It's a Looooooooooooooooooooooooooong Shot, but REED is Reaching Out to his Fightbeat Brethren to Help Out a Friend...Joe Cokes, Younger Brother of Hall of Famer, Curtis Cokes... Everytime REED Sees Joe, the Conversation Eventually Turns to his Fight vs. John Conteh, a Fight Cokes LOST, but is Still Very PROUD of... The Fight Took Place in the UK at the Michael Sobell Sports Centre in Islington, London, 1978...If Someone Can Conjure Up the Fight Itself or Even a 10 Second Snippet from the Fight, it'd Make Joe's Day...REED'll Even Compensate You for Your Efforts... Help a Brother Out Fightbeat! REED
Can't find the fight itself online but it was definitely televised... here's some info... maybe you can email someone here to see about obtaining clips or a copy? John Conteh V Joe Cokes (1979)
There's some Conteh highlight videos on YouTube where there's a couple of opponents that look a bit like Joe Cokes but I don't know if it's him or not because the sequences are like a few seconds
His best bet would be to try here: ITV Sport Archive - Get In Touch I believe ITN Source (ITV's archive) have now also partnered with Getty Images, same as the BBC archive who I work for, so I suspect he may get forwarded on to them, but it would be the best place to start. Good luck! Hope he gets hold of a copy.
I will write to the BBC for you {That's British Broadcasting Corporation, not Big Black Cock} to see what they have. Slice, I think, works down there, he might be worth a shout too. ITV too worth a shot. I will send the emails tomorrow, it's a long shot and we won't get a reply for ages because it's boxing, it's Christmas and it is nearly New Years........but we shall see.
I'm not sure if it will be the same at ITV, but the BBC have something in place called contributor access, where if you made a significant contribution to a programme, be it behind the camera as a producer or cameraman or on-screen as an actor or interviewee, then you can request a copy of the whole programme. If ITV have something similar in place then obviously Mr. Cokes would be more than eligible to receive a copy. I have no idea how well managed the ITV archive is though, unfortunately a lot of broadcasters didn't recognise the value of their archives until the late 80s.
You just know ITV have some total bell end in charge of their video library. A cross between Homer Simpson and Peter Griffen. Some Geezer who cycles in to the Sarf Bank every day from Lambeff Tahn.
My sister went to Xtravision once asking about a copy of the "MErchant of Venice" on VHS. They wanted to know if it was a" horror". Retards.
Hopefully the BBC wont give you a line-up of caricatures to pick,... or Reed'll go home with a tape of "Beefy" Botham as it were.
Not a problem, sincerely. I will berate them if they come up empty handed and use it to denigrate Slices position in life. But they will get back to me, even if it is with negative news.
BBC - Access Archives - BBC Archives Search Results - BBC Genome Unfortunately, so far, a search of "COKES" in the BBC Genome is throwing up ZERO results, but Conteh is returning lots of hits. I will keep searching the "Conteh" results. Loads of his stuff is there, like fights with Kates, Bennett Finnegan etc etc. My suspicion is that as part of these programmes, they must have used footage of previous fights as part of the intro etc. That's where the Cokes fight might be. The Cokes fight took place late in Conteh career, 1978, and in England, so there has got to be footage.
OK, this is the most encouraging so far. The BFI {British Film Institute} have a record of this. John Conteh V Joe Cokes (1979) The problem now is I have to figure out how to buy it, watch it, etc. From the link you can see who the other fights and fighters were so that's another clue to finding footage.
Just been checking all of the old usual VHS guys from the 1990's. They don't have what we need but they have a special offer, £9.99 gets you a Clifford Etienne 5 fight collection.
Yeah but.............if they have it, they have it, and we need to get it from them. I think I know how we can get it.
"Hello and Happy New Year. I am researching a particular matter for an American colleague who works as a boxing matchmaker in Texas. A close friend of his is one Curtis Cokes whose son, Joe Cokes, fought John Conteh in Islington in 1978. Footage of this event is unavailable in the USA and is not available on any of the usual online formats either. Google search results are likewise scant. I have found this title on the BFI website, link in parentheses {John Conteh V Joe Cokes (1979)}.I am prepared to make a financial outlay to obtain viewing rights online or a hard-copy of the material in question, should such an outlay be required. I am intrigued by the fact that the title exists in your records and would be obliged if you could provide me with any more information on how it comes to be there, and/or how the material, if in existence, may be viewed. Thank you very much indeed for your time and I look forward to hearing from you at your very earliest convenience." Yours sincerely MY NAME Sheen London. How does this sound. I am ready to PRESS PLAY right now.
OK I see it now. Slices sig is wrecking the page, in fairness. I have an email ready to send to them.
Good job, but I think if you would have included "Esquire" after your name they would work harder to locate it.