VIC Andreetti, 1942-2018

Paying tribute to the former British super lightweight champion.

FOLLOWING a long battle with cancer, Vic Andreetti, the former British super lightweight champion, sadly passed away on the morning of February 21. He was 76 years of age.

Born on January 29, 1942, Vic began his boxing life at the Lions Boys Club in Hoxton and won ABA titles in 1955, ’56 and ’57, and was a Junior Class A champion in 1958. He boxed for three different clubs – Shoreditch, Hackney and Fitzroy Lodge – and then turned professional just after his 19th birthday in March 1961.

As a pro, he split his time between loading crates of fruit at Spitalfields Market and training with Danny Holland at the Thomas a’ Becket gym in the Old Kent Road. He was guided by his manager Jim Wicks and was a stablemate of Henry and Jim Cooper, Dixie Dean, Percy Lewis, Freddie King and Kenny Field.