Jimmy Tibbs was a professional boxer in the late 1960s before switching his hand to training. The British went on to guide four fighters to world titles and worked with several others at various stages of their careers.

Tibbs, who was one of five children, was born in Canning Town, in the East End of London on September 9, 1946. He grew up in the capital in the aftermath of World War II.

"Where I was born in East London, there was quite a lot of debris about, we didn't take much notice, we grew up with it," Tibbs told The Ring. "I didn't see no bombing because I was too young.

"I went to a Catholic Primary school in Canning Town. As time went on, they started to build up. I went to another school in Forest Gate."

He took up boxing at 11 and so the love affair began and he never looked back.

"One day, I came home from school and I dunno why, but I said to my dad, "I want to do a bit of boxing." He looked at me and went, "Yeah?" He took me West Ham Boxing Club in Plaistow, not far from Canning Town and joined the club at 11-years of age," he recalled. "It cost 5 shillings, that was for a year. There was a man who was running the place, Captain Myers, he was a very nice man, but he had a bit of authority about him.

"I started training there and got to know people. A man was looking at me, Jackie Gubbins, and he said, "Jim let me take you on the bag." And from that day he trained me until I turned professional. He taught me everything I teach these fighters and I added my own as I got older. He was a marvelous trainer; he was dedicated to me, and I was dedicated to him."

His father owned a Scrap Iron business and Tibbs worked there part-time, but his father wanted his son to focus on training, which he did, regularly with professionals from the age of 15.

Tibbs went on to win School boys for Great Britain twice, he was the NABC champion and reached the final of the junior ABA. He was also Northeast Divisional champion as a senior.

With around 50/ 60 amateur fights under his belt and only a handful of defeats he decided his future lay in the professional ranks.

"I was sitting about thinking, "Do I have a try for the Commonwealth Games?" he said. "I went up the gym and Terry Lawless offered me some money to go pro," I said, "I'll let you know." So, I went home and spoke to my dad and he said, "Ask him to double it and do it." So, I went said the same to Terry Lawless and he said, "That's done."

Tibbs turned professional as a light heavyweight with Lawless and his partner Mickey Duff at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in February 1966.

"It was a two-round job," he said. "I'm not being disrespectful, he wasn't great. When you're a prospect they find you fighters and you keep going so you don't get beat but it's how you do it.

"When I turned pro, I was only weighing 11, 11/ 12 stone [165-168-pounds.] I never got out of that weight, and I ate as much as you can - good food, took spoons full of malt to put weight on. They all thought I was gonna finish up a heavyweight because my dad was 6-3/ 6-4, and my brothers were big, but I never grew anymore."

After just three-months as a professional and winning his first four fights he was placed on the undercard of Muhammad Ali's WBC heavyweight title defense against Henry Cooper at Highbury, London, in May 1966.

"I was around my dad's friend's scrapyard and a man from my family drove around and said, "Jump in, I've got your sparring gear, you've got to spar Ali at White City,'" he recalled. "Right away, I thought, I'm booked as a light heavyweight [175-pounds] but I'm only 12 stone [168-pounds.] I didn't mention it to the fella because he didn't know much about boxing. I got up there and there was Ali, Jimmy Ellis and a couple of other fighters, Terry Lawless, Mickey Duff, Jarvis Astaire, people like that.

"I put my hands up and Ali was the only one who didn't talk to me, and I thought, "This might be real, I might be sparring Ali." So, I got in the ring and started shaking out. I hit him with a jab, I hit the head guard, and he fell on the floor like a bullet hit him. I thought, "Did I hit him?" Then I heard click, click, click it was for photographs, and they went all around the world. I said this at a speech I was doing, "I didn't spar with Ali, but I had one of the greatest moments of my life when I shared the ring with the best heavyweight of all-time."

Meanwhile, Tibbs raced through his first nine opponents but lost for the first time just over a year after his debut.

"So, I was fighting light heavyweight and everyone they put in front of me, I beat 'em except Johnny Ould," he said. "I think I underestimated him, I'll give him his due, he beat me fair and square, and he beat me with my own punch the left jab. He out jabbed me, so I was a bit disappointed with that. I'd have liked to have had a return with him, but you didn't get the choice in them days."

He righted the ship before coming unstuck against former sparring partner Guinea Roger (KO 2), which prompted a move down to middleweight.

"It was a bit of a struggle," he admitted. "At light heavyweight, I had plenty of energy, when I went down to middleweight, I found I had to pace myself a bit because I had to dry out a bit."

Nonetheless he remained unbeaten until an incident outside the ring brought his promising career to a thudding halt at just 23-years-old.

"I got in a bit of trouble with the law, someone seriously hurt my brother, and I took revenge out on him," he said. "It went to court and I got a 10-year prison sentence. I served four-years, eight months. I'm not ashamed to say, I took the law into my own hands, which I shouldn't have done and I've repented it ever since.

"I came out of prison and went to our scrap business. Me and my brother took the business over, it was very hard and made it a success again."

It appeared boxing was in his rearview mirror but as it all to often does, it reeled Tibbs back in.

"One day, I had a bit of time on my hands and from my yard in Canning Town it was a 10-minute walk to the Royal Oak, where we used to train," he recalled. "Terry Lawless was still there with fighters I used to train with like Tony Moore, Jimmy Anderson, Ralph Charles and lots of good fighters. I thought I'll have a walk up there and see Terry. He walked up and he said, "Jim, how you going?" blah, blah, blah and had a little talk with him. I knew all the fighters like Jim McDonnell, Frank Bruno etc.

"I was standing talking to Terry and he said, "Would you like a few weeks up here with the boys because I'm going to America on a bit of business, and I'd like you to look after them?" He knew I was training a few amateurs at West Ham. I said, "Yeah."

Tibbs started working with Charlie Magri and within six-months had his trainer's licence. Magri went on to become his first world champion.

"That was a good night for me, a good night for Charlie, a good night for the camp," he said. "He was desperately waiting for a couple of years until they finally got him the title fight. I went out to Italy to win the European title with him a couple of times. He was well established in Lawless gym before I got there. I took over training when Lawless hired me. He stopped [WBC flyweight titlist Eleoncio Mercedes] in seven-rounds with a cut eye."

His next big success came in the form of Lloyd Honeyghan bludgeoning Gianfranco Rosi for the European welterweight title in January 1985.

"Honeyghan knocked Rosi cold [in three-rounds] for the European title and Rosi went on to win the junior middleweight title after that," said Tibbs, who parted ways with Honeyghan before he went on to shock Ring/ undisputed welterweight champion Donald Curry.

He also trained Frank Bruno to his first world title shot in front of 40,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in July 1986.

"I got the European title with Frank Bruno against the big Swedish giant, [Anders Eklund], he was 6-7," said Tibbs. "And then I went on with Frank to fight for the [WBA] heavyweight title against Tim Witherspoon [but he was stopped] in 11-rounds at Wembley. He sold the place out that night.

"He needed to loosen up a little bit, I never really got that with him. When he was loose in the gym, he looked good, good right hand, good jab."

After six-years working with Lawless and his fighters at the Royal Oak they separated, and Tibbs landed with rising promoter Frank Warren.

"Chris Pyatt won the [WBO] middleweight title for Barry Hearn against Sumbu Kalambay, that was a great fight," he said. "After that Nigel Benn came along and won the [WBC super middleweight] title in Italy on a cut eye. [He] defended it about six times. I just told him to relax, chin down and he could fight all night. He was a very dedicated trainer. We parted just before he fought Gerald McClellan."

Tibbs later guided Billy Joe Saunders to British, Commonwealth, European success before adding a world title.

"I don't train anyone but for a few years I've done a lot of cut work with different fighters," said Tibbs, who was in the corner assisting Dennis McCann to his recent European title win.

He's had success at all levels and is keen to point out no matter the level he's enjoyed the journey.

"It not just about winning world titles, it's good to win world titles, everyone wants to win a world title, it's ridiculous if they say they don't," he said. "I've had some Southern Area titles with different people at the York Hall. I've been all over the country."

Tibbs, now 78, has been married for 58-years and lives in Upminster, Essex. They have two son's Jimmy, who was a soccer player and Mark, who followed in his footsteps into boxing and is now a well-regarded trainer. He also has five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he trained in 10 key categories.

Billy Joe Saunders: "When it was on song, it was very correct, very sharp, very good jab and he was a southpaw. Bruno had a marvelous jab, very strong."

Lloyd Honeyghan: "He wasn't very tall, but he was bent over that little bit more and he knew how to make a person miss their punches and when he made 'em miss he counter."

Pat Clinton: "He was a brilliant boxer; he won the European title on one of the Island's off Italy. He boxed like Sugar Ray Leonard - outstanding. Very good handspeed."

Clinton: "He could dance all night and not get caught. Brilliant to watch."

Honeyghan: "I've got to say Lloyd Honeyghan was smart. He knew when to let go and when to hold up. In the peak of his career, he knocked out Gianfranco Rosi for the European title with a right hand in three-rounds. He waited for him and didn't waste energy. He held his left jab out for him and all of a sudden there was an opening and crashed the right hand in and [Rosi] was on the floor."

Frank Bruno: "I would say he was most physically strong."

Chris Pyatt: "There's two or three but I'd say the one that standouts out to me is Chris Pyatt. He was middleweight champion, but he wasn't a middleweight really, he was a junior middleweight. He got that shot and he had to take it otherwise he'd have to hang around. When he won the world title [against Sumbu Kalambay] it was a 12-round decision, but it was tit-for-tat and he got caught with a left hook to the body and how he held that shot, I do not know. When he got caught on the chin he didn't move. I said to him after the fight, "I bet that hurt" he said, "Jim it did hurt!" but he didn't show it."

Nigel Benn: "He could be behind 10-rounds, but the knockout [threat] was always there, very dangerous, good puncher. Nine times out of 10 when he caught 'em they went."

Saunders: "The only time I got Billy Joe really at his best when he won the world title against Andy Lee, he done his weight right, concentrated and he got in that ring, and I knew he had a very good chance to beat Andy Lee. He boxed brilliant that night. It was always weight problems with Billy Joe, he made it but never got the best out of him. I could see his boxing ability was accurate and smart. When he was on song, he could out jab anyone at his weight and you felt confident."

Benn: "There were a couple, Nigel Benn, Lloyd Honeyghan and Chris Pyatt stand out for me. From Day 1, Nigel Benn was a pleasure to train with, he trained hard, up in the mountain every day, he never complained, he did his job."