Frankie Taylor

Posted: August 13, 2025

FORMER  boxing champion and Sunday People sports writer FRANKIE TAYLOR died in Heysham, Lancashire, on July 17 [2025]. He was 82.

Walking across The People newsroom, Frankie Taylor always looked light on his feet. Not surprising, really, as that same nimble gait led to him being hailed as one of Britain’s best loved boxers who was almost unbeatable in the ring. And when failing eyesight put paid to his boxing career in the mid sixties, he turned to journalism and a career as a sports writer with The People that lasted 35 years. Standing just 5ft 5ins tall, his tenacity as a fighter earned him the nickname “The Tiger.” In The People they called him “The Writer with a Punch.”

Born in Lancaster, his boxing talent first emerged at the Lancaster Lads Amateur Boxing Club when he was a teenager. By 1960 he had won the title of Britain’s best amateur bantamweight. In that same year he was selected for the UK’s Olympic Games team in Rome, his hopes of a gold medal dashed only by a controversial defeat against a Russian opponent. When he turned professional in 1962 it was the start of a remarkable career that saw him win 27 of his 31 fights.

As a youngster, he attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School and from there went on to become a junior reporter with the Lancaster Guardian and Lancashire Evening Post. It was an era when The People was acclaimed for its sports coverage, with writers such as Mike Langley, Alan Smith and Brian Madely. Frankie’s freelance contributions to the paper led to sports editor Neville Holtham offering him a full time job, a decision that served to boost The People’s outstanding sport team. As the paper’s boxing correspondent, Frankie was uniquely qualified. He was friends with many of the leading boxers of the day, including the great Muhammad Ali. He and Ali had met at the Rome Olympics, where Ali referred to him as “the man who was robbed of Olympic gold”. They kept in touch over the years, enabling Frankie to produce a string of exclusives as Ali regularly confided in him during his rise to international fame.

In retirement, Frankie lived quietly in Morecambe, occasionally venturing out to sing karaoke at his local pub, The Exchange. Ever modest about his achievements in the ring, he would reply to queries about his past with the diffident reply: “Yeah, I used to do a bit of boxing.”

With thanks to Plainjohn Smith/image Mirrorpix: Frankie Taylor with Frank Bruno Former WBC Heavyweight Champion