{"id":294475,"date":"2023-10-13T11:24:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T11:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=294475"},"modified":"2023-10-13T11:24:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T11:24:58","slug":"hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Hugh Russell dies at 63: Irish boxing champion passes away following short illness as friends and colleagues pay tribute to the &#8216;champ&#8217; with the &#8216;cheeky grin&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hugh Russell has been fondly remembered following his death at the age of 63<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Russell was a prominent boxer as a young man before going into photography<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ex-boxer Carl Frampton was among those to pay tribute to Russell on Friday\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hugh Russell, who won a medal in boxing at the 1980 Olympic Games, has died at the age of 63.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Irishman passed away following a battle with illness and he has been remembered fondly by peers and close friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Russell&#8217;s crowning moment came at the 1980 Moscow Games where he took bronze for Ireland after wins over Iraq&#8217;s Samit Khiniab, Tanzania&#8217;s Emmanuel Mlundwa, and North Korea&#8217;s Yo Ryon-Sik.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beaten in the semi-finals by\u00a0Bulgarian Petar Lesov, who would go on to win gold, Russell returned a hero for Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>After boxing he turned his hand to photography and got a job working for the Irish News newspaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/13\/11\/76515247-0-image-a-1_1697192808046.jpg\" height=\"424\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hugh Russell (middle, pictured in 1980 after winning Olympic bronze) has died at the age of 63<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/13\/12\/76516777-12627217-image-a-13_1697195370823.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Russell (right) reached the 1980 Olympic semi-finals by beating\u00a0North Korea &#8216;s Yo Ryon-Sik<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/13\/11\/76515249-12627217-image-a-12_1697193711048.jpg\" height=\"469\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Russell was hailed for his &#8216;cheeky grin&#8217; as ex-boxers and newspaper colleagues paid tribute<\/p>\n<p><span>Paul McConville, the newspaper&#8217;s sports editor, said of Russell on Friday: &#8216;Champion boxer and top-class photographer but a friend and colleague who was always on hand to lend some sage advice or lighten the mood with a wise crack and that cheeky grin. RIP Champ.&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Russell, known as &#8216;the great son of Belfast&#8217;, burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old when he won flyweight bronze at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;I&#8217;ve just heard the sad news that Hugh Russell passed away,&#8217; fellow boxer Carl Frampton said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;As a BBBoC (British Boxing Board of Control) member and an ex boxer, he always had the fighters&#8217; best interest at heart. One of the nicest men you could meet. RIP Hughie.&#8217;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Boxing Ireland wrote their own tribute, adding: &#8216;RIP Hugh Russell Snr. An absolute gentleman and legend inside and outside the ring. I know myself, Dennis and Stephen would definitely not have been able to put on any of the shows in Belfast without his help, support and encouragement, a massive loss to the boxing community.&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/13\/12\/76516779-12627217-image-a-14_1697195415776.jpg\" height=\"634\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Irishman pictured in action during his boxing career, throwing a punch at Stuart Shaw<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/13\/11\/76515121-12627217-Russell_left_pictured_in_2011_became_a_photographer_after_boxing-a-1_1697194753315.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Russell (left, pictured in 2011) became a photographer after boxing and is fondly remembered<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/article-12627217\/Hugh-Russell-dies-63-Irish-boxing-champion-passes-away-following-short-illness-friends-colleagues-pay-tribute-champ-cheeky-grin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hugh Russell dies at 63: Irish boxing champion passes away following short illness as friends and colleagues pay tribute to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Irish boxing champion passes away following short illness as friends and colleagues pay tribute to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Hugh-Russell-dies-at-63-Ex-Irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/\",\"name\":\"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boxing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/boxing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"All My Sports News\",\"description\":\"allmysportsnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News","og_description":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Irish boxing champion passes away following short illness as friends and colleagues pay tribute to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/","og_site_name":"All My Sports News","article_published_time":"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Hugh-Russell-dies-at-63-Ex-Irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/","name":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness - All My Sports News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-13T11:24:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/boxing\/hugh-russell-dies-at-63-ex-irish-boxer-passes-away-following-illness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boxing","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/boxing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Hugh Russell dies at 63: Ex-Irish boxer passes away following illness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/","name":"All My Sports News","description":"allmysportsnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}