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GRAEME HOPPER

MAURICE CULLEN BOXING SCULPTURE

It's a knockout for Birtley Galvanizing who work with legendary boxer.

 

A local councillor representing constituents of Shotton and South Hetton on Durham County Council, commissioned royal artist Graeme Hopper, who lives in the County to create a 6ft steel sculpture of a pair of boxing gloves to recognise the achievement of Maurice Cullen, who was five times British Lightweight boxing champion and who died in November 2001.

 

Birtley Group worked with Graeme from the beginning of the project to advise him on the required suspension points, drainage and ventilation of the piece to ensure that the galvanizing process was seamless and an even coat of zinc was distributed across the large and unusual sculpture.

 

After the hot-dip galvanizing, Graeme etched the piece to create the light and shaded areas; he then added a varnish to finish the sculpture ready for installation on Ashbrooke Estate, close to Mr Cullen’s former home.

 

Birtley Group has a long-standing relationship with the artist and he regularly uses our galvanizing facilities to weatherproof his work. Maurice’s career took him all over the world, including to Maddison Square Gardens in New York and Brazil, he lost only eight of his fifty-five bouts in a career which spanned 1959 to 1970.

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