Archive: Boxer David Pearce beats Meade to British title

Friends and family of late boxer David Pearce will sleep on park benches on Saturday as their bid continues for a statue of the former British champion.

Newport council is supporting efforts to raise £36,000 for a memorial to the one-time European heavyweight title challenger, who died in 200, aged 41.

The statue is under construction and is due to be unveiled in December.

The former steelworker was widely regarded as one of the most exciting and under-rated heavyweights of the 1980s after beating Swansea's Neville Meade to the British title in September 1983.