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David "Bomber" Pearce (8 May 1959 – 20 May 2000) was a Welsh heavyweight boxing champion.

David Pearce
Pearce in 1983
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Bomber Pearce, Welsh Rocky
Weight(s)	Heavyweight Cruiserweight
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Nationality	Welsh
Born	(1959-05-08)8 May 1959 Pillgwenlly, Newport, Wales
Died	20 May 2000(2000-05-20) (aged 41)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	22
Wins	17
Wins by KO	13
Losses	4
Draws	1
Website	Tribute website

Also known as The Welsh Rocky, Pearce held both the Welsh and the British Heavyweight titles and held the number one WBC Cruiserweight ranking from September 1983 to September 1985.[1] In all he won 19 (15 KO) of his 22 professional bouts, losing three, with one drawn. He won two of his unlicensed bouts, losing one.

Biographical details

Pearce was born in Pillgwenlly, Newport, Monmouthshire on 8 May 1959. He was one of nine children: seven brothers, six of whom boxed professionally and one who was a professional dancer, and two sisters. His mother was a relative of Bob Fitzsimmons.[2]

He boxed out of St Josephs ABC in Pillgwenlly, Newport and coached junior and senior boxers at Alway ABC in Newport before his death.

Soon after his final unsanctioned boxing fight in 1994, in California, Pearce became seriously ill, in later years developing epilepsy. There was no specific evidence that this had been brought on by repeated blows to the head, but he immediately retired from boxing on medical advice. He died 7 years later, at the age of 41, due to SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome). The South Wales Argus described him as "Newport's most famous boxer."[3] Around 2,500 people attended his funeral in Newport at Stow Hill Cemetery.[4]

Boxing career achievements

• Pearce won the Welsh and British heavyweight boxing titles in September 1983.[5]
• Pearce challenged for the prestigious EBU European heavyweight title against Felipe Rodriguez and Lucien Rodriguez.[6]
• Pearce was ranked as high as number seven in the WBA Heavyweight World rankings before his career was cut short.[7]
• Pearce was ranked number one in the WBC Cruiserweight Rankings after his victory against Michael "Jack" Johnson, in a WBC final eliminator in 1984.[8]
• Pearce was scheduled to fight Buster Douglas in Columbus, Ohio, USA but was pulled out on three hours notice. Donnie Long replaced Pearce.[9]
• Pearce was medically retired in 1984, at the age of 24.
• Pearce came 2nd in the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1983.[10]

• Steve Lillis, boxing journalist and co-presenter of Box-Nation, voted David 'Bomber' Pearce in his Top Ten most underrated British boxing champions (Lonsdale Belt Holders) of all time.[11]

Welsh & British Heavyweight Titles

• Pearce suffered two setbacks on his road to the British title. A loss to Neville Meade when still only 20 and to John Rafferty. Pearce had knocked down Rafferty four times before he was disqualified in the 3rd round for punching after the referee had called break.^{[citation needed]}
• Pearce fought in a scheduled WBC eliminator and defeated Dennis Andries, the three times WBC world light heavyweight world champion, in the 7th round. Dennis Andries went 6 years before being stopped again, this time by Thomas Hearns in the 10th round.[12]
• Pearce, challenged and vowed to avenge his loss to Neville Meade to win the Welsh and British Heavyweight titles.[6]
• Pearce won the Welsh and British Heavyweight Boxing Titles in September 1983 at the St David's Hall against Commonwealth Gold Medalist and British Heavyweight Champion Neville Meade; Although the Welsh Title was won on the night, the title had to be relinquished by Pearce, due to his commitments of becoming British Heavyweight Champion.[5]

European Heavyweight Title (EBU)

• David Pearce earned a draw with Felipe Rodriquez whilst fighting the EBU Heavyweight Title challenger.
• Pearce lost his title fight for the European Heavyweight Title against Lucien Rodriguez who had won 14 of his last 15 fights after earning the number one EBU ranking.[13]

Unsanctioned bouts

Pearce won two (both knock outs) of his three unlicensed bouts. Pearce took a fight with Percell Davis of Detroit at two days notice but was stopped in the eighth round.[14]

Pearce later had a second wind after sparring against Lennox Lewis who was in preparation for the Lewis-Glenn McCrory fight and decided to train once more for his final comeback in California, USA. Pearce wanted to go out on a high after his unprepared previous trip to the states and trained diligently with his brother Gary Pearce.[15]

In 1994 Pearce fought in two unsanctioned bouts took place in Bakersfield, California. In his first bout he knocked out Mary Konate in the first round and in his second he defeated [16] the former heavyweight World champion John Tate in 3 rounds. The South Wales Argus and the Californian press likened Pearce to the fighter Philo Beddoe, who was portrayed in the films Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can.[17]

Professional boxing record / Unsanctioned bouts

19 Wins (15 knockouts, 4 decisions), 4 Losses (2 knockouts, 2 decisions), 1 Draw[18]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	34-3	John Tate	TKO	3	10 June 1994	Hilton Hotel, Bakersfield, California, United States	Unsanctioned Bout.
Win	16-6	Mary Konate	TKO	1	12 April 1994	Hilton Hotel, Bakersfield, California, United States	Unsanctioned Bout.
Loss	13-9	Percell Davis	TKO	8	10 December 1990	Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dearborn, Michigan, United States	Unsanctioned Bout Pearce took the fight on 2 days notice.
Loss	36-8-1	Lucien Rodriguez	PTS	12	30 March 1984	Palais des Sports de Beaublanc, Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France	EBU Heavyweight Title. Rodriguez took standing 8 count in round 3, and dropped heavily twice in round 8.
Win	11-2	Michael Johnson	TKO	5	28 January 1984	Victoria Hall, Hanley, Staffordshire, United Kingdom	Johnson hurt from uppercut and turned his back to retire.
Win	20-12-1	Neville Meade	TKO	9	22 September 1983	St David's Hall, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom	BBBofC Wales Heavyweight Title. BBBofC British Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:57 of round 9.
Win	35-4-2	Albert Syben	KO	1	7 April 1983	Lyceum Ballroom, The Strand, London, United Kingdom	Syben knocked out at 2:25 of the first round.
Draw	24-5-3	Felipe Rodriquez	PTS	10	7 December 1982	Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom	Vacant EBU Heavyweight Title. 98-98.
Win	20-5	Gordon Ferris	KO	5	1 June 1982	Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Heavyweight Title Eliminator. Final Eliminator for BBBofC British Heavyweight Title; Ferris down in round 3 and stopped in round 5 failed to meet the count at 1:44 of the fifth round.
Win	13-4-1	Dennis Andries	TKO	7	12 October 1981	Bloomsbury Centre Hotel, Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom	Andries heavily down in Rd 6, from an uppercut. Down twice in Rd 7 before Referee stopped the bout at 2:15 of the seventh round.
Win	15-9	Ishaq Hussein	TKO	1	8 June 1981	Porter Tun Rooms, Moorgate, United Kingdom	time: 2:03 Ref Stopped Fight on 2nd Knock Down.
Win	4-0	Larry McDonald	KO	3	16 March 1981	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom	Mcdonald down heavily in the third from a left hook to the body.
Win	15-27-1	Bonny McKenzie	PTS	8	2 March 1981	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom	79.5-78.5.
loss	2-1	John Rafferty	DQ	3	26 January 1981	St.Andrew's Sporting Club, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom	Pearce disqualified at 1:32 of the third round due to hitting a downed opponent, Rafferty down 4 times before the DQ. The decision was disputed through the official channels via Pearce's trainer and promoter
Loss	14-11-1	Neville Meade	TKO	2	22 January 1980	Double Diamond Club, Caerphilly, United Kingdom	BBBofC Wales Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 2:48 of the second round.
Win	8-3	Denton Ruddock	TKO	7	30 October 1979	Double Diamond Club, Caerphilly, United Kingdom
Win	8-12	Theo Josephs	TKO	3	5 July 1979	Afan Lido, Port Talbot, United Kingdom	time: 2:35 of Rd 2 Josephs was down in the third.
Win	7-3	Winston Allen	PTS	6	3 April 1979	Caerphilly, United Kingdom	£1000 Heavyweight Competition Final. 58½-59½, Allen was down in the fourth.
Win	11-14	Bonny McKenzie	PTS	8	19 February 1979	Mayfair Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	McKenzie down in sixth and seventh. 79-78.
Win	1-0-1	Mal Tetley	KO	1	22 January 1979	Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	£2000 Heavyweight competition semi final. time 0:15 of Rd 1.
Win	4-3	Bobby Hennessey	TKO	2	22 January 1979	Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	£2000 Heavyweight Competition Final.
Win	6-10	Theo Josephs	PTS	8	11 December 1978	Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom	79-78.
Win	0-1	Bob Bleau	KO	1	1 December 1978	Minster-in-Thanet, United Kingdom	KO time: 0:50.
Win	--	Osborne Taylor	TKO	1	15 November 1978	Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, United Kingdom	£1,000 heavyweight competition semi final. time: 0:38 of Rd 1.

[19]

Pearce Brothers

• Walter 'Bimbo' Pearce the eldest son of Wally Pearce was a professional boxer, Bimbo won 5 amateur titles from Light Welterweight to Heavyweight including beating 4 British champions in bouts during the ABA exile. [20]
• Raymond Pearce, a middleweight who notably fought Winston Burnett, and the future three times WBC world Light Heavyweight champion Dennis Andries.[21] A United States citizen, he worked as an Elvis impersonator across the world[22] and died, on the 1 January 2022, in Minnesota, United States.[23]
• Gary Pearce had thirty one professional bouts, including winning the Welsh Area Super Welterweight title and facing Hans Henrick-Palm the World number 5 in Randers, Denmark in 1981.[24]
• Ronald Pearce fought Paul Wetter and Robert Smith the now BBBoC General secretary.[25]
• Nigel Pearce had five fights as a professional boxer.^{[citation needed]}
• Simon Pearce the seventh brother graduated from Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and subsequently went on to star in Starlight Express, Cats, les miserables and Mousetrap musicals in the West End.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

• 
  Pearce aged 3
• 
  David 'Bomber' Pearce
• 
  St Josephs Amateur Boxing Club, George Street, Newport
• 
  Boxing contract
• 
  Bimbo Pearce defeating the Central Light-Heavyweight Champion
• 
  Pearce at Newport County AFC
• 
  Pearce turning professional
• 
  Oil painting of Pearce
• 
  Sculpture near Riverfront, Newport
• 
  Dedication plaque for sculpture
• 
  Sculpture near Riverfront, Newport

References

External links

• Boxing record for David Pearce from BoxRec (registration required)

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