BOXING fans earlier this year were sorry to hear of the death of Walter McGowan, aged 73.
The Hamilton flyweight defeated Salvatore Burruni to win the world flyweight title in 1966, and was awarded the MBE.
He had already won Scottish, British, European and Empire titles before defeating the Italian at Wembley over 15 rounds to land the world title.
In McGowan’s next fight, he won the British and Empire title at bantamweight when he defeated Alan Rudkin, again at Wembley.
He won 32 of his 40 professional fights before retiring in 1969.
As an amateur fighter, he lost just twice in 124 bouts and won the British ABA flyweight title in 1961.
Dundonian Alex McInnes, who was brought up in Lochee, remembers McGowan fondly.
“In 1977, Walter McGowan was invited by the late Dennis Gilfeather, of Camperdown ABC, to accompany three Dundee boxers who were training for the Scotland v England amateur boxing match to a day trip,” recalled Alex.
“The trip was to the Stewart’s Cream of the Barley, whose premises were on the Kingsway in Dundee.
“Cream of the Barley were the sponsors of the international match, which took place at the NCR factory canteen on Dunsinane Road.
“The local boxers were light welterweight Jimmy Douglas, welterweight Martin Ogilvie and myself — a middleweight.
“During the full tour, Walter kept everybody entertained with his stories about the shenanigans he and Ken Buchanan used to get up to when they were representing Scotland.
“When the tour was complete, we were all taken into a company director’s office.
“Being in training for the big night, we were served soft drinks. However, the director then opened his massive drinks cabinet, which was full of whiskys.
“He then asked Walter what he would you like to drink. In a heartbeat, Walter replied: ‘What I have been use to all my career . . . champagne!’
“One of the office staff was soon despatched to get Walter his bottle of champagne.
“We all had a really great day.”
Alex, who won three Scottish Midlands ABA titles and a British TAVR boxing title in Leeds, concluded: “Walter . . . you may have passed away but you will never be forgotten.”
Alex told me he was brought up in Lochee, aka ‘Tipperary’ due to the influx of Irish who came to work in Cox’s Mill.
He attended Dryburgh Primary School, then Logie Secondary.
He was a steel erector/rigger to trade and worked in power station construction, oil refineries and tank erection, and was also a member of the TAVR Territorial Reserves.
His late father Alex Sr trained Jimmy Douglas when he won the British ABA light- welterweight title in 1978 at Wembley, and was Scottish coach on a number of occasions.
McGowan’s passing also saddened my colleague James Masson.
James met Walter several times and enjoyed talking boxing with him. And Walter was no stranger to this area.
James said: “Before some of his big contests, he would train on the sands near Arbroath, with his father and mentor Joe Gans supervising his workouts. The pair would live close by the sands on these training trips and be on the beach first thing every morning.
“Walter was also friendly with big-punching Perth middleweight Doug Holden, the pair boxing for Scotland together, and Walter was no stranger to the Fair City as he came up to see Doug from time to time.
“After beating Burruni, Walter told me a tale of the dubious tactics Burruni employed during that bout.
“Walter said: ‘When I got in close, Burruni would stand on my toes to stop me moving. However, I ended up with the world title — and 10 sore toes’.”
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