Inspiration in and Out of the Ring
Wayne Elcock
Wayne Elcock 42 was a Middleweight from Shard End, Birmingham who showed his teacher at his old school who said he wouldn't amount to anything what a bit of grit and determination can do. Wayne 5 foot 10 aka “Mad Dog” had one of the most careers illustrious of any Birmingham boxers in modern history.
The orthodox fighter fought out of Lakeside, Small Heath and Erdington as an amateur and had 36 fights winning 31 of them. As an amateur he won the ABA Birmingham title 4 times and the Midlands area 3 times.
As a professional Wayne boxed out of the Adventurers (Leicester), Maloney Fight factory (London) and Paddy Lynch’s gym (Birmingham) he was trained by Jez Brogan, Al Smith, Frank Maloney and Paddy lynch.
Wayne had 23 fights and won 19 of them, in his 23 fights he won the English title, the WBF international title, the British title, Commonwealth title and the WBU World title.
Wayne told me that his favorite boxer is Roy Jones Jnr, he said "he had it all in his prime".
The best fight Wayne has seen is Ward v Gatti 1 as it lived up to all expectations and more.
I asked Wayne when did he start boxing and what inspired him to box? The “Mad dog informed me “I just loved to fight, it stretches over 21 years I made my amateur debut in 1988 and my last pro fight in 2009”
When I asked Wayne about his hardest fight was he informed me “it has to be the 12 hard rounds against Howard Eastman for the British and commonwealth titles”.
We then talked about life after boxing and what he has done since he retired, Wayne told me
“I officially retired from the sport in 2012, after creating a hugely successful boxing coaching business called Box Clever in 2010, which is still going strong today delivering classes in schools and clubs across the Midlands region”. Wayne continued “I then established in 2014 Wayne Elcock’s boxing Academy, going back into grass roots, I’m head coach at a newly established club which has already enjoyed good success at national level”.
The former World, Commonwealth and British champ ended by talking about his latest venture “Mad dogs Boxing”. Wayne told me “it's a boxing store created in my home city of Birmingham, as I believed getting boxing equipment locally was often hard to come by, so feel with the top brands and equipment I now can offer the cities amateur and pro boxers it can only help the Midlands region make sure they have the best kit for one of the toughest sports known to man”.
Click on Photos for Wayne's Websites
Dexter's thoughts
Wayne is an inspiration to young and old weather you box or not, Wayne smashed it in the ring winning titles along the way. When it came to the final bell and he retired he took all his focus, discipline and determination, and starting with himself and a van and made box clever a success. Now with his boxing academy and his Mad dog boxing store on Boldmere Rd Sutton he is showing great business strength and knowledge of what the public wants and he deserves the success that he has achieved.
I remember the first time I met Wayne in 2008 when I invited him to come to Paddy’s Gym Erdington to show off his newly acquired British title and have a chat with our young boxers. I had contacted Wayne via social media (MySpace) asking him to come down and was surprised when he messaged me back saying he would be down that Wednesday. My friend and trainer Dean Martin picked me up for the gym that day and I informed him that Wayne Elcock was coming to the gym tonight. Dean gave me a look like yeah right and to be honest I wasn't convinced he would turn up, but true to his word when we walked into the gym Wayne was sitting there with owner and my mentor since I was a kid Paddy Martin chatting away about boxing.
Wayne was great that night, he signed photos and had pictures taken of him and his British title with our young boxers and gave them inspiring words of wisdom. Wayne even came around to the pub Rose & Crown after the session to have a chat with the locals who enjoyed seeing the champ with his belt.
Wayne was also kind enough to write a forward for my biography (Have I Told You Yet) and said some very nice things about me. I followed Wayne’s career and was gutted for him when he lost his title to Mathew Macklin, if anyone deserved to win a Lonsdale belt out right it was Wayne.
After his career I continued to stay in contact with Wayne and have seen his business grow and the “Mad Dog” build his sporting empire. As I said at the start he is an inspiration for young and old, boxer or non-boxer.
Fore word for my book Have I Told you yet writen by Wayne Elcock
FOREWORD
Wayne Elcock
Anyone who decides to take up the sport of boxing and then goes on to compete will soon find out that the boxer has to quickly grow massively in character to be able to overcome the many challenges & ultimately have to face up to many fears both in mind and body, as he will often have to put his body through sometimes unimaginable pain if he is to achieve great things in one of the toughest sports man has ever invented & if he is ill prepared he will quickly find the boxing ring can be the loneliest place as soon as that first bell rings. The first time I met Dexter was over at Paddy’s gym just after I had just won the British and commonwealth Middleweight Titles in my greatest fight beating the legendary Howard Eastman over 12 hard rounds and also taking his number one spot. Howard had ruled the domestic scene for over 10 years and had only ever lost to world class opposition in world champions Bernard Hopkins, William Joppy, Arthur Abraham & dangerous World title contender Edison Miranda. Dexter had invited me over to meet all the guys at the gym and after taking some pictures with them all with my newly acquired cherished Lonsdale belt. I then watched the gym go to work and work it did. After staying behind and chatting with the guys it was obvious from just the buzzing tone of Dexter’s voice whenever he spoke about the sport and how hard he would train for each of his fights just how much passion he has for the sport. With a proud record that had saw him in some tough scraps I can tell anyone being a big fan of the sport myself that many well known champion fighters including myself, Nigel Benn, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Rick Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan the list of greats really is endless and all are or were magnificent fighters but not one of us can lay claim like Dexter’s to have never been knocked down or out it is a feat rarely accomplished & one he can rightly be very proud of.
Wayne “Mad Dog” Elcock
Former British, Commonwealth & W.B.U Middleweight World Champion
Also Undefeated English & W.B.F International Middleweight Champion