Blue plaque unveiled for Newport boxing legend David 'Bomber' Pearce

Back in September 1983 David "Bomber" Pearce won the coveted heavyweight Lord Lonsdale Belt at St David's Hall in Cardiff.

He remains the only sportsman from Newport, Gwent or Monmouthshire to have achieved this feat.

The plaque is near Newport's legendary Transporter Bridge

On that day Newport's Rocky, as he is known, defeated Swansea's world class puncher Neville Meade in the last ever UK sanctioned 15-round bout via a technical knock out in the ninth round.

The David Bomber Pearce Legacy Charity headed by David's nephew Luke Pearce put on a fundraiser to secure the blue plaque last year.

Many people in the community supported such as Richard Hill, from Hill & Co Financial Advisors, and Everton Smith, at NCMA.

The unveiling of the blue plaque.

British Boxing Board of Control representative Wynford Jones made a contribution along with Dave Furnish.

The blue plaque is located at the Waterloo Hotel in Pill where he trained for some of his high profile bouts.

It is also a stone's throw away from the iconic Transporter Bridge that Pearce used as a training aide.

The plaque was unveiled by Mayor of Newport Cllr Trevor Watkins

The Mayor of Newport, Cllr Trevor Watkins, unveiled the plaque along with his Mayoress.

BBBoC representative Wynford Jones made a speech highlighting Pearce's significant achievements and announcing that he would be inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame.

Mr Jones also noted that it is widely thought by boxing experts that Pearce was unfortunate that the cruiserweight division was not around in Britain at the time he was world ranked by the WBC.

David 'Bomber' Pearce in training

The unveiling was also attended by past British champions Eddie Avoth and Steve Simms along with Cllr Geraint Thomas, the son of David's manager the late great Eddie Thomas, from Merthyr.

Eddie Avoth said: "David would have ruled the world at cruiserweight"

The David Bomber Pearce Legacy has supported more than 50 grassroots sports and given hundreds of sporting grants to sportspeople which has contributed to more than £135,000 (including the statue) being provided to promote and sustain sport in the community.

The David Bomber Pearce Legacy would like to thank Charles Ferris for assistance with the blue plaque project and Ned Heywood Heritage Ceramics, from Chepstow, for making the plaque.