Born 22nd September 1908 in Southwick, Sunderland Jack Casey would go on to a boxing career that saw him fight for the British Middleweight Championship and amass a record of two hundred and twenty four fights.

A regular attendant at the Holmeside Stadium in Sunderland, on the 17th July 1926 a 17 year old Casey was given his chance in a boxing ring as a last minute replacement in a novices’ flyweight competition. Casey knocked out his opponent in the first round and then fought a fourth round draw against Jim Britton in the final.

Casey would only fight one more time as a novice and would record a 22-6-2 record in his first year of boxing. In 1928 Casey fought Al Kenny as the star billing in a fifteen round contest (both would be a first for Casey) in Salford. Casey outfought his opponent but the bout was called a draw by referee (and former British Heavyweight Champion) Bombadier Wells. The crowd jeered the decision which would make the next day’s headlines and be the first time Casey would make the national press.

Also that year Casey acquired the nickname ‘Cast Iron’ after a bout with Dino Guselli when afterwards Guselli’s promoter Joe Tolley asked Casey ‘where he got his cast-iron jaw’. Guselli, the hard hitting former Olympic Champion had threw everything at Casey but couldn’t knock the Sunderland man down in a fight Casey won on points. Coincidently two months prior to this Casey had knocked out the former ‘Cast-Iron Man’ Joe Grewer.

The next two years would be harder on Casey as he fought as a regular bill-topper against tough opponents. It would be in these years in which ‘Cast Iron’ would learn the trade for what would become his best years as a boxer. Casey fought opponents such as Albert Johnson (the only fighter to stop Casey twice), Jack Horbin, Archie Sexton and Sandy McKenzie in a period in which he moved up to Welterweight and Middleweight respectively.

1931 saw a string of impressive victories over men such as Dick Bartlett and George Willis which earned him another nickname in ‘The Sunderland Assassin’ and also a bout against French Middleweight Champion and future World Middleweight Champion Marcel Thil. Thil would win the fight over ten rounds on points but not before having his left eyebrow split in the opening round and getting hurt on numerous occasions. After the fight the Frenchman described Casey as the ‘toughest man on the planet’.

Soon after this Casey was granted a non-title fight with British Middleweight Champion Len Harvey but lost on points after fifteen rounds in a tough match. From here Casey went on a winning streak which culminated in a re-match with Harvey, this time for the Championship. That streak saw him beat other top ranked opponents such as ‘The Rochdale Thunderbolt’ Jock McAvoy for the Northern Area Middleweight Championship and the fourth in the series with Archie Sexton.

The title-fight with Harvey was held at the New St James Hall in Newcastle. The first five rounds were close but in the sixth Casey had Harvey in trouble catching him on the jaw with a big right causing Harvey to fall against the ropes, arms dangling, but he did not follow up believing Harvey was trying to lure him in. Casey had the Champ in trouble again in the twelfth but Harvey held on and racked up enough points to win the bout after fifteen rounds. It was a classic encounter in which Harvey also cracked his right hand on Casey’s jaw claiming it was never the same again.

This was to be the peak of Casey’s career as proposed bouts for a re-match with Harvey, a World Championship shot at Marcel Thil and defending his own Northern Area Middleweight title all fell through. Casey had limited success after this period but beat some good fighters in South African Middleweight Champion Eddie Maguire, Wesh Light Heavyweight Champion Tommy Farr, George Slack, Charlie Berlanger, Reggie Mean and Jack London before eventually retiring in 1942.

After retiring from boxing Casey enlisted in the Army and worked labouring jobs until he could work no longer due to ill health. Casey died on the 24th January 1980, four years after his wife Elizabeth who with their two sons John and George had helped look after Jack for twenty years as his health deteriorated.

Casey will be mainly remembered as the man with the cast-iron jaw who never received the ten-count in two hundred and twenty four fights but Casey was more than just a punching-bag with a steel chin . He had a great punch in both his left and right hands and was rated highly by his fellow professionals. Both Len Harvey and Marcel Thil claimed ‘The Sunderland Assassin’ to be their hardest fights and Dick Bartlett who Casey knocked out in the second round of their second fight stated afterwards ‘give me no more of Casey, I’d sooner fight (world heavyweight Champion) Primo Carnera’. Casey’s final record stands as 224 fights – 148 wins, 61 losses and 15 draws.