Willie Limond passes away at the age of 45

WILLIE LIMOND, the former British and Commonwealth super-lightweight champion, tragically handed away on Monday (April 15) at the age of 45.

Limond, from Glasgow, Scotland, had been getting ready for a battle in opposition to Joe Laws on May 3 when, whereas driving, he suffered a suspected seizure in his automobile. Found unresponsive in the car on April 6, he was subsequently taken to Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the place he remained in a comatose state.

Sadly, Limond, one of Britain’s hardest boxers, by no means awakened.

In a put up on social media, Limond’s son Jake, additionally a professional boxer, mentioned his “dad passed away in the early hours of the morning”. He added: “He fought on for near enough 10 days. Warrior.”

Limond was certainly that. A professional since 1999, he fought a complete of 48 instances and received on 42 events, competing at super-featherweight, light-weight, and super-lightweight. With stable fundamentals, and an easy capability to glide out and in of vary, he was a boxer to admire; a boxer straightforward on the eye. He was additionally robust, each bodily and mentally, and sometimes throughout fights the rugged Glaswegian in Limond would come out and interrupt spells of in any other case fairly boxing. This, for Limond, made some fights more durable than they wanted to be, however in flip made him a preferred fighter in the eyes of anybody fortunate sufficient to observe him.

After profitable 18 bouts in a row to begin his profession, Limond’s first shot at the British title arrived at super-featherweight in 2003. That was the 12 months he confronted Alex Arthur, a fellow unbeaten Scot with all the fanfare Limond, at the time, lacked. He gave an excellent account of himself on the evening, too, posing Arthur one or two issues earlier than finally discovering himself stopped in spherical eight.

From there, Limond used the defeat as a lesson and rebuilt. He received the European Union belt when beating Youssouf Djibaba the following 12 months after which, in 2006, turned Commonwealth light-weight champion by outpointing Joshua Allotey at Glasgow’s well-known Kelvin Hall, a favorite venue of his.

This win led to an enormous showdown in opposition to Amir Khan in 2007, for which Limond might be finest remembered. After all, it was that evening, with so many individuals writing him off and a lot hype surrounding Khan, Limond took the battle to the younger Olympic silver medallist and precipitated him all method of issues. Ignoring Khan’s 12-0 document, Limond set about him, hurting him to each the physique and head, and even dropping him in spherical six. Khan, at that stage, appeared on the verge of being stopped, but, to his credit score, managed to show the tables and in reality cease Limond after eight accomplished rounds.

“Everybody remembers me for that fight and sometimes it’s better to be remembered for something than not remembered at all,” Limond advised me in 2022. “It didn’t go my way but these things happen. I don’t agree with how it went, but, hey, it’s 15 years ago now. He had his moments and I had mine. He took his and I never took mine. The guy was getting long counts and all sorts but Amir got up and did what I didn’t do. He finished the fight (Limond retired on his stool). I couldn’t do that. Fair play.”

Undeterred, Limond once more bounced again, profitable his subsequent 5 fights earlier than touchdown a large alternative in opposition to one other well-known fighter, Mexico’s Erik Morales, in 2010. If combating a legend like Morales wasn’t sufficient, Limond was booked to take action in Mexico City.

“It was brilliant,” Limond recalled. “There have been 56,000 individuals at the Plaza de Toros, the bullring. It was f**king unbelievable. The environment was surreal. I want I took my time to take it in.

“I did well in the fight. I was ahead after four rounds but came back after the fourth and my legs felt so heavy. It was the altitude. I couldn’t move or breathe. The best way to describe it is like being in a sauna with a sweatsuit on trying to breathe through a straw. Erik then started coming on strong and that was that.”

As for Limond’s professional profession, that continued regardless of the Morales loss. In 2011, a 12 months after his journey to Mexico, Limond would lose once more, this time in opposition to Anthony Crolla, however then, in 2013, got here a resurgence of types, with Limond stopping the unbeaten Eddie Coyle inside a spherical to win the Commonwealth super-lightweight title; a belt he subsequent defended over 12 rounds in opposition to Mitch Prince. This arrange an enormous home conflict the following 12 months with Curtis Woodhouse, who introduced with him the British super-lightweight title. This was additionally a battle Limond dominated, exhibiting his class all through and dropping Woodhouse twice, as soon as in spherical three and once more in spherical 11.

After retiring for good, it appeared, in 2016, Limond, now in his forties, was enticed again to the ring in 2019 and once more in 2022. Before that second return, Limond mentioned to Boxing News: “It’s more than likely this will be the last one. I last fought three years ago and haven’t done a lot of training since. The last 12 weeks have been good for me. They’ve allowed me to get back in shape. I’ve missed the training and I’ve missed training for something. If something good gets offered to me after this fight, that could change my mind. But, right now, this is my last fight.”

The thought was to field on the identical invoice as his 18-year-old son, Jake, who would have his second professional battle the identical evening. “I know Lee Haskins fought on the same show as his boy in Bristol,” mentioned Willie, “but I don’t think it’s ever been done in Scotland, so it will be good to be the first guys to do that.”

There have been no plans for fights past that, but nonetheless Willie continued. After beating CJ Wood over 4 rounds, and sharing the invoice along with his son in Renfrew, he fought Ricky Burns, one other in style Scotsman flitting out and in of retirement, in 2023. This battle ended with Limond getting stopped in eight rounds, solely the consequence, somewhat than result in retirement, turned Willie’s impetus to battle once more, this time in opposition to Laws, in May.

That, for causes unbearably tragic, will not occur. So we should as a substitute attempt to bear in mind Willie Limond the means he would wish to be remembered and the means he deserves to be remembered. He can be dearly missed.