GEORGE WALKER - BOXER CHAMPION

GEORGE WALKER ON THE LEFT

George Walker, in spite of his fame, had many ups and downs in his life. He coped with three bankruptcies, faced two years in prison and was accused of stealing millions but being a true fighter he always came out of the corner and saw the fight right through.

He was born April 14, 1929 in Stepney, East London, England. At the age of 14 he left school and worked as a fish-market porter. Boxing was a very wide spread sport in those days in the East End and many boxing clubs existed. Some better, some worse. George also joined and became a British Amateur Boxing Champion. This brought him to the attention of the real professionals. He was nicknamed as the Stepney Steamroller. George became no 7 in the world’s ranking. However, he suffered an injury and that put an end to his boxing career.

Not knowing where to turn to next to earn a living Walker got into a gang managed by Billy Hill. A notorious gangster very closed to the Kray brothers’ underworld. George was caught and spent two years in prison.

When he came out of prison he married his wife Jean. They had three children named Jason, Sarah and Romla. Later, Sarah married the Marquess of Milford Haven, Prince Philip’s cousin.

But before this all came about, George started as a manager to his brother Billy Walker. Billy became a professional boxer when he defeated US heavyweight champion Cornelius Perry. George demanded a fee of £10,000 for each Billy’s fight. After six fights the brothers bought a number of baked potato restaurants. When they sold the chain they were really starting to get involved in big business.

GEORGE WALKER WITH HIS BUILDING PROJECT

George had a good eye for great business opportunities. He bought a piece of derelict land and built the Brent Cross shopping mail on it. This turned out to be highly successful. The William Hill petting shop’s chain which George built into a £600million worth of business. He sold it later for a £1billion. In those days George was a celebrity in the City (the financial world of London, England).

The Brent Walker’s empire grew further into casinos, marinas, golf courses, hotels and restaurants all over western Europe. He also became a film producer and turned an average actress Joan Collins into a super star with the film “The Stud”.

At the beginning of the Nineties the average economy slowed down and so did Brent Walker. All of a sudden the company found itself in £150million of debt. Although the shareholders stayed with Walker but he had to declare bankruptcy in 1993.

The in 1994 the Serious Fraud Office started to investigate and Walker was in court accused of inflating the profits by £19.3 million to encourage investors. After four-and-a-half-months and cost of around £40million the case was dropped.

Walker did not stay idle. He started with satellite technology and beamed sporting events to Russia. Another of his company Tote was running a Moscow lottery. Soon he became a Russian citizen.

George Walker died on March 24, 2011 aged 81. He had previously two heart attacks and suffered of stomach cancers. He had a fatal heart attack when he was in the South of France.