Boxer.

Born: February 13, 1960;

Died: May 20, 2015

Bobby ''Sherbo'' McDermott, who has died of cancer aged 55, was a leading bantamweight boxer from Glasgow who came within seconds of defeating the future Irish world champion Dave ''Boy'' McAuley on the Barry McGuigan v Eusebo Pedroza world title bill undercard in London in 1985.

Known as Sherbo because of his mop of sherbert-coloured, yellow blond hair, McDermott was a product of the tough streets of north Glasgow's Possilpark area. Because of his diminutive stature (he was 4ft 11in), learning to look after himself from an early age was imperative. Unfortunately for any would-be street bullies or tormentors, he epitomised in real lifeWilliam McIlvanney's description of his eponymous fictional hero Tam Docherty who was ''Only five feet fower but his hert stretched frae his heid to his taes...''

McDermott cut his teeth as a boxer at Glasgow's renowned Dennistoun amateur boxing club - a cradle of both amateur and pro champions like Willie Limond. McDermott not only possessed the same 4ft 11in stature of the South African world flyweight champion ''Baby" Jake Matlala, who wrecked Scottish world champions like WBO holders Pat Clinton and Paul Weir, he also had the Springbok champion's exciting all-action take-no-prisoners style in the ring.

Sherbo so impressed David Hodge, Glasgow's Lord Provost in the early 1970s and a huge boxing fan, when winning the 1979 Western District and Scottish titles that he had McDermott included in a Glasgow/Scots select squad that the Provost backed in 1979 to tour the USA and Canada.

Former Dennistoun bantamweight Pat Mallon, who boxed with McDermott on that transatlantic tour, recalls McDermott's style. ''Bobby was not just loved for his gallus Glaswegian patter wherever we went, but the fans and American judges loved his exciting battling style too," he said.

''So much so that the Americans awarded him a big trophy for being the Best and Most Exciting Boxer of the Tournament in that 1979 tour.''

It was McDermott's form on that tour that attracted Glasgow manager and boxing promoter Alex Morrison to sign him up. Morrison, who has managed many top Glasgow and Caledonian boxers, said: ''Bobby McDermott was probably the gutsiest and most exciting boxer I ever managed - he had a great, gallus personality outside the ropes too, which made him hugely popular, but in the ring he was entirely different.''

I personally witnessed McDermott's ruthlessness in January 1985 at Glasgow's Hospitality Inn when, as referee, I pulled him off fellow Glaswegian and former Commonwealth Games Silver medallist, Joe Kelly. As McDermott pounded Kelly heavily into submission on the ropes, I was forced to rescue Kelly in the third round.

That victory propelled McDermott onto the June 1985 undercard of the WBA featherweight title clash between eventual Irish victor Barry McGuigan and Panamian Eusebo Pedroza. McDermott made the crowd sit up that wet London evening at Queens Park Rangers soccer ground with his riveting performance against McAuley who would go on to win the IBF world flyweight title.

McDermott was the underdog going into his ten-round eliminating contest for the British bantamweight crown with McAuley but as his former manager Alex Morrison recalled Sherbo had the London crowd on fire as he knocked McAuley, himself a big puncher, to the canvas five times then in the very last round Sherbo, leading by a mile on points, collapsed just before the final bell from hyperglycaemia - not his opponents punches.

After that near triumph, McDermott's career tailed off and he lost his way for a time in life due to drugs and other personal problems. Although his erstwhile manager Alex Morrison never gave up on him.

Consequently, it was the born fighter in McDermott that ultimately triumphed over adversity. Also, like 1930s American lightweight great, Barney Ross, who overcame heroin addiction to become a valuable youth social worker, McDermott linked up with fellow former boxing star Bobby Keddie at the Whiteinch amateur boxing club in Glasgow where he used boxing to help young men avoid the personal pitfalls that had afflicted him for a while. The proof that he took this role as seriously as his boxing career was when he enrolled as a student at Glasgow's Anniesland College to study for a National Certificate in Social Care Studies.

He died after a typically brave battle with cancer and leaves an extended family of children and brothers and sisters- a much loved and mourned figure.

BRIAN DONALD