REG GUTTERIDGEOBE - who died on 24 January, 2009, at the age of 84 - was born into a boxing family and had hopes of becoming a champion boxer himself - but it was as a commentator on the sport that he was to make his name.
His grandfather, Arthur, was a professional boxer and his father and uncle - Dick and Jack - were known as the Gutteridge Twins and were top cornermen and trainers in Britain throughoutthe 1920s and 1930s.
Reg Gutteridge had been a promising amateur fighter but lost a leg when he stepped on a mine while fighting in World War Two, so he turned to writing about the sport instead of participating.
He was a reporter with the London Evening News for some 40 years but became better known as ITV's voice of boxing, a job he performed for 30 years from 1962.
His awards as a commentator included the Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism and Presenter of the Year.
He covered six Olympics.
He became friends with many of the boxers whose fights he commentated on, and Muhammad Ali visited his hospital bedside when he was ill in the 1980s. Ali also provided the foreword to his autobiography "Uppercuts and Dazes" which was published in 1998.
Mr Gutteridge was awarded the OBE in 1995 and was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002.
He died after a short illness.
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