Background
Gary Stretch was brought up in the Haresfinch area of Saint Helens, Merseyside, where he was born. His father was a plumber.
Gary Stretch was brought up in the Haresfinch area of Saint Helens, Merseyside, where he was born. His father was a plumber.
He attended the town"s Cowley High School.
Stretch stopped the tough Argentine in the 6th round of a very one sided contest. Stretch relinquished the title due to a management dispute with Warren and subsequently sat out his contract. Stretch"s return to the ring came in 1991 when he challenged Chris Eubank for the WBO world middleweight championship in London, in a fight billed as "Beauty V the Best".
Stretch suffered a cut behind the ear in the first round and was shaken by an uppercut in the third.
Eubank was down twice in the fight, in the second and third rounds, and was cut badly in the fourth round by a straight left hand from Stretch. The doctor was called at the end of round 5 to look at Eubank, (the cut later needed 16 stitches) advising the referee to stop the fight.
The referee gave the Eubank corner the famous "one more round" advance notice speech. In the sixth round Stretch had a point deducted for pushing Eubank onto the canvas.
Stretch was then shaken by a right hand from Eubank and subsequently took a standing eight count.
The fight was stopped in Eubank"s favor, a stoppage that was very controversial. All three judges had Stretch ahead on the scorecard at the time of the stoppage. Stretch fought only once more after his bout with Eubank before retiring with a career record of 29 wins 1 loss and 1 North Carolina (an accidental clash of heads causing Stretch to be cut on the forehead).
During his time as a boxer, Stretch also worked as a model.
His clients included Calvin Klein and Versace. Stretch was cast as supporting Sir Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie in Oliver Stone"s 2004 film Alexander.
Stone went on to cast Stretch again in World Trade Centre as a paramedic, and in Savages. In 2004 Stretch was cast as psychopathic gangster in Meadows" gritty cult thriller Dead Manitoba"s Shoes (2004), for which Stretch received a BIFA nomination alongside fellow English actor Paddy Considine.
Stretch also starred in the United Kingdom film Freebird in 2008, directed by Jon Ivay.
Appearing alongside Philosophy Daniels and Geoff Bell, the film followed three bikers across a drug-fueled ride in the Welsh countryside. The film was reviewed by Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times as "tedious".