Final book planned on Wakefield hard man, Paul Sykes

In his prime....Paul during his boxing days.

Jamie Boyle, 40, has already written two books on the former boxer, based on interviews from those who knew him.

He is now putting Final Agony together, based on his own thoughts.

Sykes, who was from Lupset, spent years of his life behind bars for petty crimes but earned a reputation as being as one of Britain’s most difficult and dangerous inmates.

The once-feared man was reduced to an ageing alcoholic.

Feared in the ring and on the streets, the 6 ft 3” heavyweight contender’s life spiralled out of control in later years.

He was banned from Wakefield city centre in 2000 for his persistent drunken behaviour and he died a frail alcoholic seven years later, aged 60.

Mr Boyle, who lives in North Yorkshire and has written 15 previous books mainly about real-life underworld figures, said: “I felt the story deserved an ending, I think it was the least I could do.

“I know had died a tragic figure, a shadow of what he once was. I just wanted to know how that could happen to someone so big. He’s a character that isn’t going to be forgotten.

“He raised high, mixed emotions.

“I certainly haven’t glamourised his life, he is a man who could have had everything, but died in the gutter.

“He was an interesting character, and one thing is for sure, Wakefield will never forget that man.”

It was Sykes’ own autobiography, Sweet Agony, that first attracted Mr Boyle to the fearsome former debt collector.

Mr Boyle then researched and penned Unfinished Agony and Further Agony.

As a result, a movie about Sykes’ life was proposed by the British film company, Western Edge Pictures, and filming was due to start this year but has been postponed due to the pandemic.

It is thought that more than £2 million will be pumped into the project.