BOXERS STUNNED BY TEAM CHIEF'S DEATH; Scots boss discovered at hotel before tournament.

Byline: By NICK PEET 

BOXERS and supporters in attendance at Liverpool's Four Nations Boxing Championship finals last night paid their respects to Scottish team manager Jim Watt who died suddenly.

The Glaswegian official was absent from the early morning weigh-in and was eventually discovered dead in his room at the Adelphi hotel yesterday morning.

Those in attendance at Liverpool Olympia, West Derby Road, last night fell silent for boxing's traditional 10 rings of the bell in honour of the 60year-old official.

Today, Watt's brother Bert - himself a veteran of the Scottish fight scene - led the tributes. In an emotional call to the ECHO he said: 'I'd just got back from my brother-in-law's funeral and there was a friendon my front step waiting to tell me about Jim.

'It's a massive shock to us all. It sounds like a cardiac arrest, but Jim has always been in good health. He was not a smoker, never overweight and rarely drank, so it's knocked us over a little.'

Watt, a cousin of the former world lightweight champion ofthe same name, worked long hours to ensure the Scottish ABA's events ran smoothly.

He arrived on Merseyside this week after putting in around 30 hours last weekend at various Scottish boxing championships.

A transport manager for a sub-contractor of Coca-Cola by trade, Watt, who boxed as a junior, retired early last year to concentrate on his largely voluntary boxing duties.

Paul King, Liverpool city council's boxing development officer and English ABA senior official, said: 'Jim's passing came as a shock to us all and hewill be very dearly missed, especially by the Scottish Amataur Boxing Association.

'He dediated many years of his life to the sport, and was a true stalwart of amateur boxing north of the border.

'As Jim would have wished, we decided the show must go on and this year's championships have continued in his memory.'

Scottish boxing official Donald Campbell said Watt had been due to lead the national team into next year's Commonwealth Games.

Watt is survived by his wife Margaret