Trainer to the giants is found hanged

Legendary boxing trainer George Francis, who guided both Frank Bruno and John Conteh to world titles, has been found hanged at his home.

Francis, 73, once a bare-knuckle streetfighter in the slums of 1930s Camden Town, was a respected battler all his life. Over the past three years, however, he was dogged by family tragedy.

During that time he lost both his wife of more than 50 years, Joan, and his son Simon to cancer. His son-in-law was also killed in a car crash in South Africa where his daughter Mary now lives. Friends believe he eventually found the burden of grief too great to bear.

Francis, who founded the Covent Garden Amateur Boxing Association Club, was found five days ago in a house in Highgate. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was taken to St Pancras mortuary. Tributes have already begun to pour in for the doyen of British boxing training. Conteh, who won the ABA light-heavyweight title in 1971, said Francis was his "mentor", while fellow trainer Mickey Duff paid tribute to his teaching skills and his ability to bring fighters into peak physical condition.

He became one of Britain's most respected boxing trainers producing other world champions, such as John "The Beast" Mugabi and Cornelius Boza Edwards. Francis left school at the age of 11 and spent time in Wormwood Scrubs before reaching London's boxing gyms. He first fought as an amateur. His tough upbringing had shaped Francis into a colourful but determined character and he juggled much of his early training work with his day job as a porter in Covent Garden Market.

But it was his skills as a trainer which brought him into the public eye. Francis championed the cause of black boxers, helping steer Jamaican-born Bunny Sterling to top British and Commonwealth middleweight titles in 1970 - the first immigrant to hold a British crown.

Although, outwardly, he was a shy and gentle man, he also quickly gained a mighty reputation as a fitness fanatic who would tirelessly drive fighters by example to new peaks. Bruno wrote in his 1996 autobiography From Zero To Hero: "He toughened my training routine, taking me on exhausting runs across Hampstead Heath which ended with brisk swims in the icy waters of Highgate Pond. I owe him a lot for helping to make me a world champion." Nine years later Bruno and Francis experienced their crowning glory when the Briton beat Oliver McCall to finally win a world heavyweight title.

"As I returned to my corner after the 11th round the legs suddenly weighed a ton and George, who knows me better than anybody, said: 'Just go out there and grab him. Smother him. Three minutes and the title is there for you.'"

"I followed George's instructions and laid on, held and wrestled, and then I allowed myself to believe that I was finally the world heavyweight champion."

Francis once said: "You're only as good as your pupil. What he's got. You can't give a fellow a hard punch. You can't give him a good heart. You can't give him a good chin because that's something he's born with.

"If he's got these three things and he's very intelligent then he's the one you're looking for."