Stuart Hall retires from boxing as a North-East sporting great

“Not bad for a lad from Darlo who just about killed himself partying in Ibiza, is it,” asks Hall. “There was a time when I didn’t even know what day it was, or if I would wake up the next morning. Now, I can talk to everyone about how I was the champion of the world.”

Indeed he can, but sadly when it comes to discussing his boxing career, Hall’s tales from now on will be told in the past tense.

Darlington’s first boxing World champion, and only the second North-Easterner ever to claim a World title, has been forced to hang up his gloves.

Over the course of a ten-year professional career that featured five World title fights, 21 victories and 244 rounds of competition, 30 different fighters failed to bring Hall to his knees. Ultimately though, at the age of 38, it is his body that has left him out for the count.

“I never really thought this day would come, but in the end, it’s an easy decision,” said Hall, who made his professional debut in 2008 in a six-round contest at the Darlington & District Club on Darlington’s North Road. “I tried to hide it, but for the last year or so, I haven’t been able to feel anything in my left leg.

“After the (Paul) Butler fight last September, my leg has pretty much constantly been numb. I put it down to a bit of sciatica and thought the feeling would eventually come back, but it didn’t.

“I got offered the fight against (Gavin) McDonnell at Newcastle Arena this month, and didn’t want to turn it down. I could still train, I could still box, so I thought I’d be fine.

“I thought I’d better get it checked out before the fight though, so a couple of weeks before, I went to see a specialist and he sent me for a couple of scans. They showed I’ve got two discs that are basically crushing my spinal cord.

“The doctor said, ‘Stewart, you shouldn’t be fighting at all. No fighting, no sparring, nothing’. I didn’t even tell my family. I know it was stupid really, but I didn’t want to drop out of that fight.

“I thought my experience would get me through, but it didn’t. So it’s time to admit defeat and have an operation on my spine. If I don’t have the surgery, there’s a chance I could end up in a wheelchair. I’ve got a family to think about, I can’t fight on.”

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DARLINGTION’S GREATEST SPORTSPEOPLE

FLORRIE TRUSSLER (1892-1984)

A successful swimmer, Trussler made history in October 1910 when she became the first sportsperson from Darlington to set a world record. In Darlington’s Kendrew Street baths, she swam 12 miles and 46 and three-quarters yards in an uninterrupted nine hours and 20 minutes.

RG BREBNER (1881-1914)

A goalkeeper for Darlington FC, Brebner became the first person from Darlington to win an Olympic gold medal when he played for Great Britain at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. He died tragically at the age of 33 after suffering a serious injury diving at the feet of an opponent for Leicester Fosse.

ARTHUR WHARTON (1865-1930)

Widely acknowledged as the first black professional footballer, Wharton began his career as a goalkeeper with Darlington FC. He played in the FA Cup semi-finals with Preston, and ran 100 yards in ten seconds dead while representing Darlington Amateur Athletics Club.

WILLIE SMITH (1886-1982)

Smith is a World Billiards champion who is widely acknowledged to have been one of the greatest billiards players of all time. He also reached two World Snooker Championship finals, and took part in the world’s first televised snooker tournament.

STUART HALL (1980-)

Hall became Darlington’s first World boxing champion when he out-pointed Vusi Malinga in Leeds in December 2103. In total, he competed in five different World title fights and ended his career with 21 victories from his 30 professional contests.

JAMES MORRISON (1986-)

A product of Middlesbrough FC’s academy, Morrison has won 46 international caps for Scotland, scoring three goals. He has made more than 350 senior appearances for Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion.

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It says much for Hall’s strength of character and resolve that, even in such a debilitating state, he still managed to trade blows with McDonnell for 12 rounds before suffering a unanimous points defeat.

Other fighters would almost certainly have thrown in the towel, but then Hall’s entire career has been built on a burning desire to prove people wrong.

As a talented amateur, he was deemed to be too much of a wild-child to achieve anything in the professional game. By his own admission, he suffered two ‘lost years’ on the party island of Ibiza where the excesses of drink and drugs ravaged his body.

Eventually, though, he pledged to turn his life around, and initially training under the watchful eye of Darlington trainer Paul Hamilton, his abilities in the ring began to re-emerge.

There was a thrilling European bantamweight title fight with Jamie McDonnell that ended in defeat, but proved his capabilities on the international stage. There was a magnificent demolition of Sergio Perales in Doncaster that earned him a maiden World title shot. Then, on an unforgettable December night in Leeds, there was the 12-round war with South African Vusi Malinga that carved his name into the North-East sporting record books.

“The Malinga fight has to be the number one memory,” said Hall. “It was brutal from start to finish. We were two closely-matched fighters, and we gave absolutely everything.

“I knocked him down in the third, and I thought that was that, but he was a bull of a boxer and he came back strong. He caught me and cut my eye, and I could barely see for the last two or three rounds. But I just knew I wasn’t going to get beat. Nothing and no one was going to stop me.

“Funnily enough, I still speak to Vusi on Facebook. He lives in Johannesburg now, and he’s watched a few of my fights. He still remembers that night as vividly as I do.”

Hall retained his World title in a draw with Martin Ward, but lost it three months later when he suffered a points defeat to Paul Butler.

There were two more title challenges, and most neutral observers still struggle to believe that Hall lost when he fought Lee Haskins at the O2 Arena in 2016. That defeat still rankles, although Hall is prouder of the performance he produced against Randy Caballero when he challenged for the IBF title in Monaco.

“I was robbed against Haskins,” he said. “I’ve always believed that, and always will. The Caballero fight was different. Maybe that was the best performance of my career because Caballero was a seriously good boxer. He was 21 and 0 when he fought me, and afterwards, his trainer came over to me and said, ‘Bloody hell Stu, where did that come from? We only took this fight on because we thought we’d win in three rounds’.”

There were eight more fights after the Caballero defeat, but amid wrangling with his former promoter, Dennis Hobson, they represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to regain past glories.

With a pre-operation consultation booked in for next Tuesday, Hall’s fighting days are over. Thanks to his achievements in the ring though, the memories of a life successfully transformed will remain.

“I’m proud that I managed to end up okay,” he said. “I had a good career, and I’ve got a fantastic wife and family. I’m happy.

“After the operation is finished, I’d like to be able to do something with kids in schools. I’d like to sit down and talk with them, and say, ‘Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, you can do great things’. I had nothing, then I won a World title. That’s the story I’d tell.”