Bruce Wells

Bruce Wells
Gennadiy Shatkov (right) v. Wells, 15 October 1955
Statistics
Rated at	Light Middleweight
Nationality	English
Born	(1933-07-07)7 July 1933 Harlesden, Middlesex
Died	14 November 2009(2009-11-14) (aged 76) Camberley, Surrey
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	388
Wins	385
Losses	3

Bruce Albert Wells (7 July 1933 – 14 November 2009) was an English amateur boxer, holder of the ABA Light Middleweight and European Amateur Boxing Championship titles. The magazine Boxing News described him as an "ex-amateur star".

His career win count is 385 – 3.

Wells was born in Harlesden, Middlesex, and after moving to Reading as a boy, he joined the local Reading Aero Boxing Club and readily took to the game. He went on to win Junior ABA Welterweight titles in 1949 and 1950, and also claimed the Gold Star beating Joe Erskine.

In 1951 he made his international début at Belle Vue against the USA, completely out-boxing New Yorker, Randy Sandy and dominating the proceedings with his long left lead.

Wells started 1953 in fine style, chalking up a victory against Ireland at the Royal Albert Hall, following two successes in Denmark, before he attempted to win the ABA Championships.

On 24 April he outscored Scotland's Len Mullen in a semi-final at Wembley, and later that evening was crowned ABA Light Middleweight champion, outpointing Brixton eel-dresser Roy Francis, who was to become one of Britain's best known referees.

Fortified by ABA success, Wells, along with six other ABA champions, which included a young Henry Cooper, headed for the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Warsaw, and eventually clinched Gold, beating Polish National Hero Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, who was himself to go on and win a total of four European titles.

1953 was also a great year outside the ring, as on 10 December, Wells was honoured as one of the Sport Writers Association, Sportsman of the Year, along with Don Cockell, Sir Stanley Matthews, Alec Bedser, Jim Peters and Mike Hawthorn.