Two boxers reunite in Southport after fighting 50 years ago

Fifty years ago, I held the King's Cup (an Award for the Best Young Bootle Boxer of The Year). Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Jimmy Duncan held The Bessie Braddock Trophy as the Best Fighter in Liverpool.

It was a local rivalry as intense as anything Liverpool Stadium had ever seen and fight fans threw nobbins (cash) into the ring in appreciation of two fighters who simply didn't want to lose.

But the thing most fight fans never get to see, is the respect a fight like that generates between both fighters. We forged a friendship that's lasted a lifetime. So yesterday, for my 67th Birthday.Jimmy secretly travelled for two hours to treat me to a special breakfast in Penelope's. And in amongst all the flashbacks, I remembered what a fan I'd been when I first saw Jimmy fight back in 1975. He was ferocious, but supremely gifted. And I'm reminded (now) of an article I read recently that said "some people are brought into your life for a reason": 'to learn from'.

And a loss in a boxing ring can be the perfect learning experience to catapult you on to greater things. It's a metaphor for life.

My life is so much richer for having met Jimmy Duncan at the height of his career, and as much as it was an honour to share a ring with him all those years ago, it's an even greater honour to have him as a friend still half a century later.

Stephen Jones