Cyril Jeeris, one of only four Singaporean SEA Games boxing champions and the only one to win gold on home ground, died of heart failure at home on Sunday afternoon. He was 68.
He is most well known for winning the featherweight gold at the 1973 edition of the biennial Games - then called the Seap Games - at the Singapore Badminton Hall.
Ow Mun Hong (1959, Bangkok), Syed Abdul Kadir (1971, Kuala Lumpur) and Mohammed Mukhlis Amat (1985, Bangkok) are the only other boxers to triumph at the regional event.
Kadir, who is now president of the Singapore Amateur Boxing Association (Saba), was saddened by the news. While he admitted he was not very close to Jeeris outside of the ring and training gymnasium, the 72-year-old, who was the 1975 Sportsman of the Year, said: "I remember him as a talented boxer.
"He had height, good technical skills, and everything one needed to be a good boxer."
Jeeris' sister Jeny, 71, told The Straits Times in a phone call yesterday: "He had health issues for a while and did go to the hospital to take medication, but his death came very suddenly.
"He was at home when his wife said he had his last gasp, and his heart just gave up. It was so sudden, but peaceful as well."
She said her brother suffered heart failure at around 1.30pm, and was later conveyed from his home to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 3.30pm.
Nely, 66, another of Jeeris' sisters - he was the third child among five siblings - said he remained active after his retirement until heart issues started affecting him "in his 50s".
"He loved all sports," she added. "Before he took up boxing, he was very good at table tennis, and soccer too. Everything physical he picked up, he became good at."
She added that her brother was a "very generous character" who "liked socialising, and loved his friends".
Described in reports as a "stylish" and "speedy" boxer, Jeeris shot to fame when he won the Seap Games featherweight title aged just 21, scoring a unanimous points win over Burma's Ye Aung in the final.
What made his win more remarkable was the fact that he won with a chipped bone in his left hand, which he had injured a week earlier before an earlier round.
Following the win, the now-defunct newspaper The New Nation dubbed him "The Boxer with the Golden Punch", and he was nominated by Saba for the 1974 Sportsman of the Year award. The award that year went to high jumper Noor Azhar Hamid.
In 1975, Jeeris competed at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Yokohama, where he advanced to the final after beating home favourite Takao Miura, but lost to Mongolia's Khaidav Altanhung. He hung up his gloves soon after.
His body was cremated at the Mandai Crematorium yesterday. In addition to his siblings, he is survived by his wife, Patricia.
