Jock McAvoy boxer

Bamford was born in Burnley, Lancashire, but was billed as being from Rochdale.Bamford adopted the name Jock McAvoy so that his mother did not realize he was boxing. Initially discovered, trained and managed by Joseph Tolley at Tolley's famous Rochdale Boxing Club, he was known as the Rochdale thunder bolt. During his career he held the British and Commonwealth middleweight and light heavyweight titles. McAvoy's bid to capture the European middleweight crown was derailed when he lost a unanimous decision to future world middleweight champion Marcel Thil of France in Paris on 15 January 1935.