Hugh Russell, the 1980 Moscow Olympics boxing bronze medallist, has passed away at the age of 63 after an illness. Russell, from Belfast, went on to win British bantamweight and flyweight titles after his 1980 Olympic success for Ireland. He joined the professional boxing stable of Belfast-based promoter Barney Eastwood, who also managed Barry McGuigan, and after retiring from professional boxing, Russell forged a highly successful career as a photographer with the Irish News.
Going into the 1980 Moscow Games, Ireland had not won an Olympic medal since Jim McCourt’s 1964 boxing bronze in Tokyo. Russell was one of two Irish medallists, along with sailors David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson who teamed up for a silver medal. Russell went into the Moscow games as a 20-year-old having won a flyweight bronze for Northern Ireland at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. He secured his bronze medal by edging a 3-2 decision over North Korea’s Ryon Sik Yo after earlier unanimous decisions over Samir Khenyab of Iraq and Emmanuel Mlundwa of Tanzania. Russell lost his semi-final against Bulgaria’s eventual gold medallist, Petar Lessov, but had done enough to secure an Olympic medal which he later admitted “changed my life”.
In the Legends of Irish Boxing book, published by Belfast author Barry Flynn in 2007, Russell revealed that he bought his first camera at the end of the Moscow Olympics with
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More