Tough, lean and mean - Colin Jones had a fearsome reputation inside the ring.While he was never a world champion, Jones is regarded as one of Wales's best-ever fighters.

What made him such a formidable boxer was his cast-iron punches - he could knock out fighters with a single shot with either hand.

At the age of 10 a young Jones showed plenty of promise. The Penyrheol Amateur Boxing Club product was so tough he used to box against kids three or four years older than him.

In 1977 he made his professional debut. Three years and 13 wins later he challenged for the British title against talented Nottingham Rastafarian Kirkland Laing.

For eight rounds Jones stalked Laing around the ring with his hands held high soaking up punishment. But in the ninth, the Swansea fighter launched a right hand to the champion's jaw, knocking him clean out.

Jones suffered his first defeat in 1981 after being disqualified in a contest with Curtis Ramsey.

Despite Jones looking to be well on the way to victory, Welsh referee Adrian Morgan ruled he had hit his opponent while he was down.

After becoming European champion in 1982, Jones challenged Milton McCrory for the world title. After an impressive drawn contest, Jones lost out in the rematch by way of a judges' decision.

That did not stop him though. He demolished Allan Braswell and Billy Parks before challenging Don Curry for the WBA welterweight title in 1985.

Curry's hand speed coupled with hard accurate punches caused Jones considerable trouble.

The fourth round signalled the end of the fight and Jones's career after he sustained a nasty gash across the bridge of his nose.

The deep cut resulted in the referee intervening to end Jones's world title dreams.

He retired shortly afterwards but his legacy as a boxing legend remains to this day.

Until the arrival of Amir Khan, he was the youngest British boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Jones has also come full-circle as he now runs Penyrheol Boxing Club.

His former trainer Gareth Bevan reckons there is no-one better than Jones to be putting today's young boxers through their paces.

He said: "With Colin Jones running the club at Penyrheol, I think we could see a few great fighters from there over the next few years."