View source for Patrick Cowdell

{{Short description|English boxer (born 1953)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name           = Pat Cowdell
| full_name      = Patrick Cowdell
| birth_date     = {{birth date and age|1953|8|18|df=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Smethwick]], Staffordshire, England
| medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's [[Boxing]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Boxing at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Montreal]] | [[Boxing at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Bantamweight|Bantamweight]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{ENG}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[European Amateur Boxing Championships|European Amateur Championships]]}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships|1975 Katowice]] | Featherweight}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Commonwealth Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1974 British Commonwealth Games|1974 Christchurch]] | [[Boxing at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games|Bantamweight]]}}

}}

'''Patrick Cowdell''' (born 18 August 1953) is a British former [[boxing|boxer]]. He challenged twice for the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] world featherweight title in 1981 and 1985.

==Amateur career==
Cowdell won the bronze medal in the [[bantamweight]] division (– 54&nbsp;kg) at the [[Boxing at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Summer Olympics]] in [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada. In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalist [[Gu Yong-Ju]] from [[North Korea]].

Two years earlier Cowdell won the gold medal, at the [[1974 Commonwealth Games]] in [[Christchurch]], New Zealand. He was a bronze medalist at the [[1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships]] held in [[Katowice]], Poland.  He was also the 1973 [[Amateur Boxing Association of England|ABA]] bantamweight champion, lightweight in 1975, and featherweight champion in 1976 and 1977.

=== 1976 Olympic results ===
*Round of 64: bye
*Round of 32: Defeated [[Leszek Borkowski]] (Poland) by decision, 5–0
*Round of 16: Defeated [[Alejandro Silva (boxer)|Alejandro Silva]] (Puerto Rico) by decision, 5–0
*Quarterfinal: Defeated [[Reynaldo Fortaleza]] (Philippines) by decision, 4–1
*Semifinal: Lost to [[Gu Yong-Ju]] (North Korea) by decision, 1–4 (was awarded bronze medal)

==Professional career==
Cowdell turned pro in 1977 and in 1981 took on WBC world featherweight champion [[Salvador Sánchez]], losing a close and hard-fought split decision in which Cowdell was dropped in round 15.  In 1985 Cowdell challenged [[Azumah Nelson]] for the WBC featherweight title, but was caught cold by a bullet of a punch and knocked out in the first round. He fought on but retired in 1988 after being stopped by [[Wales|Welshman]] [[Floyd Havard]]. He finished up with stats of 36–6–0 (18 KOs) that included spells as British, Commonwealth and European Champion.

==Life after boxing==
Pat runs four professional dinner shows a year at the [[Burlington Hotel (Birmingham, England)|Burlington Hotel]] in Birmingham's city centre. In February 2007, Cowdell returned to putting shows on at the Burlington after a three-year hiatus at the [[Holiday Inn]] – also in the centre of Birmingham.

He also trains/trained a band of fighters that include Bedworth's former Midland Area super-middleweight champion Neil Tidman, Leamington Spa's Richard Mazurek, and Coventry foursome Dougie Walton, Sean McKervey, Joe McCluskey and John Ruddock. Cowdell's most famous pupil, Birmingham-based gypsy Jimmy Vincent, twice challenged for the British title before retiring in 2005.

==See also==
* [[List of British featherweight boxing champions]]

==References==
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929171002/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=COWDEPAT01 Patrick Cowdell at databaseOlympics]}} (archived)
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222904/http://www.britishboxing.net/boxers_15024-Pat-Cowdell.html Pat Cowdell's professional record at britishboxing.net]}} (archived)
* {{Boxrec|id=3046|name=Pat Cowdell}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930180554/http://www.britishboxing.net/news_1952-Cowdell-Sanchez-Twenty-Five-Years-On.html A reflective piece on the titanic world title struggle between Pat Cowdell and Salvador Sanchez at britishboxing.net]}} (archived)

==External links==
* {{Team GB|5Gcb6QVlm9fEetx20IvzNa|Pat Cowdell}}
* {{Olympedia|name=Pat Cowdell}}
* {{Olympics.com|patrick-cowdell|Patrick Cowdell}}
* {{CGF|name=Patrick Cowdell}}

{{Footer Commonwealth Champions Bantamweight}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowdell, Patrick}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English male boxers]]
[[Category:Bantamweight boxers]]
[[Category:Boxers at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic boxers for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Smethwick]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England]]
[[Category:Boxers at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in boxing]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists in boxing]]