Knockout show from champion boxer Pat speaking about his career in Smethwick - WATCH
It was a knockout day as boxing legend Pat Cowdell spoke of his career highlights at Smethwick Heritage Centre.
Cowdell, from Smethwick, gave the rare talk as part of the centre's Christmas Roadshow.
More than 500 people attended the question and answer session as centre manager, Chris Sutton, led the interview.
Mr Sutton said: "It went really well and we had people from across the country come to look at our Smethwick displays about our industry.
"Someone said that they knew Pat Cowdell so we thought that we would try and get him along too. "It turns out he does not do many interviews, so I think this was a rarity for us. About 500 people came and Pat bought his Lonsdale belt to show.
"He was a lovely, quiet chap but didn't mind speaking about his life and career.
"He still has his strong Smethwick accent too."
Cowdell won the bronze medal in the bantamweight division at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
In the semi-finals he was beaten by eventual gold medalist Gu Yong-Ju from North Korea.
Two years earlier he had won the gold medal, at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was also a bronze medalist at the 1975 European Amateur Boxing Championships held in Katowice, Poland, and was the 1973 ABA bantamweight champion, lightweight in 1975, and featherweight champion in 1976 and 1977.
Mr Sutton continued: "We hope that Pat will be get involved with us again and I think we'll be offering him a free membership for the centre as a thank you.
"In the future we would love to get more famous faces from the area to come down and talk with us – such as Frank Skinner and Julie Walters.
"We had a brilliant day and were really grateful. We'd love to do it again."
