A FORMER British champion boxer from Chorley who collapsed into a coma after suffering stroke has died.

Former middleweight boxer Johnny Sullivan was regarded by many of his fans as one of the best fighters of his era.

Now friends and colleagues have paid tribute to the man they remember as a friendly joker, despite his skill with his fists.

Former boxer and close friend Bobby Rhodes, from Fulwood, said: "He was a nice person. He used to pull my leg.

"I'd fought a lot of people that he'd fought, but I always used to beat them quicker!

"He used to say to me that he had softened them up!"

Johnny, who was 70 in December, lived in Astley Village, Chorley, with his wife June.

He had lived in Woodplumpton Road, Preston, for many years where he ran the Olympia Garage on London Road.

In his youth Johnny worked as a travelling fairground boxer with his father Sam, and brother Sammy.

They toured the area and challenged contenders to stay in the ring as long as they could.

But Johnny's crowning glory was when he took the British and British Empire Middleweight Championship from Gordon Hazel in 1954, beating him in two rounds in London.

He leaves a wife and three children, Lesley, John and Lorraine, and five grandchildren.

Funeral details have yet to be disclosed.