mickey Duff so almost certainly he was training there for the early part of his career.