He was a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner and one of the few boxers to have held both the BBBC bantamweight and featherweight titles.

[3][4] He represented England and won a gold medal in the flyweight division, at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.

[8] His first title fight was on 10 December 1974 at the former Nottingham ice rink, when he had a points win over Paddy Maguire and became the British bantamweight champion.

He lost the bantamweight title on 20 October 1975 at Grosvenor House (World Sporting Club), Mayfair on a technical knockout (TKO) to the same Paddy Maguire.

Needham lost the featherweight title on 6 November 1979 at the Royal Albert Hall when he was defeated by Pat Cowdell on points.