Ill health has prompted boxing legend Dave ‘Boy’ Green to resign his seat on Fenland District Council and a by election will take place on June 7.
Cllr Green won the Birch ward three years ago, taking over from former council leader Alan Melton.
But in the past year Cllr Green has been poorly and unable to attend many meetings.
His colleagues were discussing privately whether to get a special dispensation to cover his continuing absence and to avoid automatic disqualification for non attendance.
However it is thought that Cllr Green felt it was right to resign now and pave the way for a newcomer. His likely Conservative replacement is Ian Benny, a well known local businessman.
Labour and Lib Dems have yet to announce whether they will fight the by election that takes place on the same day as a town council by election in Wisbech.
Cllr Green is known in Chatteris for the years he spent running a successful company but to the wider world he is better known for enjoying a successful boxing career; he secured two shots at the welterweight world title against Carlos Palomino and Sugar Ray Leonard, before he retired at the age of 28.
Sugar Ray Leonard said his knock out blow was “was perhaps the most beautiful punch” he ever threw.
Dave ‘Boy’ Green, who was also known as the Fen Tiger, went on to become a businessman and in 2011 was appointed an MBE for his charitable services.
He was awarded the MBE for his charitable services, particularly to boxing, in Cambridgeshire.
He described his honour as “unbelievable” and said he had been in a state of shock since finding out.
He said he had been involved with charities for most of the 30 years since he retired from boxing.
“I know they can’t give an honour for boxing but if it wasn’t for the boxing I wouldn’t have been able to do so much for charity since,” he said.
Mr Green took up boxing in his early teens and never looked back and although never considered a natural pugilist his courage and determination saw him through.
.He lost his first fight as an amateur but eventually, in the late 60s, the results came and before turning pro had won a third of his fights with a knock out.
He went onto win the British light welterweight and then the European Light Welterweight title against the Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Piedvache.
He also fought Sugar Ray Leonard twice – and losing - he went onto do two things. Firstly become a life long friend of Leonard.
And then he became a successful businessman, helping to building his Renoax marketing logistics company into a massive enterprise.
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