Boxer’s as a rule have always been known as having rather ugly faces, for example the boxers nose, the cauliflower ear, scar tissue, the high cheek bones, are what are usually remarked about of the boxers face.
However contrary to popular belief, there comes along the pretty boy, or better known as the golden boy whose handsome countenance makes a mockery of the trade he plies and clearly dispel’s such stereotypical views of the boxer’s boat, {cockney slang for someone’s face} and talking of boat’s don’t worry guy’s we’ll be taking a trip to the seaside soon, in the literary sense of course!
Through the years, there have been plenty of good looking men who have traded leather but have dismissed the old adage about ‘he looks a bit banged up’ let’s start with Jack Dempsey, the first million dollar fighter, who also had a short career on the silver screen with actress wife Estelle Taylor, then came boxing’s first golden boy Art Aragon, then Sugar’s Robinson and Leonard, both pretty boy’s, Muhammad Ali, Bobby Czyz, Donnie “Golden Boy” Lalonde the former W.B.C 175lb king, who ring magazine stated as ‘diabolically good looking’ to Britain’s own Robin Reid, who in his spare time posed for girly mags in erotic poses, Calzaghe is another one, both former World super middleweight champions respectively.
However it’s with the super middle’s and Britain where we’ll stay, shall we?, see down in the South coast there’s a super middle coming up the rankings, and from Margate actually, look I’ll explain a little later!
However though only boxing six times and winning his last five in a row as a pro, he sure looks impressive inside the confines of a boxing ring, but talking of looks it’s on the outside his been causing waves, well he is from Margate ain’t he!
So without further a due, let me introduce boxing’s latest golden boy……Jack Morris.
See Jack does’nt look like your average boxer as I once stated in a previous article on the super middleweight prospect, with his boy next door good looks and much, much further away girls, in your wildest dreams!
Morris a native of Margate, the place of kiss me quick hats, though I’m sure ladies you’d opt to kiss Jack slowly!
Jack who stands six foot tall has been dubbed by many of the local lasses down there in Southwark as the Beckham of boxing, oh sorry guy’s I did’nt mention when Jack’s not at home weekend’s in Margate, he stay’s in London as this is where he trains down at the City Boxer gym, a personal trainer during the day, Jack also doe’s a bit of modeling naturally.
Having modeled in his teens, it was’nt long before bigger names came knocking at the afforementioned City Boxer gym, one time Jack modeled in Holborn in London and was paid for a measly two hours work the grand sum of 00!
Modelling anything from Suits to Boxing wear, Jack is at the moment in talks with GQ magazine and Men’s Health involving more work, only last year Jack was offered a week’s work in Milan, the fashion capital of the World for 000, as one of the top people from the late Alexander McQueen’s company felt Jack had the right look and build, however due to there not being enough model’s with the right look, the shoot was canceled.
However despite that initial setback of sorts, the offers weren’t far away from big name modeling agency’s, has Jack was picked up by Dominic Barratt Evans who himself is good friends with Jason Joyce {take a look at www.jasonjoyce.com to see for yourself} who shoots some of the most famous people in the World, U2, Oasis, Cheryl Cole, amongst some of the World’s top models amongst others….so Jack is certainly mixing with the big boys in the photogenic sense, say no more!
Has I mentioned earlier Jack who stand’s an imposing six feet tall, his twelve stone is distributed nicely over his manly frame, wide sloping shoulders with a good six pack chucked in for good measure, and with bulging biceps and unlike most muscle men he doesn’t suffer from what I term ‘lolly pop legs’ as his pin’s are more shapely and well muscled, more like that of a footballer.
It amazes me that a guy that get’s punched in the face for a living is in my totally unbiased opinion a lot better looking than most footballers and for that matter film stars, so I told you quite a bit about Jack, so what’s his face like?, well….. if you could imagine a guy that looks across between Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore, you might know where I’m coming from, this guy is so handsome, and please let me go on record as one writer once did in Ring magazine back in 1993 when doing an article on Billy Conn, who was former light heavy champ, “he was the most handsome man I ever saw in my life” and where Jack’s concerned I echo that very sentence, drop dead gorgeous he sure is, nice friendly blue eyes, shine from his pale complexion, with a nicely shaped nose, also his lovely smile that’s harbored by wait for it girls…..his squarish manly jaw and more importantly Jack when he speaks, it’s with a nice quiet baritone, see there’s nothing flash or cocky with this guy, he is one of the quietest people I have had the pleasure of meeting in my life.
Born on 15th August 1982, I remember the actual day very well as I was a twelve year old at Leigh on sea in Essex, I remember seeing a pretty girl of a similar age, both looking at each other, I felt like I was falling in love at such a young age, it reminded me of that scene from Blake Edward’s film ’10’ where Dudley Moore is imagining his running along the beach meeting up with Bo Derek {a regular at the big fights in the 80’s}, but sadly for me reality struck later that day as she left and I never saw her again, I could have cried but one thing’s for sure someone did that very day, some miles away in Greenwich, it was a newborn baby….it was Jack Morris!
Never mind ’10’, the number ’13’ is a number that Jack seems comfortable with as this is for some reason his nickname, see no one other than the man himself know’s why this is, and in true Bond fashion, it’s top secret simple as, see Jack won’t unleash the reason why he calls himself this until after one of his fights, possibly after he becomes a champion, so you could say ’13’ will one day be number 1!
And in true Patrick Mcgoohan fashion from the hit TV series, The Prisoner, he is not just a number, he is the man!
Jack Morris however is from my knowledge the only boxer ever to call himself ’13’, but by eerie coincidence in the sport of baseball, there was also another Jack Morris who had made history with the number 13, as he scored a record Major League thirteen consecutive straight opening day starts from 1980 through to 1992, but hey it’s the boxing version whose knocking em for six, man and woman alike,See every man want’s to be him, every woman with him!
Jack however is now also a proud father himself, real name Andrew Morris, due to the British boxing board of control deciding that there couldn’t be two Andrew Morris’ as there’s a Andy Morris a super feather from Manchester, so Andrew named himself after his son whose name’s Jack obviously.
The name cunjer’s up that of a old time prizefighter, someone who plied there trade back in the 20’s during the time’s of another Jack, Dempsey that is, however not only that but Morris fights like one also, my first time of watching him was last year at the Troxy, when he defeated the durable Kenroy Lambert who rarely gets stopped, sitting there I felt excited just like when I was a sixteen year old watching for the first time the black and white fights of Dempsey, Marciano and Tunney, it felt as though I was watching a throwback the very way Morris moved and let go with his shots, even managing to score a most impressive stoppage victory over Lambert which is a rarity itself! or has Steve Holdsworth pointed out to me when I was around his house, “that’s a good result, no one hardly stops Kenroy!” enough said!
However at that particular venue on a big screen before the contest, Jack was shown being interviewed by his trainer Mark ” the Burf” Burford, the big screen treatment fitting as Jack is hoping that an acting career will hopefully come to fruition on a much bigger screen after his finished trading punches for punch lines!
Also it is hoped a much bigger stage boxing wise, with the good looks of a James Bond type, and like the nickname of his trainer, the “Burf” it could be the birth indeed of a champion boxer and film star, or like the recent film starring Jim Carey ‘I love Philip Morris’ all I can say is Jack ain’t too bad himself! and while on the subject of celluloid, in true Bond idiom on getting back to that particular March evening last year, it was Lambert who was shaken, myself stirred!
However thus far as a pro Jack has showed progress more so in his last two fights, beating oft beat journeymen in Jamie Ambler and Adam Wilcox, it’s not just beating them, it’s the way he has, more conclusively than that of the other so called prospects, harmed not only with hooks that weaken opponents knee’s, but looks that weaken the ladies knee’s Jack is a winner on both sides of the ropes it seems.
Surely a member of the bored housewife’s club and many a teenage girls fantasy, let me put it into some kind of perspective shall I, after buying the trade paper Boxing news, showing my mate at work Dave Crossley the photo of Jack he remarked ‘good looking boy’ on showing my mum some film I had taken of my subject for this article ‘his not a bad looking bloke is he’, see everyone loves Jack from the young to the old, and it’s with the young that Jack works closely with, as he helps raise money for a children’s charity that helps children with various illnesses, conclusive proof that the saying ‘beauty’s only skin deep’ need not apply to the man from Margate has he is on both counts, last year at Jack’s effort versus Jamie Ambler, the brigade of charity workers holding buckets for Jack around the ringside, to help raise cash for Jack’s designated charity or has I noted in my report, “if only footballers followed by Jack’s fine example, Jack the Beckham of boxing? definitely! his better looking than David’s Beckham and fellow pin up boxer Haye, and with bigger balls and better look’s than Beckham, his more golden than golden balls himself!
So call him what you like, the Bond or the Beckham of boxing, but one things for sure girls, Jack bends it like Beckham if not better and that certainly would be a case of ‘for your eyes only!’
