Jimmy Batten

Jimmy Batten was born on 7 November 1955 in Millwall, London. He started boxing at six and took the sport more seriously from about ten. As a junior amateur he won three national schoolboy titles, two junior ABA titles, and an NABC championship, and went unbeaten for five and a half years. He turned professional in 1974 under trainer Terry Lawless at the Royal Oak gym in Canning Town, sharing the gym with a generation of British champions that included John H. Stracey, Maurice Hope, Charlie Magri, Kirkland Laing, Jim Watt, and Mark Kaylor.

He won 16 of his first 18 pro fights, including a win over former British title challenger Kevin White. On 22 February 1977 at the Royal Albert Hall he stopped Albert Hillman in the seventh round to win the vacant British light-middleweight title vacated by Maurice Hope. He was 21. Defences followed: a fourth-round stoppage of former champion Larry Paul in October 1977, and a punishing thirteenth-round stoppage of Tony Poole in 1978 that secured the Lonsdale Belt outright. Only about ten weeks after the Poole war he challenged Gilbert Cohen for the vacant European light-middleweight title at Wembley and was knocked out in three. Batten later said he entered with a broken nose and should have rested after Poole. In September 1979 Welshman Pat Thomas stopped him in the ninth and took the British title. Batten always insisted Thomas butted him and that the eye injury wrecked the fight.

After rebuilding with wins and a points loss to Chris Christian in May 1981, he based himself in Chicago for nearly two years, working for an uncle's building company and fighting on American cards. A first-round stoppage loss to Mario Maldonado in May 1982 raised alarm. Six months later, on 12 November 1982 at the Miami Orange Bowl, he was matched with Panamanian great Roberto Duran. Batten told everyone he was coming to win. He moved, jabbed, and lasted the full ten rounds, losing a unanimous decision (reported cards include 99-93, 98-94, 98-92) while finishing with three broken ribs. The bout remains the fight that fixed his name in British boxing memory: a domestic champion who took Duran the distance.

He returned to Britain, beat future British champion Jimmy Cable in February 1983, lost on points to South African champion Gregory Clark in Durban, stopped William Page in Chicago, then challenged for his old British title against Prince Rodney in October 1983. Rodney stopped him in six. Medical tests showed signs of brain damage; retirement followed. His professional ledger is commonly given as 40 wins (about 20-21 by knockout) and 9 losses across 49 fights.

Forced out of the ring, he used speech therapy and drama-school work to manage the damage and moved into acting. Credits include television (The Bill, The Detectives) and films such as Tank Malling (1989), The Krays (1990), Riff-Raff (1991), and Ladybird, Ladybird (1994). He worked as a stand-up comedian, karaoke host and singer, boxing trainer, and doorman. Wikipedia and Mail note a short prison spell after an altercation with three customers while working as a doorman. In interviews decades later he still spoke of boxing with affection. "Why would I change anything?" he told BoxingScene. "I loved every minute of it. I'm just sad that I can't do it anymore. There's not many people who can say they were British champion and went the distance with Duran, is there?"

Married at 20, he later divorced after raising children early and carrying a mortgage he said he took on before he had grown up. By the mid-2020s he was a grandfather of six, living in Kent, open about Parkinson's disease (diagnosed about three years before a 2024 Boxing News interview) and the long hangover of a 15-round title era. He stayed visible at Ex-Boxers meetings and supported the Ringside Charitable Trust. Jimmy Batten died on 2 September 2026, aged 70. John H. Stracey called him a dear friend and great stablemate. The WBC hailed a warrior of British boxing. He left a record of toughness that outlasted the title belts: the Millwall champion who would not quit on Duran, and who refused to rewrite a hard life.