Rear View Mirror: Ray Close

Rear View Mirror: A look back at the impressive career of super-middleweight Ray Close

GBN's Caledonian columnist, Donald C Stewart, takes a look into his rear view mirror at the career of Belfast boxer Ray Close

Belfast legend, Raymond Close, who famously gave Chris Eubank Sr. two of his toughest fights, recently died at only 57 years of age, having spent the last three years of his life in a nursing home in Newtownards, Northern Ireland.

Having spent most of his career campaigning at super middleweight, Close was a significant figure on the boxing scene in the province. He had 29 professional fights, winning 25, 14 by knockout, losing 3 and drawing 1.

He began boxing at Ledley Hall and Youth Boxing Club in East Belfast aged only 10 and had a slightly unusual background in a part of the UK obsessed with religion insofar as he was brought up in the Mormon faith. Growing up in mainly protestant East Belfast, he made his debut in the professional ring in the October of 1988, at the Ulster Hall in Belfast by knocking out Steve Foster in the 2nd round of a scheduled six.

The vacant Irish super-middleweight title became his after beating Rocky McGran in the Ulster Hall, stopping him in the 7th round of a scheduled 10. He then defended it against Terry McGee, one of a set of three fighting brothers, in Dublin in 1991, where he added the British Boxing Board of Control’s Northern Ireland super middleweight title.

He then went on to defeat Vincenzo Nardiello for the EBU super middleweight title in Lombardia Italy in March of 1993. Nardiello was stopped with a cut eye in the fight. In between he had fought for the EBU title in Seine-et-Marine against Frank Nicotra but lost in July 1992, being stopped in the 8th round.

But 1993 was a significant year for Close. In May, having been crowned the European champion, he hoped to wear the crown of world champion as he went in, in the Scottish Exhibition Centre against Chris Eubank Sr. It ended in a draw which confused many observers as Eubank had come close to knocking Close out and Close had touched the canvass in round 11. Had Close not gone down, he would have been WBO world champion, and Eubank would have been defeated for the first time in his professional career.

If he had hoped that home advantage would have played a part when he entered the ring at the King’s Hall in Belfast on the 21st of May 1994, then Close was to be sorely disappointed. The rematch saw Eubank win, but only on a split decision. Close had taken on and beat Ray Domenge, before returning to face Eubank in the febrile atmosphere of the King’s Hall in Belfast. The crowd were clearly well behind their man but could do nothing about the split decision win that Eubank got in his favour.

The trilogy was suggested and 1995 was pencilled in, but then Close failed an MRI scan and the British Boxing Board of Control revoked Close’s licence.

Not to be undone, Close approached and was granted a licence by the Illinois State Boxing Commission. It was not a route towards anywhere other than the end of his professional career as he fought journeymen but ended up winning most of his fights, including against Larry Willis, by knockout in the fifth round at the Hawthorne Race Course in Illinois, on the 7th of June 1997 – it was his final professional fight.

Like many retired boxers, rumours circulated that Close would return to the ring, and around 2022, that gathered some momentum as it was to be in an unlicensed event, but it never happened.

And so, at the tender age of only 57, at a nursing home in which he was living he passed away, leaving yet another legacy of the fighters who fly close to the sun but never conquer it.

The eulogies were heartfelt and warm. From the Ledley Hall Youth and Boxing Club in east Belfast, where Close started his boxing journey as a 10-year-old, a "true gentleman, humble, kind and always willing to give something back. To our young people, Ray was proof of what could be achieved. He was someone who had come through the same doors, trained in the same club and gone on to accomplish incredible things. The club added that Close's story has "inspired generations of young people at Ledley Hall and will continue to do so".

Somewhere where Close had trained, the Bangor Abbey Boxing Academy, said he will be a "huge loss to the boxing fraternity of Ireland and across the world. Ray and his whole family have been a huge part of our club over the years, right from the very start and we are truly devastated."