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Boxing promoter and bookmaker Barney Eastwood has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\nBoxing promoter and bookmaker Barney Eastwood has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\n
Eastwood, from Holywood, Co Down, died on Monday at the Ulster Hospital on the outskirts of Belfast after a period of illness.<\/p>\n
Known to friends and family as \u201cBJ\u201d, Eastwood made his name in the bookmaking business, building up a large chain of shops across Northern Ireland. In 2008, he sold his 54 shops to Ladbrokes in a deal worth \u00a3135 million.<\/p>\n
Despite his success in bookmaking, Eastwood was best known for his work as a boxing promoter and manager, particularly his association with world champion fighter Barry McGuigan.<\/p>\n
After years of success together, Eastwood\u2019s relationship with the \u201cClones Cyclone\u201d ultimately soured, culminating in an acrimonious legal dispute.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the family confirmed Eastwood\u2019s death to the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cBJ\u2019s passing has brought great sadness to the family as well as the whole community in Holywood where he was a very visible resident for the past 50 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll who knew him will miss his remarkable charm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family has appealed for privacy.<\/p>\n
Eastwood was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on March 26 1932 to John Charles Eastwood and Mary Gertrude Campbell.<\/p>\n
He was educated at St Patrick\u2019s College, Armagh, until the age of 15.<\/p>\n
The teenage Eastwood was a talented gaelic footballer and won an All-Ireland medal at minor level with Tyrone in 1948 \u2013 something his family said he considered his most cherished achievement.<\/p>\n
He met his wife, Frances, while working at his brother\u2019s shoe shop in Cookstown, where she was employed as a secretary.<\/p>\n
They married, aged 19, and moved to Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, where he bought a public house with his inheritance from his late mother.<\/p>\n
Although he started out as a publican, and also worked as an undertaker, he soon turned to the bookmaking trade, opening his first betting shop in the 1950s.<\/p>\n
His passion for boxing was ignited after watching organised fights at the US Army Air Force base near Ardboe, Co Tyrone, during the Second World War.<\/p>\n
He promoted many boxing shows in the 1960s and, after a break from the sport, returned to the ring in the 1980s as McGuigan\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n
His association with McGuigan \u2013 whose world title success became of symbol of hope through the darkness of the Northern Ireland Troubles \u2013 helped make Eastwood a household name in the region and beyond.<\/p>\n
McGuigan\u2019s most famous victory \u2013 over WBA world featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza at Loftus Road in London in June 1985 \u2013 was watched by a domestic UK TV audience of more than 19 million.<\/p>\n
After the highs came the lows, and the men\u2019s friendship ended amid a high-profile legal battle following McGuigan\u2019s world title defeat to Steve Cruz in Las Vegas in 1986.<\/p>\n
Eastwood finally won a long-running libel action against McGuigan in 1992.<\/p>\n
During the 1980s and 1990s, Eastwood\u2019s Gym in Belfast was famous in boxing circles around the world.<\/p>\n
As well as McGuigan, he managed four other world champion boxers \u2013 Dave \u201cBoy\u201d McAuley, Paul Hodkinson, Crisanto Espana and Victor Cordoba.<\/p>\n
Eastwood also owned or part-owned many horses and greyhounds throughout his life.<\/p>\n
Among some notable successes was winner of the last English Greyhound Derby to be run at the White City, London, in 1980 \u2013 Indian Joe.<\/p>\n
Eastwood is survived by wife Frances, sons Brian, Peter, Adrian, Stephen and Fearghal, daughter Fiona, 23 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, and his sister Margaret.<\/p>\n
He was predeceased by his son Fintan, his brothers Thomas, Joseph, John and William, and his sisters Gertrude, Johanna and Elizabeth.<\/p>\n
His family said the Eastwood home will remain private ahead of the funeral later in the week at St Colmcille\u2019s Parish Church, Holywood.<\/p>\n