In that time he participated in 17 title
contests, involving the British, European and World championships. As an
amateur, Winstone won the Amateur Boxing Association bantamweight
title in 1958
and a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal at the same weight later in the year.
He turned
professional as a featherweight in 1959 and was unbeaten in his first 34
contests, but in 1962 was stopped in three rounds by the American Leroy Jeffery.
It was only a temporary setback and, having already won a Lonsdale Belt
outright, Winstone set off after another. En route he picked up the European
title which he defended successfully on seven occasions, even going to Rome and Sardinia to face his
challengers. It was a title he never lost in the ring.
Winstone's first attempt
to win the world title came in 1965 when he lost on points to Vicente Saldivar,
the brilliant Mexican southpaw, after a brilliant battle at London's Earl Court.
A second match at Cardiff resulted in the Welshman losing so narrowly that a
third match was called for in Mexico City in which Winstone was compelled to
retire with an eye injury in the 12th round. Saldivar then retired and Winstone
stopped Mitsunori Seki of Japan in nine rounds to achieve, at last, his life
long ambition and become World Featherweight Champion.
But he
was now facing difficulty making the featherweight limit of 9 stone and
when he faced Jose Legra, (whom he had already beaten in an earlier
contest), in a world title defence at Porthcawl he went into the ring
very much weakened and was stopped in five rounds, a defeat that
brought about his retirement aged 29.
