Archie Sexton

Archibald Ernest Sexton GM (3 April 1908 – 11 July 1957) was an English professional boxer who began his career at featherweight in 1925 and finished as a middleweight in 1936. He had at least 222 professional contests,{{cite web |url= http://www.boxinghistory.org.uk/records/15100-Archie-Sexton-Bethnal-Green.pdf |title=Boxers Records: Archie Sexton (Bethnal Green) |first1=Miles |last1=Templeton |first2=Richard |last2=Ireland |work=British Boxing History |year=2014 |accessdate=2 November 2015}} including one for the British middleweight title in 1933, where he lost by a tenth round technical knockout to Jock McAvoy.{{cite web |url=http://boxrec.com/bout/169452 |title=Jock McAvoy v. Archie Sexton |work=BoxRec.com |year=2015 |accessdate=2 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122044503/http://boxrec.com/bout/169452 |archive-date=22 January 2016 |url-status=dead }}

Biography

Sexton was born at Bethnal Green. He took part in the world's first televised boxing match, a six-round exhibition against Laurie Raiteri in London on 22 August 1933.{{cite web |url=http://www.wbaonline.com/dates/dates08.asp|title=WBA Today in History |work=wbaonline.com |accessdate=26 October 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011113355/http://wbaonline.com/dates/dates08.asp |archivedate=11 October 2007}} The loss of the sight of his left eye – which occurred during a boxing match – forced him to retire from boxing in 1936, although he later worked as a BBBofC referee. During the Second World War he served as a Police War Reserve Constable, and in 1944 he was awarded the George Medal for his part in rescuing two men and a woman trapped in an air-raid shelter underneath Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.{{London Gazette |issue=36824 |date=21 January 1941 |page=5567 |supp=y }}

He died in New Zealand on 11 July 1957 from a stroke, aged 49.