Yesterday it was reported that former heavyweight title challenger and world title challenger Roy Harris had died at the good vintage age of 90. Harris, of Cut and Shoot, Texas, died at home yesterday morning. Older fight fans will be familiar with Harris, but younger fans should take the time to look up his record if they don’t know him.

Harris, a handsome guy with an athletic build, was born in June 1933 and was taught boxing by his father, who was a pig farmer by trade. Harris had a solid amateur career, winning the Texas Golden Gloves four times, and Harris also won the Joe Louis Sportsmanship Award in 1954 at the National Golden Gloves.

In April 1955, he turned professional and boxed in Texas. Harris, who wasn’t a sturdy puncher but had good skills and a lot of heart, won his first 23 fights. Along the way towards his expected world title shot, Harris defeated several good fighters, including Bob Baker, future delicate heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano and Willie Besmanoff, with Harris defeating all three on points.

This gave 25-year-old Harris a chance to capture Floyd Patterson’s heavyweight crown. The fight took place at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles in August 1958, and Harris scored an early knockdown before being dropped multiple times himself, with his corner opting to heavily chop and beat Harris after 12 rounds (interestingly, Patterson’s trainer/manager Cus D ‘Amato noticed after the fight that the gloves used had thinner leather than usual). A bloodied Harris then humbly expressed how he had “given his all” in the fight. Live Gate broke the California record of just over $234,000, which was a huge sum for its time. The crowd of 21,000 was completely behind Harris, but Patterson was just too good for him. The referee was the great Mushy Callahan.

More fights with large names followed. Harris had a top fight with Sonny Liston in April 1960, with a rampaging Liston winning in one round. Harris was then stopped by Bob Cleroux before he traveled to London to fight British hero Henry Cooper. Cooper won a close decision over 10 rounds. Then in May 1961, Harris was retained by Cleroux for a second time, after which he retired from the sport. After hanging up his gloves, Harris became a lawyer. Harris’ final record was 30-5 (9).

Harris remained alert and in good health well into his later years, and his popularity among those who knew him and followed his career never waned.

Rest in peace.

A national treasure here in the UK, Michael Parkinson, for many of us the king of chat show hosts, died today at the advanced age of 88. Loved by everyone, welcomed by everyone as an interviewer (well, almost everyone; Meg Ryan and her infamous Parky “interview” was another story), Parkinson, at the height of his career, regularly attracted millions of television viewers whenever his show aired.

Just look at the long list of giants Parky sat across from in the studio, asking unlimited, unscripted questions:

Clint Eastwood

Orson Welles

Jimmy Cagney

James Stewart

Woody Allen

John Lennon

John Wayne

Fred Astaire

Betty Davis

Lauren Bacall

Jerzy Best

Peter Seller

Paul McCartney

David Bowie

Michael Caine

Will Smith…… and many others.

Including Muhammad Ali.

Parky interviewed Ali four times – in 1971, twice in 1974 and in 1981.

All four interviews were wonderful in their own way, and Parkinson was somehow able to bring out so many emotions and reactions from Ali: anger, rage, almost uncontrollable laughter (see Ali’s last appearance on Parkinson and what comedian Freddie Starr did to him!) , pride, satisfaction and even fear.

The most renowned interview took place in overdue 1974, just after Ali had reclaimed his throne by dismantling George Foreman in Africa. As enormous as the universe, Ali held nothing back when he spoke, especially his religious beliefs (taught by The Nation of Islam). Ali didn’t like it when Parkinson had the audacity to adopt confrontational tactics in defense of his former champion when the reigning heavyweight champion of the world called Joe Frazier “Uncle Tom.”

“Oh, that’s not Uncle Tom,” Parky said in Joe’s defense.

“He’s not! So why does he insist on calling me Cassius Clay?” Ali shot back. “He’s a different type of Negro, he doesn’t like me. There are two kinds of slaves. To me, Joe Frazier is worse than you! He’s working for the enemy.” “

It was shocking at the time (and Ali’s inflammatory words took his already intense rivalry with Frazier to a whole recent level).

Ali was also angered by the way Parky tried to “trap” him on live TV. Parkinson had previously mentioned in an interview how Ali left school almost illiterate, and later when he used quotes about Ali in a book focusing on his double standards (Ali, preaching the belief that nothing material mattered, lived in a mansion and owned over one Rolls Royce and as Ali said, in accordance with Muslim doctrine, that “all white people are devils”, even though he had many whites on his staff at the time) – Ali really lost it.

Looking genuinely incensed, Ali felt that he had indeed been the victim of a fraud, that he had been cornered.

“You can’t beat me mentally or physically,” Ali spat at his host. “You really are a joke.”

Parky laughed, not at all sincerely, waiting for the cute, cheerful and comfortable version of Ali to return, which he did at the right time.

But for a while, consciously or unconsciously, Parkinson unsettled Ali and angered him in a way that none of his in-ring rivals had ever done. Even Frazier, apparently.

Yes, Parky has interviewed many giants and his shows are gold today. But no show was more entertaining or truly stimulating than Parkinson’s overdue 1974 interview with “The Greatest.”

We will miss Parky greatly. In fact, his great chat was overlooked for many years.

For a fight that lasted just three minutes, the middleweight event that took place on this day 33 years ago between Nigel Benn and Iran Barkley was certainly action-packed. In fact, it could be argued that a one-round street fight masquerading as a professional boxing match contained as many as three or more rounds in those 180 seconds.

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

Barkley, a former WBC middleweight champion, was returning from a break and retinal surgery. Benn was in the process of rebuilding after a somewhat humiliating defeat to Michael Watson. Neither could afford another defeat, and as soon as the red-hot, brutal action began at Ballys in Las Vegas, the former gang member and the former soldier went to war. For a miniature while.

Benn, who said before the fight it would be “very, very explosive,” struck first. Catching the slow-starting Barkley, Benn nearly smeared his man and Barkley was caught icy. Two right shots hit Barkley in the head and Benn settled for an unimaginably quick victory. Barkley tried to fight back, but another right hand spun him around and then a left hand dropped him. Benn kept shooting to the skin as referee Carlos Padilla tried to get inside and count.

Benn was on fire!

But “The Blade,” while not as pointed as it could be (polishing up before that wouldn’t be a bad idea), wasn’t finished yet. Benn marched back in, missing with a wild left. But Barkley now had the distance and his suspiciously penniless eyesight put him out of the game for the time being; Barkley “felt” where Benn was. Swinging both arms in a way that looked like he was punching underwater, Barkley finally found some sort of zipper.

A counter left hook caught the suspect on Benn’s chin, and the “Gloomy Destroyer” was sent flying backwards across the ring, which he had owned for about a minute or less. Barkley was now looking for a quick finish. No one in the ring was nervous. Barkley dug in while Benn was on the ropes, and a street brawl forced fans to temporarily put down their beer cups.

Benn then roared back. Being a fresher, less damaged man, with excellent eyesight, Benn spent only a fraction more time preparing his shots and hit Barkley in the head with another right. Benn’s uppercut followed, and then, as the two traded rights, Benn’s right-left-right combination came in to defeat Barkley for the second time. And then Benn hit another right as Barkley went down.

It was now borderline DQ, but Padilla, who wasn’t having a great night, didn’t even warn Benn for his filthy moves. There was even more to come. Benn then dropped Barkley with a combination, and a confused Padilla slowly waved his arms. The fight is over. But the arguments were to come. Should Barkley be allowed time to recover after Benn punched him a second time while he was on the ground? Surely.

But this fight, this miniature and not sweet but addictive as hell fight, never seemed to have enough time to fully get going. That said, the amount of action crammed into those three minutes was truly staggering.

Can you name a more stimulating, gripping, controversial, constantly watched one-rounder?