'I was kept as a slave,' says former Sheffield world champion Paul 'Silky' Jones in captivating autobiography
Former Sheffield world champion Paul 'Silky' Jones was held as a slave, he reveals in an autobiography due to be published in the next few weeks.
The Hunters Bar-born one-time boxer discloses how he emigrated from his parents' home at the age of ten to live with his uncle in Jamaica.
It turned out to be a humiliating life of servitude, and one where he was forced to work from dawn until dusk and beaten if he did not fulfill expectations.
"They called me The Yard Boy over there," said Jones, now 58.
"I was there just for cheap labour, working from 6am in my uncle's paraffin shop and doing things like feeding the family's goats, pigs and chickens.
"If I did something wrong, I would be beaten. If I was late waking up, I would wake up to a beating.
"I had no voice. It was a nightmare. I was held like a prisoner and the equivalent of a slave by my uncle; he was a horrible person," he told The Star.
Smith recalled how his uncle - who has now passed away - had a bathroom at his home yet he wasn't allowed to use it.
"I had to use a tap outside. There were so many traumas there, it was a very hard life to live."
He couldn't alert his parents to the maltreatment, either.
"I was only allowed to write home once a month, and they supervised what I wrote. It wasn't until I was 13 that I got more savvy and managed to smuggle a letter out to my parents.
"Eventually, aged 13, I got back to Sheffield - which felt like heaven when I got there. Even having a bed with a quilt on felt wonderful."
His book, 'I Wore a Crown' is due to be published in October by Amazon.
It carries this overview: "This isn’t just another boxing story.
"It’s the story of a boy who vanished from the UK in the 1970s - alone, confused, and barely ten years old.
"A child stranded in a foreign country, parentless and voiceless, forced to work while other kids played. Escape wasn’t an option. Survival was.
"For three long years, he lived in silence. No contact with his parents. No way out. But in that silence, he made a vow: He would return home.
"He would become a boxing champion. And one day, he would face the people who held him captive - not with fear, but with fists."
Paul, a father of two who now lives in Birmingham, managed to extract one valuable experience from his time on the Caribbean island.
He watched a film about Muhammad Ali, and that prompted him to seek a way into the sport.
Scraping together enough money to get home, he went to box under coach Ray Gillott at Hillsborough Boys Boxing Club and then Wincobank's Ingle gym, where he trained, off and on, for seven years.
In November 1992, the former King Ecgbert schoolboy won the WBO World Super Welter title against American Verno Phillips at Hillsborough Leisure Centre.
Paul (career CV 31-12-1) was later stripped of the title, and his book sheds light on why.
"Stripped of his title under suspicious circumstances, Paul was forced to carry another burden—one he didn’t understand, one no one would explain," according to the book's pre-publicity.
"Until 27 years later. That’s when the truth surfaced. And it wasn’t about boxing—it was about power, politics..."
The book promises to give the full truth.
"He doesn’t dodge. He doesn’t sugarcoat. He names names. He points to dates, places, and people. Because, unlike many in boxing, Paul isn’t protecting the system. He’s exposing it.
"This is the story that had to be told. Not for revenge. But for truth."
Jones also has mixed thoughts about his time at the Ingle gym: "I am not a fan of the Ingles...and I know that is unheard of, in Sheffield."