Puncher from the Past: Dave 'The Dartford Destroyer' Charnley
By Eric Armit
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 27 Jan 2024
DAVE (THE DARTFORD DESTROYER) CHARNLEY
Born 10 October 1935 Dartford, England
Died 3 March 2012 at the age of 76
Record: 61 fights 48 wins, (27 by KO/TKO) 12 losses, 1 draw.
Beat: Danny McCarthy, Joe Lucy, Johnny Gonsalves, Don Jordan**,Tony Garcia, Peter Waterman, Joey Lopes, Willie Toweel, Billy Kelly, Jimmy Brown, Mario Vecchiatto, Paul Armstead, Gene Gresham, Fernand Noliet, Ray Nobile, Len Matthews, Darkie Hughes, LC Morgan, Jose Stable*, JD Ellis, Joe Brown **, Maurice Cullen, Kenny Lane*
Lost: Guy Gracia (twice), Willie Toweel, Carlos Ortiz**, Joe Brown twice)**, Douglas Vaillant*, Bunny Grant*, Tito Marshall, Brian Curvis*, Emile Griffiths**
-1954 won the British/ABA featherweight title stopping legendary Scottish amateur Dick McTaggart in one round. Won bronze medal at the British Empire Games
Turned professional on 24 October 1954
-1954-56 built a 20-2-1 record as he climbed from four round fights to ten rounds,
-1957 Won the British lightweight title outpointing Joe Lucy, Stopped Johnny Gonsalves lost on points to Willie Toweel for the British Empire/Commonwealth title
-1958 Beat Don Jordan, Peter Waterman, Joey Lopez. Lost on points to Carlos Ortiz.
-1959 Knocked out Willie Toweel in ten rounds to win the British Empire/Commonwealth title. December in Houston lost on a TKO against Joe Brown for the World lightweight title loss brought about by a cut over Charnley’s right eye
-1960 Stopped Mario Vecchiatto to win the European lightweight title and knocked out Paul Armstead in nine rounds
-1961 Beat Gene Gresham and Fernand Nollet. April in London lost on points to Joe Brown for the lightweight title. A heavily disputed decision. Charnley’s second title attempt was staged in Britain in front of a then record indoor crowd of 18,000 and was Ring Magazine “Fight of the Year. Charnley had four more fights in the year defending the European title with a stoppage of Ray Nobile, outpointed Len Matthews, knocked out Darkie Hughes in 40 seconds in defence of the British, European and Commonwealth titles. At that time it was the fastest knockout in the history of British title fights. Knocked out LC Morgan in three rounds.
-1962 Outpointed Jose Stable. Lost on points to Douglas Vaillant and outpointed by Bunny Grant in a Commonwealth title defence.
-1963 Met Joe Brown for the third time and kayoed Brown in the sixth round (Brown had lost the WBA title to Carlos Ortiz in April 1962). Outpointed Maurice Cullen in British title defence. Lost on points to Tito Marshall.
-1964 Lost on points to Brian Curvis. Outpointed Kenny Lane. Lost TKO 9 Emile Grifith and announced his retirement in January 1965.
Charnley’s parents were Scottish but moved to Dartford where Charnley was born. He worked as a boilermaker and joined the Dartford amateur boxing club before moving to the famous Fitzroy Lodge club. He won the ABA featherweight title in 1954, stopping legendary amateur Dick McTaggart in the first round; McTaggart won Olympic gold two years later.
After success as an amateur he turned professional at the age of nineteen and won the British, European and Commonwealth titles with only the World title eluding him and even then his loss to Joe Brown in their second fight was hugely controversial with many observers having Charnley winning by five clear rounds . His aggressive, hard-punching style made him one of the most popular fighters in Britain. Conversely his out of the ring persona was that of a quiet, modest man who shunned publicity and was always respectful of his opponents. He dodge no one and rebounded from losses by taking tougher fights. Mickey Duff described Charnley as the best British fighter never to win a world title.
He was smart with his money and whilst still boxing he already had a successful hair salon. His ring earning were estimated at £400,000 a considerable sum in those days and he went in to property development and restoration and was a very successful businessman.
About the Author
Born in Scotland, Eric Armit started working with Boxing News magazine in the UK in the late 1960’s initially doing records for their Boxing News Annual and compiling World, European and Commonwealth ratings for the magazine. He wrote his first feature article for Boxing News in 1973 and wrote a “World Scene” weekly column for the magazine from the late 1970’s until 2004. Armit wrote a monthly column for Boxing Digest in the USA and contributed pieces to magazines in Mexico, Italy, Australia, Spain, Argentina and other countries. Armit now writes a Weekly Report covering every major fight around the world and a bi-weekly Snips & Snipes column plus occasional general interest articles with these being taken up by boxing sites around the world. He was a member of the inaugural WBC Ratings Committee and a technical advisor to the EBU Ratings Committee and was consulted by John McCain’s research team when they were drafting the Ali Act. He is a Director and former Chairman of the Commonwealth Boxing Council. Armit has been nominated to the International Boxing Hall of Fame the past two years (2019 and 2020) to which he said, “Being on the list is an unbelievably huge honour.”
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eric Armit.
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