Ray Close

Ray Close was born on 20 January 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the east of the city. He attended Knockbreda High School and began boxing at about age 10 at Ledley Hall Youth and Boxing Club, the gym that would remain his boxing home for life. Ledley Hall later called him the most successful boxer in the club's history. He also trained with Abbey Boxing Academy and learned his craft in the Holy Family and Eastwood gym networks that produced so many Northern Irish professionals.

He turned professional in October 1988. On his debut at the Ulster Hall in Belfast he knocked out Manchester's Steve Foster in the second round on a card that also featured Eamonn Loughran and Sam Storey. Early wins followed quickly. On 31 October 1989 he stopped Rocky McGran to win the vacant Irish super-middleweight title. He defended that belt against Terry Magee in Dublin in December 1991. A setback came on 3 July 1992 in France, when Frank Nicotra stopped him in an unsuccessful first bid for the European title. Close responded by running harder on the County Down coast paths and rebuilding.

On St Patrick's Day 1993 in Campione d'Italia he defeated Vincenzo Nardiello for the EBU European super-middleweight title after an accidental clash of heads brought a technical decision in the later rounds. Only weeks later, with little fanfare outside Belfast, Matchroom offered him a world title shot. On 15 May 1993 at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow he challenged undefeated WBO super-middleweight champion Chris Eubank. Given little chance by many observers, Close boxed with stealth and skill for twelve rounds. An eleventh-round uppercut put him down, yet he rose and won the final round. The judges returned a split draw: one card for Close, one for Eubank, one even. It was the first blemish on Eubank's professional record.

After an October 1993 win over Ray Domenge, Close met Eubank again on 21 May 1994 at a raucous King's Hall in Belfast, with Don King among the co-promoters and Showtime cameras rolling. The week was carnival: King singing Danny Boy, Eubank in riding boots and monocle, a glitter-throwing interruption delaying the opening bell. Close started slowly in the charged atmosphere, then took over much of the second half before surviving a torrid tenth. Many in the hall believed he had won. The judges disagreed on a split decision for Eubank. A third fight was lined up for a reported multimillion-pound purse back at the King's Hall. It never happened. A routine MRI found two lesions on Close's brain, and the British Boxing Board of Control revoked his licence.

Convinced the lesions had been present on earlier scans, Close obtained a licence from the Illinois State Boxing Commission and fought five more times in the United States between 1996 and 1997, winning them all. His last fight was a fifth-round stoppage of Larry Willis in Cicero, Illinois, on 7 June 1997. Detailed fight records list about 29 professional contests with 25 wins (around 14 inside the distance), three losses and one draw; Wikipedia summarises a similar win-heavy ledger. Talk of an unlicensed Belfast return in 2002 came to nothing.

Away from the ropes Close was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He married Linda; their daughter Sarah was a newborn when he camped for the first Eubank fight, and she later became the first woman to record a fight win at the Ulster Hall. He and Linda raised three sons as well, including Benjamin, who later fundraised for the Phoenix Clinic. From about 1998 Close worked at Belfast City Airport assisting passengers with mobility needs. In later years he returned to Ledley Hall to coach, telling interviewers he still wished he could box and that putting energy into the next generation helped.

Traumatic brain injury linked to his sport eventually required specialist care. He spent his last three years as a resident at the Phoenix Clinic and Resource Centre in Newtownards, the only nursing home in Northern Ireland providing specialist care for younger adults with physical disabilities. In 2025 and 2026 his son Benjamin raised thousands for clinic equipment, including an interactive activity board, while Ray was in palliative care there.

Ray Close died on 2 October 2026, aged 57. Abbey Boxing Academy, Ledley Hall, and the wider Irish boxing community paid tribute, remembering a European and Irish champion who pushed Chris Eubank across 24 world-title rounds and then gave his knowledge back to the gyms that made him.