Boxing History
(Compact) History of two British fighting for global heavyweight belts
Published
1 month agoon

Lennox Lewis in RSF 7 Frank Bruno
October 1993
Frank Maloney did not bother watching boxing at the 1988 Olympic Games. Why would he? He was not the main promoter, and the warrior, whom everyone wanted to sign, was a Canadian.
Reporters in Las Vegas, including Lloyd Honeyghan-Marlon Starling, discovered the relationship between Maloney and the Olympic champion of heavyweight Lennox Lewis-I called to tell him a message.
“They said,” Imagine how good it would be to have a British heavyweight master? “, Maloney remembered. “I said that there is no more chance because Frank Bruno and Gary Mason were with Mickey Duff.
“But they told me that the heavyweight Olympic champion, Lennox Lewis, came from West Ham and that his brother Dennis knew my brother Eugene. I checked this and it turned out that it was true.
“I was chasing Lennox on the phone. Lennox wanted to come to Great Britain to see his brother and said that if I got two tickets in both directions, he came and saw me. I got a credit card and used her for a limit to get Lennox here.”
Maloney convinced the Sport Management Group, Levitt Group, to give them support. “I told them that the British heavyweight champion would be huge for them,” said Maloney and Lewis, they were crowned WBC Belt-Holder in December 1992 after Riddick Bowe, detained by Lewis in the Olympic final, refused to face.
This made Lewis the first British warrior to organize the version of the heavyweight championship since Bob Fitzsimmons, born in Cornwall and raised in Modern Zealand, lost to James J Jeffries in 1899.
Within 93 years, Tommy Farr, Don Cockell, Brian London, Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner and Frank Bruno lost their challenges.
Bruno was beaten by Tim Witherspoon and Mike Tyson, but he kept his place in public feelings, and most fans rooted for him when he fought with Lewis in “Battle of Britain” at Cardiff Arm’s Park in October 1993.
Bruno had the history of accent and intermittent hop, which spoke to British fans, and in half the point he landed enough to overtake one result card, and the other two judges had the level of fighting.
It seemed, however, that the fight turned around Lewis, and after he shattered Bruno on his chin with his left hook, he did not allow the pretender to recover, with his right hands until the judge jumped.
Herbie hide in Ko 7 Michael Bentt
March 1994
Bentt He was brought to give Tommia Morrison to rusty before he challenged Lewis.
Bentt didn’t even give him one round. The fight lasted within 93 seconds. Morrison fell three times, and Great Britain had another belt owner, although at a time when the WBO belt, especially in heavyweight, was barely respected.
Not so many realized that Bentt was a British.
Bentt spent the first six years of his life, living with his aunt in East Dulwich, before settling in Modern York and represented the United States at the World Championships in 1986, where he defeated the defending master Alexander Yagubkin on his way to the bronze medal.
Batt, beaten in the round in his debut Pro, began to shock Morrison and was a home warrior when he defended the title of WBO from Hide at the home of the Millwall football club, The Den.
Bentt wore a Millwall hat at a press conference – before Hide threw him off his head.
Bentt remembered: “I hit him, grabbed me, torn off a suit, grabbed me, fell to my knees, grabbed me, hit me. It was an ugly mess.”
Hide later stated that Bentt caught his genitals during the “ugly mess” and they were both fined in the amount of 10,000 pounds, John Morris, secretary general of the board, describing them as “two stupid youthful men.”
Only 22 years elderly, Hide was astute enough to know that he must hold Bentt’s right hand.
Bentt could not leave the road to the upper right part in the third round and landed on the floor.
Hide dominated to the finish in the seventh round, Bentt later said: “Everything I tried to have had an answer.
“His rhythm was completely unconventional – and he could hit like an atomic bomb. The guy could crunch.”
Bentt has only vague memories of the fight. Later he was taken to the hospital and spent 98 hours in a coma before full recovery.
Hide was not aware of Bentt’s rush to the hospital when he said the press: “I want you to kill and kiss my ass. I want you to all kill and say:” You are the greatest. ” Because I am. “
Henry Akinwande at PTS 12 Scott Welch
January 1997
Akinwande was hefty weight of Great Britain.
Born in London, he grew up in Nigeria and returned to England as a teenager to continue his boxing career – contrary to his father’s wishes. Gangling Akinwande left Great Britain to Florida after 27 professional fights (one draw), feeling underestimated and together with Don Turner in his corner, he claimed that the free (and still slightly known) style in style, putting Jeremy Williams with a poem right hand in three rounds.
Then came the 10th round of the detention of Aleksander Zolkin in Las Vegas and in the coloration, Welch overtook Daniel Eduardo Neto.
The Argentinean had previously fought for the title of WBO, losing in two rounds with Francesco Damiani and defeating him “The Brighton Rock” a must -see for Akinwande belt.
Welch was against. In the previous 32 fights, no one found a way to defeat Akinwande. Many even fought for a glove on him.
Akinwande had 6 feet 7 inch-the highest boxer in the world-I had an 82-inch range that stopped opponents. Five inches shorter, Welch knew that he was not going to Outbox Akinwande, but a fanal that he could reconcile him.
He tried to start the fight against Akinwande at a press conference and had to be stopped during the judge’s instructions, but after the Akinwande bell departure he was holding the game plan. He got a welch at the end of his stab – and held him there. For 12 rounds
It wasn’t until the fifth round that Welch only achieved significant success. Akinwande felt the strength of his right hand and wrapped him with his arms.
Welch was doing well to go through the sixth and seventh round and stopped the crowd behind him when he attacked the right hook of the 10th round that hit Akinwande’s jaw.
Akinwande took a few steps back, hit the gloves and waved the welch forward. Akinwande made another move, landing crispy to the jaw, and the unilateral competition lasted.
Coach Jim McDonnell pulled out a photo of the two-year-old son Welch, Tommy-Teraz of the invincible professional-the last round and begged: “Do it for him!” But the task was too great and on the last bell only one of the three judges gave the claimant a round.
“I couldn’t raise the pace,” said Welch. “Perhaps it turned out to me.”
Lennox Lewis in DQ 5 Henry Akinwande
July 1997
There were more in Stateline in Nevada than the WBC Lewis belt in Stateline, Nevada.
Two weeks earlier, Mike Tyson was thrown out of his rematch against Evander Holyfield for playing part of the ear and John Morris, secretary general of the British control Council and WBC supervisor, defined the meaning of Lewis-Akinwande for sport.
He said: “This is a fight that can start a novel beginning of heavyweight boxing, show that his spirit and image do not have to be drawn into the gutter.
“This is the first fight since Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear, and Lennox Lewis and Henry Akinwande not only fight for themselves, but for the true meaning of their sport. I know them well and I know that they are good fighters and good people.”
Not everyone in England liked Akinwande.
He said before the fight: “Everywhere I go, except for England, people love to watch me.”
Fans in England could remember the heavyweight final of ABA in 1986, when Akinwande threw himself on the canvas after disqualification against Eri Cardouza of Northampton or his reaction to his exit from the Olympic Games in Seoul from 1988.
Akinwande said: “I didn’t believe in myself. What can I do?”
He also did not talk with great trust in the fight with Lewis, and after Judge Mills Lane told him, who was also responsible for Holyfield-Tyson II, in the opening minute for holding, he lost point second.
Coach Don Turner tried to get some fight from the warrior, telling him: “He strikes you because you don’t hit him,” and in the third round Akinwande hit Lewis with his right right, which made the master’s knee graze the canvas.
Lane later admits that he should count to Lewis, but he got it in the fifth round when he pulled Akinwande out of Lewis, telling him: “That’s all, he left” before he pushed him back to the corner.
Reporters noticed that Akinwande was close to tears at a press conference after the fight.
Read Steve Bunce on Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno HERE
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A lot was written about Freddie Mills, such a hero in the years after the Second World War. I contributed to the documentary about him, regularly appearing at BBC Four, in which I described him as a man who was at that time a man who bet on the British ghost bulldog. Many nonsense was also written about this man and I don’t have any time for the absurd theory that he was somehow involved in the murder of “Jack The Stripper” – he was not.
Today he is particularly well remembered in the tragic way of his death. He certainly fought in later years after his business ventures began not to go. When he withdrew from the ring in 1950, he initially did very well and soon became so known as “Celebrity”, regularly appearing on television on all programs, from quiz games to musical functions. He also forged a compact acting career. Less known in it is his tiny time as the best boxing promoter, the side line he liked, in which he managed to succeed.
In 1951, Freddie managed several useful warriors, including good boys from Bristol. In January 1951 he took out a promoter license and tried to set regular shows at Bristol City football, Ashton Gate, where he planned to take part in his two juvenile stars, Gordon Hazella and Terry Ratcliffe. His first show took place on May 28, 1951, and both Hazell and Ratcliffe won the complex foreign opposition. That night eight thousand went through the gates, and Freddie began to try. He was promoted here, every great success.
In August 1952, a terrible tragedy met with the seaside town of Lynmouth North Devon, when a fierce storm caused earnest plaintiffs, and 34 people lost their lives. The local boxing community gathered quickly, and Freddie was at the forefront. Within a month, he organized a charity show in nearby Barnstaple to lend a hand the Danger Fund, and one of the most outstanding local civic dignitaries, as well as the former weight champion in world weight, Terry Allen from Islington, who presented the exhibition, free of charge.
Freddie was used to larger stages because he honored them all as a boxer, and hired an Empress Hall, Earls Court, in which boxing was staged for many years, in March 1952 he took over the place from David Braitman and Ronnie Ezra, who promoted several years. His first program was attended by a local hero, Joe Lucy, Yolande Pompey and Freddie King from Wandsworth, another warrior in which Mills was interested.
In his program, Mills said, with typical playness, that “I try to provide the best possible talent at popular prices, and all dissatisfied customers can meet me in the ring.” He did not have to worry that customers would not be satisfied, because Freddie issued many programs there in the next four years, and most of his best competitions are perlera. His first British title took place in 1953, when one of his favorites, Joe Lucy, raised a free featherlight belt from another London, Tommy McGovern.
Freddie was undoubtedly the most popular British boxer when he was lively and no one else reached his appreciation until Henry Cooper appeared in the 1960s. That is why it is satisfying to notice that the juvenile Cooper Boxed for Mills at the Earls Court show in 1955, stopping Joe Crickmar from Stepney to win his eighth professional competition.
Our photo this week shows that Frank Williams from Birkenhead hugged his hands with his opponent Gaetano Annaloro from Tunisia, while weighing before the 10-Runder second promotion of Freddie in the Earls Court in April 1952.
When Freddie stopped promoting, in 1956 he moved to other business and media projects and, as we know, he was dead at the age of 46.

Sergey Kovalev shook. Right hand with Andre Ward He blew him up his chin and left him fears of the Russian legs of “Krushera”. He was seriously hurt.
Ward did not see it at the beginning. He became, leaving Kovalev on his feet. But then he stood up over him, hammering the Russian into the ring, feeding the arrows. Kovalev was eating in the ropes, fading him, folding on the hook.
Kovalev was trapped in ropes, pressed between the bands. He looked miserably at the judge, complaining about the low blow, but Tony Weeks stated it as a sign of anxiety. He fell to wave him there, and then, at 2-29 eighth round. Lithe championships in the world were resolved. Andre Ward has preserved the titles of IBF, WBA and WBO.
The Russian seemed spent at the moment, but soon explained his indignation. “He didn’t hurt me. I got tired, but I could still fight,” said Sergey. “He hit me [with] Low strokes several times during the fight. I don’t have a metal ass. “
He came to the fight, complaining about the decision of points in the first fight in November last year, about a department evading promotional duties and allegations that a team of Americans tried to prick their coach, and Kovalev left even more, fighting on a weekly intervention. “Who knows who would have victory if he did not stop fighting. I did not agree,” he added.
But Ward was in the process of expelling him from the competition. He had Kovaleva in a perilous place, and for me it was more a matter of the schedule of detention by a judge when the American finished him, and not the result was somehow illegal.
In the sharper evaluation department and his team they thought that Kovalev was looking for a way out. “He abandoned. I know what I have and I was lucky to show a high level of skill against the best in the world,” said Andre. “I think there should be a discussion if there is a deliberate foul, over and over, if I try to get out of trouble and hit him low because I am wounded. But when he bends, sometimes you hit a guy on the waist line …
Coach Ward Virgil Hunter can take some debt collection. Before the fight, he said that he trained his man for a victory in a knockout, at that time he was an unlikely perspective. But Ward proved that he could hurt “Krusher”.
The Russian decided that Mauling Clinches Warda was frustrating, but the American was also more effective in the middle, working in a close sucking in difficult hooks and upper. It has not been denyed now that Kovalev felt bodies. As the first half of the competition progressed, his hands were drifting lower, baseing gloves on the hips when he sucking in the air.
He revived too much, leaning after a low blow, as if he wanted to make a judge to intervene. He also left himself earlier in the eighth round, leaning at the waist, trying to emphasize another low blow, but the judge said nothing. Ward could then bring him a leisurely blow, but he refused.
“I was confused,” said Ward. “When I hit him with a shot, he tried to behave as if it was a low blow. It was border. I looked at weeks like” Can I go? I can’t go? “I didn’t want to score a point, I didn’t want something crazy to happen.”
It was far from the threat with which Kovalev began the fight. He caught a higher than Ward, looking like a stronger man. He moved and launched the lead right next to his body. Andre came down the law and tapped on a stab. These shots were not discouraged by Kovaleva, and his march lasted the attacker.
But most importantly, Ward began to choose the land in which the battle fought. Kovalev wanted him at the end of straightforward blows. But Ward either maneuver clearly, circled around him, or flowed forward, binding Sergey more and more moved in clinchs, but, most importantly, they also work on the inside.
He captured Kovaleva under many shoots and made the Russian miss many of his blows. He worries him during the opening of the exchange, especially when Sergey brought his bulky stab, Ward began to include these numerous threats. They were neck and neck after the first half of the fight (on two cards of judges and in my opinion).
But Ward’s strength attacks on the body affected. Kovalev was breathing heavily. Nevertheless, he stabbed firmly. Sergey threw himself right at the end of the seventh round, but only after surviving a wide left hook did he get into the head.
“I think he was almost the same as for the first time, so I knew what he liked to do and what he didn’t like to do. A high -quality warrior, but I was able to do several different things tonight,” Ward said.
“I am not fighting a C -class warrior. I fight the world champion, so he doesn’t separate you much in this kind of fights.”
But he added: “I am used to the vigilance of the uncomfortable. I train this way. I knew that he was approaching the round. I could say.”
When Ward began to wear in the competition, the decisive right cross began.
The blow drilled Kovalev’s jaw, wounded him like never before. It was a moment of truth.
From there, Sergey solved, rolled up by the ring, when Andre was tearing from the front. Kovalev shot, imprisoned on the ropes. Even with the last blow, he was in a bad position, there is nowhere to go. It is straightforward to understand why the judge who had to give his judgment at this wild moment spared him a further punishment.
“He was on his feet. I showed that I could hurt a larger man,” said Ward. “I did what I had to … Ref may allow it a little longer. But it’s not my fault. This is not my problem. I did my job.”
Sometimes even a knockout can be questioned. But Ward is undoubtedly the best weight for airy in the world. It dominates in its second weight class. After shocking Mikkel Kessler, controlling Carl Froch and taking Chad Dawson, this win is another key moment in search of size.
“It seems that they are constantly knocking the giants one by one,” says Ward. “Can I now get to the pound list for a pound? Is it possible?”
I suspect yes.
Boxing History
Editor selection: When Carlos Zaryate, Alfonso Zamora and the invader on his fronts went crazy in Los Angeles
Published
1 day agoon
May 3, 2025
It was an exotic fight, with-men, two fighters from the promised land of boxers on an insignificant Inglewood forum. He was out of reach, foreign in every way for a British fight fan. It took me over 30 years to finally watch the fight from 1977 between Carlos Zaate I Alfonso Zamora. The reports were absorbed, the iconic status of the fight protected for a long time against watching the miracle of the fight. They were both world champions in Bantamweight, both undefeated, both adolescent and at some point, the godfather of Mexican boxing, Arturo “Cuyo” Hernandez, managed and managed them. His role is part of the story. They were not only invincible, they were ruthless, able to finish men with almost every blow. Zarys was 25 years aged, WBC champion and undefeated in 45 fights, and 44 ended quickly. Zamora was 23 years aged, WBA master and stopped or knocked on a senseless each of the 29 men he met. It was not an ordinary fight in the times of great boxing history, not a fight that has ever been in danger. In the decade, the decade, a decade, when any nostalgia struggles with the splendor of the day, the two little ones Mexicans shared several rounds of size. They belong, they are history.
However, before the first bell on the night of genius and madness, it is necessary to travel a little further in your schedules. We all know that the biggest fights in history are not the number of cases, they happen because of pride, stupidity, harm, rights and hundreds of external reasons that motivate the warrior.
Hernandez sold a contract for $ 40,000 to the boxer’s father. He never offered ZARAT’s contract for sale. This movement was personal and the plain feud of blood was inevitable from the perceived betrayal. But Hernandez was a ruthless man, and business in boxing is always to be only a business. However, Zamora was a traitor to the Clan, an enemy.
“I liked the boy, still like that. But to get rid of my father, I would sell a Pinto bean sack,” said Hernandez. This is a fight.
Kabala Aged Los Angeles Fight Fight entered this contract, promising each boxer a record bag of $ 125,000. The seventies were probably the last decade in which Los Angeles took place on the highest box of boxing, and when the city delivered itself, it delivered. The fight was agreed to one pound above Bantam’s weight limit, it would be only for the Macho belt and everyone left the ring as a master.
The forum was in a part of the city, often called Little Mexico, and in the night 13,966 tickets sold. This place was sweated, don’t make a mistake. The problem was that we did not deny it – it was expected, and the police were in their characteristic white helmets with their naked desire for confrontation. Crosses in the ring, looking for a pliable head to bury your long sticks. And, like fans, they would not be disappointed.
Richard Steele is the third man.
After only 54 seconds, the opening round is happening something really crazy. The fragility of the blows, the intensity of both boxers is interrupted when a fat man wearing a cozy white vest and a pair of gray fronts and climbs the ropes. The man gets between two boxers, raises his finger, has something to say, is on a mission, and then takes the pose kung fu. It happens that the fight has stopped and Steele just looks. The man just stands there.
Then the white helmets correspond and attack the ring. It’s wild, trust me. Five police of riots evict a man from the ring, the package and sticks him while flying. Then he is pulled and kicked from the ring, and his departure screams Zakopane near Ryki, when the boxers throw blows again. The fight is not even a minute.
Every blow is cruel, they fight, as if there was something bad on the line, and Zarys is hurt in the first. This is the fight of miracles and in the third round of Zamora begins to disappear. Zarys drops his great rival in the third. After the fourth Zamor, it is more than twice as much, she once hit tidy and slow by Zara. I would like to be there in affordable places for this fight.
When Zamora is on the back for the second time in the fourth round. His father climbs through the ropes and throws a moist towel from surrender to his son and lands on his face. However, he does not approach his affected boy. The fight officially ended in 71 seconds of the round. But Zamora SNR has unfinished business and she bursts Hernandez with a blow or two or three. The boxer is still on the floor when the ring is again besieged and the men begin to throw blows at each other.
Riot police return, this time six of them, and they are lost in a swing in a low -circuit 30, which took over the ring. It was the only possible ending.
Zamora lost the title in the next fight, lost three of the next seven and left boxing when he was only 26 years aged. It is rarely mentioned on the lists of Mexican idols.
Zarys lost the title next year with Wilfredo Gomez, lost over 15 rounds with Lupe Pintor in 1979 and gave up in 1988 after losing another fight with Daniel Zaragosis.
Zarys is a great Mexican, he won this fight, and his position will never have doubts. It was a fight that could permanently change man. The fate and life of a comic superhero on the Y fronts remain unknown. What a fight.

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