Boxer David Pearce: Forgotten images of 'Newport's Rocky' revealed

A collection of once-forgotten photos charting a steelworker's rise to become the British heavyweight boxing champion has gone on display.

David "Bomber" Pearce, dubbed Newport's Rocky, was widely regarded as one of the most exciting heavyweights of the 1980s.

Glenn Edwards was still in college in Newport when he spent a year photographing him in 1983, the year he beat Neville Meade to the title.

Glenn had kept his photos in a box for almost four decades but they are finally being shown to the public.

Glenn first heard about Pearce after reading about his upcoming fight against the Belgian heavyweight Al Syben in a local paper.

"It was a different era then… I didn't have to go to promoters or managers or anything like that, I just went over to his house and knocked his door," he said.

Pearce agreed and Glenn went on to spend the next year documenting his life.

Glenn had a ringside seat at the Al Syben fight in London.

"He knocked the bloke out in two minutes in the first round so I didn't have much chance to get pictures," he said.

Pearce, from the Pill area of the city, was born into a true boxing family.

He was one of seven brothers and had two sisters, with six of the boys, including David, boxing professionally.

Glenn took photos of Pearce training, spending time with his family at home and out socialising and they became friends.

"He was fantastic, he was lovely, I think he was liked by everybody," said Glenn.

"He was exceptionally respectful and friendly."

He was in awe of his subject: "It's been said so many times but he actually was Newport's Rocky - this person who is not supposed to be where he is and all of a sudden rises to become British heavyweight champion, a typical success story of the underdog," he said.

"He was small, he wasn't a heavyweight so he was fighting people that were giants to him and knocking them out.

"If he was boxing now he wouldn't be a heavyweight, he would be a cruiserweight, which means in my opinion he would have been world champion because he had such power."

Pearce beat Swansea's Neville Meade to the British title at St David's Hall in Cardiff in September 1983.

Speaking after his victory, he said: "I did it for Newport."

The following year, despite sleeping on a park bench the night before and suffering a broken hand, he knocked down defending European champion Rodriguez twice before losing on points.

He was linked with big fights against Buster Douglas and Leon Spinks, but his career was cut short when brain scan irregularities led to his boxing licence being revoked by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Pearce relentlessly campaigned for the return of his licence but died suddenly in 2000, aged 41.

Soon after, his family began a campaign to have a statue of him erected in Newport.

Luke Pearce never knew his uncle David during his boxing years but would visit him when he was in his late 30s and his fighting days were behind him.

"What drove me later in terms of his legacy was I felt I missed out on David," he said.

"I felt I was cheated with David dying so tragically...

"So when he passed away sadly in 2000 I went to the library to find out more information on him and I was told that there was nothing, a week later they showed me one picture, and I said at that point 'I'm not going to stop until everyone in the city knows who David 'Bomber' Pearce is'."

Glenn recalled: "I was on Twitter and I saw a picture and I thought 'hang on, that's one of my pictures'.

"I thought 'what's going on here?'... I must have given David some pictures just as a thank you and those are the pictures that they [his family] found and used to raise funds for the statue."

He made contact with Pearce's nephew Luke.

Then photography gallery Ffoto Newport made contact with Glenn after researching former students from the documentary photography course launched by David Hurn in Newport in 1973.

A book of his photos is also planned for next year to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Pearce taking the British title.

There is now a statue of Pearce in Newport and his family run a charity in his name to fund sports for young people.

Luke said he and his family were full of appreciation to Glenn for sharing his photos with the public and promoting Pearce's legacy.

"David's story was untold and he was so close to becoming one of the best fighters we ever had," he said.

"I was just very proud of him... he had an amazing story."

The exhibition is at Ffoto Newport in Newport's Market Arcade until 30 October.