Al Little

Who is Al Little?

Al Little was a Belfast based boxer who lived in Hillman Street, off York Road in Belfast. Originally born in Ballymena, his family moved to the Belfast area to improve work prospects with eventually gaining employment with Northern Ireland Railways.

Al's professional boxing career began with his first fight against Kid McNally on 1 December 1937, which he won by technical knockout in the 2nd round of the fight. Al went on to fight successive fights up until he qualified for the Northern Ireland championships in 1947. At this time Al suffered a huge setback when he was involved in an accident in which he broke his left arm. This took him out of the sport for the next 24 months. However Al returned to the ring with his next fight against John McGrory - a well known welterweight from Limavady - beofre finally qualifying for the commonwealth games in 1951