Dundee boxer legend, Dick McTaggart, dies age 89
The athlete was widely regarded as one of Britain's best
Former Olympic boxing champion Dick McTaggart has died aged 89.
The Dundee born athlete, who is widely regarded as one of the best fighters Britain has ever produced, won the lightweight title at the 1956 Games in Melbourne.
He also won bronze in the 1960s and claimed a gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games.
The Dundonian was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000 and was one of the inaugural inductees into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
He was also named the Best British Amateur Boxer in the prestigious hall of fame of the Ex-Boxers Association.
One of his vanquished opponents, Andre Vairolatto, summed up McTaggart's style in eloquent fashion.
In a post on Instagram, the Frenchman said: "He moves like a ballet dancer.
“A ballet dancer with dynamite in his fists.
"It is a privilege to lose to such a boxer.
“He is right there in front of you until the precise second you prepare to unleash a punch, then - poof! - he has vanished.
“You only realise that he is still there in the ring with you when his fists land on your chin."
Richard McTaggart MBE was born on October 15, 1935, one of 18 siblings in a family which resided in a tenement flat on Dens Road in Dundee.
He started boxing about the age of 11 along with several of his brothers after his father, also called Richard, took them to a boxing club because they were always fighting.
McTaggart won the Olympic lightweight gold medal in Melbourne in 1956 and also collected the coveted Val Barker trophy, presented to the most stylish boxer of the Games - the only British boxer to do so to this day.
A hero's welcome awaited him and Britain's other gold medal winners.
McTaggart initially boxed for England as he was based at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire but he was picked for his country's Commonwealth Games team after winning the Scottish Championship at the first attempt in 1958 and soon took gold at Cardiff.
The right-handed southpaw was the flag bearer for the British team at the 1960 Olympics and won bronze after a controversial semi-final defeat.
McTaggart became European champion the following year before being on the end of another contentious decision in the 1962 Commonwealth Games light-welterweight final when his Ghanaian opponent fainted with shock after being awarded the decision.
He competed at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo but lost to the eventual winner in the quarter-finals.
McTaggart retired as a five-time British champion who had won 610 of his 634 fights and collected 32 cups, 57 plaques and 49 medals.
Outside of the ring, McTaggart's jobs included a labourer, a 'rodent exterminator' with Glasgow Council, a Rolls Royce engineer and a member of the Daily Express circulation department.
He also spent many years coaching the British Olympic and Scottish boxing squads.
McTaggart met his wife Doreen in 1962 in a cafe in Union Street, Glasgow, while she was working as a waitress. The pair renewed their wedding vows on their 50th anniversary in 2016 near their home in Troon. They had four daughters together.
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