Background
Needham was born in Nottingham and attended Cottesmore School.
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Dave Needham
Edit ProfileCareer
He trained at the Nottingham Boxing School in Radford. He went on to compete in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Needham"s first professional fight was on 25 January 1971 when he fought Jimmy Killeen.
He lost the bantamweight title on 20 October 1975 at Grosvenor House (World Sporting Club), Mayfair on a technical knockout (TKO) to the same Paddy Maguire.
On 20 April 1978 at the World Sporting Club, Piccadilly. On 16 December 1978 in Leon, Spain, he fought for the EBU featherweight title, but lost on a TKO to Roberto Castanon.
Needham lost the featherweight title on 6 November 1979 at the Royal Albert Hall when he was defeated by Pat Cowdell on points. His last fight was on 29 May 1979 at Wolverhampton Civic Hall against Pat Cowdell for the British featherweight title.
Needham retired aged 29 in 1980, after becoming disillusioned with the sport.
He spent the last couple of years of his life in Thailand. Needham died in Chonburi hospital from liver problems. He was 57.
Achievements
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He was a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner and one of the few boxers to have held both the BBBC bantamweight and featherweight titles. Needham won two Amateur Boxing Association flyweight titles in 1969 and 1970. He won the Flyweight gold medal beating Uganda"s Leo Rwabwogo. His first title fight was on 10 December 1974 at the former Nottingham ice rink, when he had a points win over Paddy Maguire and became the British bantamweight champion. Needham won the title of British featherweight champion when he defeated Alan Richardson on points. Cowdell won on a TKO.
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Born
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Died
September 19, 2008 (aged 57) -
Nationality
British