Croydon's boxing community has joined forces to pay their respects to much-loved trainer and referee Dave Jones.

The 44-year-old from New Addington passed away last Monday following a 14-month battle against Motor Neurone Disease.

After being diagnosed in April last year, he was originally given six months to live, but sheer mental strength and determination saw him live a further eight - displaying the type of spirit he showed throughout his life.

Croydon's former WBU light-middleweight champion Wayne Alexander first met Dave as a young amateur.

"Dave was great with young fighters and gave them confidence to achieve," said Alexander.

"I was in my early 20s when he said to me I could be the next Nigel Benn. For someone as respected as him in boxing circles to say that meant a lot and gave me so much belief.

"I was gutted to hear he passed away and he will be a huge loss to boxing."

Clinton McKenzie, who knew Dave while he was still an active boxer, said: "He was a lovely guy and a lot of kids looked up to him. Everybody had a good word to say about him.

"He was also a very good referee who commanded respect from fighters."

Born in Ireland, Dave came over to England when he was six-year-old and started boxing two years later. He suffered a serious burn to his left arm while roofing as a 17-year-old, but continued to box.

He went to live in America a year later, where he perfected his right hook and won the Irish American Amateur title.

When he returned to renew his visa a year later, he met his wife-to-be Mandy and stayed in England. They went on to have three children, Levi, now 18, Paige, 14, and Shea, seven.

He stopped fighting after he got married in his early 20s and began to train youngsters at the New Addington Amateur Boxing Club, where the chairman is his father-in-law, Terry Gillam.

His wife Mandy, 44, said he was a father figure to a lot of the kids.

"They all used to look up to him because he gave them time and advice, something a lot of them never got from teachers at school.

"He was a great role model, not just in boxing, but in life, too. He was a real family man."

Terry said: "He was just a lovely guy. You could tell he was well-loved because more than 450 people came to his funeral and more than 500 appeared at his benefit night we held at Fairfield Halls in October."

Dave qualified as a referee in the the early 90s and went on to become a respected official andjudge at amateur level.

But after being diagnosed with the disease last April, he had to stop. He had trouble speaking and became weak. But despite this setback, he refused to use a wheelchair and tried his upmost to attend boxing shows in the area. He even managed to walk up his stairs at home unaided.

But he deteriorated quickly in the last few weeks of his life and passed away last Monday, surrounded by his much-loved family.

Former All Ireland cruiserweight title holder Harry Cowap summed up his admiration for Dave with this tribute: "I had 32 professional fights and I would rather have 32 more than another round with Dave Jones."