Career
Born in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, he was known by the nicknames Boy Boon and the Fen Tiger. His match against Arthur Danaher from the Harringay Arena was the first televised boxing match, broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation television and shown live in several cinemas on 23 February 1939. Boon v Danaher was the first occasion that the British Broadcasting Corporation had been permitted to televise a boxing match but also the first time a transmission had been shown live to a paying audience in cinemas (the Marble Architecture Pavilion and the Tatler News Theatre).
Each projection unit contained two projection tubes, one acting as a backup in case the first one failed.
This preceded the first televised heavyweight boxing match (Max Baer vs Lou Nova, from Yankee Stadium) which was held on 1 June 1939. Boon married Wendy Elliot in 1940 and, following his retirement from the sport, played a number of small roles in British films such as Champagne Charlie and Carry On Sergeant.