The story of Albert Hughes Jr. and his oldest boxer record-breaking feat is a genuinely saddening tale to tell.
Hughes picked up a pair of boxing gloves at the age of seventy and attempted to do something in memory of his son. Albert Hughes III had died just months earlier by taking his own life at 32.
The heartbroken Albert Jr. was left to pick up the pieces. He had one wish left to fulfill for his child – to become the oldest boxer of all time.
It was a dream the pair shared before Hughes III cut his own time short. As it turned out, in a further tragic twist, Hughes would achieve their goal within months but never receive his acknowledgment.
Holding a short training camp for a fight against Tramane Towns in December 2019, Hughes took to the ring to secure his destiny.
In what was a primarily staged event [as far as WBN can see] with the sole purpose of Hughes taking the record, the almost 71-year-old puncher won the fight.
The Oldest Boxer Guinness World Record
And Hughes was on course for verification despite debate of the validity and calls from the United Kingdon for Guinness not to recognize the win.
However, Hughes was in bad health due to the ongoing trauma of losing his son. He didn’t have long left and died within a year and a half.
At the time, daughter Amanda Moles spoke about her father to Indy Star at the time: “Dad was really deteriorating. He grieved himself to death.”
Hughes passed away without ever finding out that he had indeed been honored by the Guinness World Records.
Albert Hughes Jr beats Steven Ward’s benchmark
After the sheer anguish of the circumstances of what had transpired, the cries from the UK become muted. Steven Ward, the previous holder, had initially contested the contest in an interview with World Boxing News just days after Hughes won.
Ward was 60 years and 337 days old when he broke the record first in Nottinghamshire on July 15, 2017. However, he lost it by ten years despite Hughes never hearing the ratification.
“His dying breath was he didn’t know if he was going to get that record,” Moles added in her interview with the Indy Star. “He tried to hold on.
“He tried. But he couldn’t. He died thinking he wasn’t going to win this.”
After seeing his achievement in print on the GWR website, Moles concluded: “Dad was real excited about winning. I hate it he didn’t get to see it.”
Guinness had no qualms about their move to pencil in Hughes.