ONE of the Forest's true sporting legends, Ron Symonds, died on Sunday at Highgrove House in Minsterworth. He was 81.

For the past eight years Ron had battled with dementia but it is for his fights in the boxing ring that the former foundry worker will be best remembered.

During an incredible amateur career that took him the length and breadth of the country, Ron had more than 400 bouts and never got knocked down once.

West of England Boxing secretary Steve Brooks, one of only nine council members in the country for the Amateur Boxing Association, led the tributes to the man he called 'Mr Boxing'.

He said: "I actually boxed for Ron when he ran the Cinderford club and he was a true gent. He gave a lifetime to the sport and was a legend in the amateur boxing world. He must also have been a cracking fighter in his day.

"When I was 18 or 19 he would spar with me.

"He'd have been in his 50s but he could still give you the runaround.

"Eveyone knew Ron. When he ran the Cinderford club 30 or 40 years ago he had as good a team of boxers as you would find anywhere in the country."

In his heyday, Ron once KO'd three opponents on the same day, en route to becoming the Dean's first Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire ABA senior light welterweight champion. The young sea cadet was asked to fight on a Forces card at the Albert Hall.

He continued fighting during his National Service days for the Gloucester Regiment and Cinderford Boxing Club – winning his first county title while still in his late teens.

However, the short-term demise of Cinderford Boxing Club in 1949 temporarily put his fighting career on hold.

That seven-year break from boxing probably cost him his chance of the big time.

When he returned to the sport in 1956 at the age of 26 the hard-hitting quiet man scrapped with giants of the fight game such as British middleweight champ Johnny Prickett and held his own.

With his hefty hooks, Symonds would regularly pull in crowds of 300-400.

In 1959 he made a name for himself by becoming the first Forester to ever lift a senior Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire Championship title – having to knock out two opponents in a single afternoon and another that same evening, because of the huge number of entries. He retained his regional title in 1960 – also winning the West of England title by flooring the Devon, Dorset and Cornwall champion of the day. Symonds won the regional title again in 1962, with a number of televised bouts following this success. Despite remaining loyal to his unfashionable Cinderford club (who had reformed in 1956), Symonds regularly took his talents into the bigger rings, representing more high-profile clubs.

Although he could not drive, he would travel hundreds of miles up and down the country to either fight or watch an opponent in action. His wife Tess was usually at his side.

Ron was a clever, stylish boxer who was supremely fit. He was still going strong in his mid-30s, fighting top class rising talents half his age.

Ron retired from the ring in 1965, vowing to carry on promoting the sport he loved in his home town. In the early 1970s he guided another young Forester called Dave Simmonds to the ABA Middleweight title and an appearance at the Commonwealth Games.

Son Julian said: "Dad was not aggressive at all at home. It was only when he stepped through the ropes that people saw the other side."