Scottish boxing legend Willie Limond faced the likes of Amir Khan, Erik Morales and Anthony Crolla during his time in the ring, but sadly the death of the former British super-lightweight champion has been announced today, aged 45-years-old, leaving the world of boxing in mourning.
After five appearances for Scottish football league side Albion Rovers, Limond debuted in 1999 with a first-round knockout against Lenny Hodgkins, going on to win his first 18 fights as a professional.
He was then tasked with fellow Scotsman and eventual WBO champion Alex Arthur in a bid for the British super-featherweight title, but came up short and lost by eighth-round knockout.
However, the gritty Glaswegian bounced back and within just four fights found himself challenging Youssouf Djibaba for the EBU European title, where he won a unanimous decision to pick up his first major belt.
After another string of victories, he decided to move up in weight and was granted a shot at the Commonwealth lightweight title, outpointing Joshua Allotey to add the strap to his collection and set up a showdown with up-and-coming English prospect, Amir Khan, who ended Limond’s reign at the first attempt with a stoppage win.
Similarly to the last time he was defeated, Limond responded with yet another run of wins, before moving up in weight and facing Mexican boxing icon, Erik Morales, getting off to a positive start in the early rounds but the quality of Morales eventually shining through and seeing him secure a sixth-round knockout win.
Limond would challenge for the British title on two more occasions, losing out to Crolla at lightweight but achieving his dream of obtaining the Lonsdale belt when he defeated Curtis Woodhouse back up at super-lightweight in 2014.
Ten years on and Limond was still fighting, with a clash lined up with Joe Laws on May 3rd until tragedy struck and we at Boxing Social would like to pass on our condolences to the family and friends of Willie Limond.
Rest In Peace Willie ‘Hands of Steel’ Limond.