ROBERT Dickie, Cefneithin's former British featherweight and super-featherweight champion boxer, has died of a heart attack while lifting weights at his Llanelli home. He was 46.
Dickie won the vacant British featherweight crown by defeating John Feeney on points at the Royal Albert Hall in April 1986 and recovered from a serious car crash to beat Kevin Pritchard and capture the British super-feather belt in 1991.
The dad-of-two had earlier boxed as an amateur for Blaenau ABC. John Davies, his former trainer, recalled: "Bobby lost his first four fights and one official suggested he should pack up boxing because he was anaemic.
"A couple of years later Bobby stopped the guy's own son with a body shot - he knew no fear and had the fastest right hand I've ever seen."
Lifelong pal Roy James said: "Great boxer, hard puncher, but a real gent with a passion for life, and a sensitive and considerate heart."
The funeral is at Llanelli Crematorium at 12.30pm on Monday.
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