As Nick Ball reigns alone, what happened to Britain’s last sole world champion?

With 18 divisions and 70 world championships recognised by the four major sanctioning bodies, there are plenty of opportunities for British fighters to claim world titles. In 2016, there were 14 British champions across the various divisions.  

After Daniel Dubois lost his International Boxing Federation (IBF) strap to undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk in July, the United Kingdom was left with just one champion in the form of Ball. 

To find the last time Britain had just one reigning titlist, you would have to go back to 1987 – when Terry Marsh was the sole Brit atop of the world. 

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British world champion landscape in 1987 

There was a brief period at the start of 1987 when Britain had three world champions. Heading into the year, Lloyd Honeyghan was undisputed champion at welterweight, holding the WBA, World Boxing Council (WBC), and IBF belts at 147lbs. 

At the turn of the year, Honeyghan relinquished his WBA belt in order to avoid fighting Harold Volbrecht of South Africa, during the height of the country’s apartheid policy. 

Light heavyweight Dennis Andries held the WBC strap at 175lbs, whilst Marsh would defeat American Joe Manley on March 4, 1987, to win the IBF belt at super lightweight. 

Just three days later, Andries would lose his belt to Thomas Hearns out in the United States, immediately bringing Britain back down to two champions. 

Honeyghan would also vacate the IBF strap before losing his WBC title to Jorge Vaca in October 1987. By this time Marsh had already fought his last fight, defeating Japanese challenger Akio Kameda at the Royal Albert Hall in July.  

Suffering from epilepsy, Marsh had stated that his fight with Kameda would be his final contest, but briefly flirted with the idea of facing Hector Camacho for £500,000. That fight never transpired, meaning Marsh’s reign would end outside the ring, announcing his retirement in December 1987, relinquishing his belt in the process. 

Britain would have to wait just three months without a world champion, with Honeyghan regaining his WBC title by enacting revenge over Vaca in March 1988. 

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Terry Marsh’s boxing life 

Marsh could be described as quite the character. As a younger man he spotted an advert for the Royal Marines whilst commuting into London, serving for four years. That led to his boxing career, which encompassed over 150 amateur fights, including two victorious campaigns at the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) finals.  

Having missed out on the Olympics, Marsh turned professional in October 1981, with no initial ambitions of becoming a world champion. He plugged away over the years, winning the British super lightweight title in 1984. 

In 1985 he had become European champion, suggesting that he would potentially get a world title shot. It would arrive in the form of Manley, who Marsh defeated in the 10th round in Basildon to become an unlikely world champion. 

After making one defence against Kameda, Marsh retired with a final record of 26 wins, one draw, and no defeats. He became just the second European fighter to retire with an unbeaten record. 

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Terry Marsh’s colourful retirement 

Epilepsy did not just force Marsh to leave the sweet science behind, but it also halted his day job as a firefighter. Shortly after retiring, he worked in Canary Wharf as a stockbroker.  

He was also arrested and charged with the shooting of his former promoter, Frank Warren, in 1989, although he was subsequently acquitted. Marsh had been identified as a suspect with motive as he was embroiled in a libel case with Warren, eventually contested and found in favour of the fighter. 

In 1989 he also enjoyed a stint as a film star, acting in the Ray Winstone-led Tank Malling, which also included fellow British boxers John Conteh and Jimmy Batten. 

Life did not calm down for Marsh after the 1980s. He attempted to get into the world of politics, first with Labour, before defecting and standing for election representing the Liberal Democrats.  

However, he was forced to withdraw from the contest as he was charged with alleged fraud and deception, charges that were again dropped. Undeterred from the world of politics, Marsh went to set up his own party  - None of the Above, a protest that voters could not actively show that they did not support any of the political parties on offer. 

However, UK electoral laws prevent parties with such misleading names from being on the ballot paper. In order to get around this, Marsh legally changed his name by deed poll to ‘None of the Above X’, subsequently becoming known as Mr. X. 

He stood in the 2010 and 2015 general elections as an independent in the constituency of South Basildon and East Thurrock, promising not to take his seat if he was elected. In 2015 he also picked up the boxing gloves again aged 57 – to take up chess-boxing. 

Marsh had been a champion chess player during his youth, and he won the World Chessboxing Association welterweight title by defeating Armenian Dymer Agasaryan, who was over 30 years his younger. 

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