Obituaries of lightweight champion Dave Charnley savoured the fact that he plied his trade as 'the Dartford Destroyer'
Obituaries of former British lightweight champion Dave Charnley savoured the fact that he plied his trade as "the Dartford Destroyer". Alliterative celebration of local origins has been a feature of boxing from Jack Dempsey, "The Manassa Mauler", to Rocky Marciano, "The Brockton Blockbuster", and Muhammad Ali, once "The Louisville Lip". In Britain, as well as Charnley, we had Tommy Farr, aka "the Tonypandy Terror" and Dave Green, "the Fen Tiger" from Chatteris. In other sports, sadly, localism belongs in the past. Stars like Rod Laver, tennis's "Rockhampton Rocket", cycling's "Eagle of Toledo", Federico Bahamontes, and Wade Dooley, rugby's "Blackpool Tower" are from the day before yesterday. Even cricket's Shoaib Akhtar, "the Rawalpindi express", has retired now. In nicknames, as in much else, sport has left its roots behind. The Dartford Destroyer, who built a local business career after quitting the ring, never did that.