PAUL ‘SCRAP IRON’ RYAN was pure entertainment value, with dynamite in his fists and an extremely low bulls**t threshold.
At 60 years of age, he still wears his flat cap, an item of clothing that remained glued to his head whenever he strolled out to the sounds of, ‘Any Old Iron?’ However, life for the London knockout artist didn’t start as he had intended.
“I grew up in Limehouse, London, and was there until about 12, then we moved to Hainault and stayed there for about five or six years,” Ryan told Boxing News.
“Then we moved to Hackney where my dad rented the house out that we had, and he bought a pub, which we also lived in. That’s where my life of trouble started.
“I didn’t like school and I basically got in with the wrong crowd. I’m badly dyslexic, but in them days they didn’t know anything about that. The teachers would be explaining things and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I was terrible at English, good at maths, but all the other stuff I just couldn’t do. As a result, I just messed about.”
From flicking the back of fellow students’ ears in class, to bunking lessons, Ryan’s focus started drifting into darkness.
The London-based southpaw explained: “I was 15 when I first went to prison. It was always for stupid stuff like thieving and fighting. In the space of about seven or eight years, I was only outside of prison for about three months.
“I’d be let out, get nicked, go back in, and get let out. Again and again and again. I was either thieving someone or having a fight with someone. That was my life.”
While serving time, Ryan fell victim to a broken arm, which for a future professional boxer wasn’t ideal, as he would never be able to fully extend it.
“I got let out of Chelmsford and, a week later, I was back in there again,” he recalled. “When I walked in, this screw said, ‘look who’s back. It didn’t take you long!’ I just said, ‘don’t talk to me like that.’ He then grabbed me, so I nutted him.
“It all kicked off, and next thing I knew, there were about eight or nine screws on me. I don’t even remember the moment when my arm got broken.”
Thankfully, a switch of mindset put Ryan onto a more positive and productive path.
“I started watching boxing when Barry McGuigan had just won the world title in 1985,” Ryan said. “I was out for a little while from Chelmsford at the time, but went back in soon after.
“When I saw [McGuigan] in that ring, I loved it, but I didn’t do anything about it because I didn’t know where to go in terms of boxing clubs and all that, and shortly after I was back in the nick anyway.
“My last stretch was in Chelmsford prison. I was there for about 18 months and was let out in my early twenties, thinking to myself, ‘I don’t want any more of this.’ I knew I had to do something different with my life, and that’s when I decided to try boxing.
“I went to Repton Boxing Club when I was about 25 and spoke with the bloke who was running it and said, ‘I’m a bit old now, don’t you think?’ He said, ‘come back tomorrow and there will be people your own age.’ I went back the next night and it was the juniors.
“I thought he was messing me about, so I walked out of there and went to another club called St Monica’s, which was in Hoxton. I loved it, and never looked back. The club is not there anymore, which is a shame.”
Ryan soon studied the mentality of a boxer, and the commitment needed to succeed.
“I used to run about five and a half miles at a good pace and, at the end of each run, there was a tower block. We used to run right up to the top, which was 21 floors, then I’d try to walk down with wobbly legs, holding onto the railing in case my legs gave way!”
The training paid off and Ryan launched himself into a short, yet fruitful, amateur career.
“I had 18 amateur fights and won 16,” he claimed. “I won the London ABA’s and got to the semi-finals of the nationals.”
Ryan had no intention of turning professional, however, a bit of encouragement from British training legend, Howard Rainey, soon changed his mind.
“I went down to his gym, training, and was an amateur at the time,” he said. “Howard said to me, ‘you’d make a good pro,’ and I said, ‘pro?’ I didn’t have a clue what pro boxing was back then, but I had a think about it and decided to give it a go.
“That was that. It was actually him that gave me the nickname ‘Scrap Iron.’ We got on like a house on fire, me and him. He was a great trainer and a brilliant human being.”
Ryan’s pro debut was on 26 September 1991 against fellow debutant Chris Mylan at the Queensway Hall, Dunstable. He recalled. “I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a tough boy and took me all the way. I hit him with everything and I mean everything and he didn’t go nowhere. I was trying to knock him out and kept hitting him and hitting him, but he wouldn’t go down. He was like a brick.”
Ryan’s next fight was on the undercard of Colin McMillan at the Royal Albert Hall, which he fondly remembers.
“I was blown away by it all,” he gleamed. “Even now, I enjoy telling my sons about that fight at the Albert Hall. Getting my first stoppage [in the fourth round against Alex Sterling] at somewhere like that was something else. I can still hear the crowd cheering and clapping.”
1995 was an action-packed year for Ryan. After clocking up three stoppage wins and extending his record to 18-0, he took on tough hombre Oscar Palamino at the Albert Hall in his first title fight for the WBO Inter-Continental super-lightweight strap. Palamino was 15-2 and had never been stopped.
“Now, that was a nice fight,” recalled Ryan. “All that fear stuff – I didn’t have any of that. I was always scared of getting beat, because I didn’t want to get beat. I wasn’t scared of an opponent or being hurt by them. Never. I had a mad way of thinking. When I saw blood, I had to go in for the kill. I went nuts and went in with the big shots. Palamino was a tough bastard. I hit him with loads of big shots, but he also caught me with loads. I stopped him in the end, but it could have gone the other way.”
It’s worth noting that Palamino had back-to-back European title fights straight after the Ryan defeat, and also went on to become the Spanish lightweight champion.
On December 9, 1995, Ryan took on Ross Hale for the British and Commonwealth super-lightweight straps. Hale was the reigning champion since 1994, and had won the Lonsdale Belt outright. In 27 fights, he’d only lost one, however Ryan was unbeaten in 21 fights, with only two of them going the distance. Surely ‘Scrap Iron’ fancied the challenge?
“Believe it or not, I wasn’t confident at all,” he admitted. “I knew there was a possibility that, if he hit me, I’d go, but I kept telling myself that it wouldn’t happen. I fought him like all the others I fought. I went straight for him from the first round and, fortunately, he went down. I had a pretty good punch.”
Ryan certainly did have the firepower to back up his talk. He stopped Hale in two minutes and 12 seconds of the first round.
Three months later, last-minute substitute Jon Thaxton stepped in at the York Hall, possessing a record of 10-3. Unfortunately, Ryan was stopped in the opening stanza.
“I was absolutely gutted,” he said. “It still kills me thinking about that fight. The bell went and it was going the same as all the other [fights]. I’d just caught him with a big shot and he went on the ropes, came off, and caught me right on the chin. I was sparko. I can’t say I didn’t prepare for that fight. Absolutely not. I got ready for him like it was a world title fight. In fact, I fought every fight like it was a world title fight.”
Thankfully, the titles were not on the line against Thaxton, but they certainly were against Merseyside’s Andy Holligan five months later, once again at York Hall. Holligan had been stopped in three rounds by Ross Hale in 1994, which consequently made Ryan the betting favourite. Ryan shook his head as he recalled that night.
“Listen,” he said. “The Thaxton fight, yep, I was sparko, I couldn’t fight on, but the Holligan fight, nah. That fight should have never been stopped in a million years. He caught me with an absolutely nothing shot on the side of the head, I went down, I got up and the ref stopped it. I was fine to go on, but the fight was over. That’s boxing for ya.”
Nine months later, Ryan was back in the ring at welterweight and, over the next three months, from April to July 1997, he clocked up three stoppage wins. On September 13, 1997, Ryan had his last fight against Geoff McCreesh for his British welterweight title.
Recalling his swansong, Ryan said: “He was a tough boy, Geoff. I truly believed I was going to win it, but that night he came on to me, hit me, and kept throwing punches when he thought he had me hurt. He stopped me before I could fire back. After that fight, I’d had enough and knew that I was getting on. I didn’t want to get beat anymore and, after that last loss, I knew that I couldn’t take a punch as well as I used to.”
Ryan finished his career with three losses and 25 victories, which included an incredible 92% stoppage ratio. Surely Paul ‘Scrap Iron’ Ryan would have been a fan-favourite in Saudi Arabia? Ryan laughed, before saying, “Big time! I’ve been there about five or six times and love it. I would have absolutely loved to have fought out there, but it’s a bit late now!”
