Career
Cowdell now lives just over the border from Smethwick in Oldbury. In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalist Gu Yong-Ju from North of Korea. He was a bronze medalist at the 1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships held in Katowice, Poland.
Olympic results
1st round bye
Defeated Leszek Borkowski (Poland) 5-0
Defeated Alejandro Silva (Puerto Rico) 5-0
Defeated Reynaldo Fortaleza (Philippines) 4-1
Lost to Gu Yong-Ju (North of Korea) 1-4
In 1985 Cowdell challenged Azumah Nelson for the WBC featherweight title, but was caught cold by a bullet of a punch and knocked out in the first round.
He fought on but retired in 1988 after being stopped by Welshman Floyd Havard. Pat runs four professional dinner shows a year at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham"s city centre.
He recently (February 2007) returned to putting shows on at the Burlington after a three-year hiatus at the Holiday Inn - also in the centre of Birmingham. Cowdell"s most famous pupil, Birmingham-based gypsy Jimmy Vincent, twice challenged for the British title before retiring in 2005.