Sata of the seventies were a fantastic era for domestic boxing, but, to be forthright, they were not so good for fashion (I know, I was there). It seems that they have just left the Bond Street boutique, we can see the brothers Chris and Kevin Finnegan look particularly elegant. Between them and much more reasonably dressed is their amateur trainer, Dick Gunn. There is probably not many now who remembers Dick, but as a coach in Hayes BC, where the Finnegan brothers put their mark for the first time, he was a first -class coach. Dick had one professional duel, in Rochester Casino in 1949, and because it did not go well for him, he decided to concentrate his energy in the gym, and that he did it because he was largely responsible for Chris Finnegan, he won gold at the 1968 Olympics.

Dick could draw on his family experiences when it comes to the Olympic Games, because he was a descendant of the oldest boxing master in the history of Master and three -time featherweight master ABA, a man of the same name, Dick Gunna. Ancient Dick won ABA titles in the following years between 1894 and 1896 during boxing for Lynn BC. It wasn’t until 12 years later, in 1908, he won gold at the Olympic Games in London with the same weight. Until then, he was 37 years senior and was withdrawn from the ring for many years.

He was one of the members of the founder Lynn and what club turned out to be. Matt Wells, Dave McCleave, Terry Waller, Billy Wells, Billy Knight, Gary Davidson and Henry Akinwande are among the outstanding ones who learned trading in the club. He won the first of his ABA titles in 1894, when the boxing took place at Ancient Queens Hall at Langham Street, Westminster. His colleague from the club Percy Jones took the title of Bantamweight this year, and until 1896 each of them managed to win the hat-trick of ABA titles at their weights, and Lynn really left its trail. In the real amateur sporting spirit of those times and after he dominated the featherweight division over these three years, Dick – at the age of only 25 – withdrew from the ring to give other boxers a chance to win the amateur championships. He really believed that sports was not good so that one man would not win the same title, so he became an administrator, helping in various ways in his beloved club.

In 1904 he moved to Gainsford BC, where he often took part in exhibition competitions. One of them took place at the National Sporting Club, when he took over three rounds with the British featherweight champion, the Great Jim Driscoll. When the 1908 Olympics were announced in London, Dick could not resist the idea of ​​returning so that he could take part. The whole generation of youthful people, equally determined to create a team, probably had no idea about his skills and achievements, because Dick was about 15 years older than most of them.

He trained persistently in Gainsford and created a team with four other British participants among 14 fields. He sent the Frenchman in the opening competition, and then defeated the prevailing champion Abb Tom Ringer, another Lynn Man, in the second.

After receiving a farewell in the initial round, these two victories were enough to put him in the final in which he met Charley Morris from the polytechnic BC. Ancient Dick knew too much for his younger opponent and in patted him for three rounds to take gold.

Then Dick became an amateur judge for many years before he finally bowed as time rates. In this character he appeared at another London Olympic Games, in 1948 Dick became the vice president of ABA before his death in 1961, at the age of 90. Each Dick Gunn has made a significant contribution to the Olympic boxing in Great Britain.

100 years ago, the career of one of the earliest British medium weight masters came to an end when the Jack Blake team was knocked out in the second round of the competition in the ring, Blackfriars by Albert Rogers from Mitcham.

It was his 62nd professional professional who dates back to 1910. Blake maintained the title of British middleweight in 1916–1918, when he won and then lost to Pat O’keefe from Canning Town. Because the country was in the war, Blake did not have the right opportunity to earn a master, and the loss in the rematch with O’keefe was his first defense. Perhaps Blake is best remembered for his competition, in 1914, together with the British heavyweight champion, Bombardier Billy Wells, in a 20-round competition for the Wells title at London Palladium in Soho. This fight took place two years before winning the title of medium weight, or at least on paper it would be more arduous to find a more pronounced example of mismatch.

Both Blake and Wells were the products of the system that many British champions produced at that time, because they both learned boxing in the army, and when they were released, both men soon was awarded as professionals. Blake drew the attention of the leading promoter Dick Burge, former British medium champion, and in March 1913 he fought at Burge, Ring, Blackfriars, for the first time. The ring was a leading boxing place in London until it was destroyed by Luftwaffe in 1942, and Burge was a man who put this place. Promising provincial boxers, like Blake, were often slammed by London’s best promoters for a 10-week contract, and that’s how Blake happened this year. He had 11 consecutive competitions in the ring between March and November 1913 and won the parking lot, most of them at a distance.

On Fresh Year, 1914, he met the celebrated American medium weight, Dixie Kid, in the 20th-round in the ring, and convincingly won the fight. This led to Burge’s enthusiasm that his promising charge became rather sanguine. Negotiations were opened to the competition with Georges Carpentier And with the leading Americans, Frank Klaus and George Chip, two men who have recently met in the world’s world. Much larger headlines appeared when Burge challenged Wells to meet his man in the field of British heavyweight title.

Many promoters were excited about this match, despite the lack of experience and the size of Blake, and the huge offers of the handbag flew there back before the match, which was finally secured by Burge, with an offer of 850 pounds, a huge character before the First World War. Wells was just stuck by Georges Carpentier in one round and there were huge assessments of questions over his ability to hit, especially in the body, and this has just believed that Blake could beat him. BN was less convinced: “Blake has not so far abolished the opponent who is endowed with the speed or force of the bombardier’s impact. Will he be able to, will he be ready to continue his aggressive and dynamic methods after he got acquainted with a few Billy’s hits?”

In this case, Blake took a very decent fight, and then succumbed to a greater man in four rounds. After entering the Ring, Wells looked nervous and took a real paste in the first round because of the Blake lock and energy. Blake ran points before Wells’s bodies began to tardy him down. Grace of the coup was delivered in the fourth round, leaving Blake spread to canvas, to the world.

After this fight, Blake wisely stuck to his weight class, and his British victory title in 1914 showed how good the warrior was. After retiring, he bought a huge property in his hometown, Great Yarmouth, where he became a swimming instructor. He died in 1961 at the age of 70.

In recent years, many criticism of significant competitions in Great Britain has appeared and it’s effortless to believe that this is a contemporary phenomenon. Many say that in “senior good times” everything worked well and we did not have these problems with something like a frequency that seems to be today. It wasn’t until 2005 that British Title Waste was captured by three judges before the judge was the only arbiter. As part of the senior system, I remember some debatable verdicts, but few of them caused the same number of arguments and debates as the decision made by judge Sid Nathan to Dave Needham against Pat Cowdell [above] In their competition from 1979 with the title of British featherweight.

I am lucky that I have all SID results cards in my collection, because they were given his son when Sid died in 2016, and they make quite fascinating reading, especially when they are compared with reports that appeared in the BN.

Bob Mee participated in the competition between Needham and Cowdell, which took place on September 18 at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton at the account promoted by Ron Gray. Bob informed: “Sid Nathan needed a police escort from Ringside after making the decision that Dave Needham overtook the local pretender Pat Cowdell to keep the title of British featherweight. When Nathan raised Needham’s arm at the end of fifteen bitter rounds, the crowd sold out. The crowded crowd went crazy. The soles, despite the soles, despite the soles, despite the error, despite the fact that despite the soles.

SID scored a competition to Needham until 147-146, which corresponds to 8-6-1 in rounds. Bob Mee won Cowdella in three rounds and was surprised by the verdict.

Two men were rivals from Midland and they were both endowed with amateurs. Cowdell was an Olympic representative in 1976, each of them was in the European championships and both won the gold medals of Commonwealth. Needham was only two years older than his rival, but he was much more experienced as a professional with 35 competitions behind him compared to 11. Bn Cowdella, who thought Cowdell would throw the fight with his stab, but also recognized that “Clash has all the features of a classic confrontation between the two most brilliant boxing exponents.”

Nathan’s results card reveals that the fight has fallen into three clear patterns. Cowdell won four of the first six rounds before Needham, and then won four in a row, winning seventh place to 10th. The last fifth was evenly widespread with winning two, winning two and ending rounds, gaining equal results. It was enough for Needham to keep his title.

The Bob Mee report reflected it quite carefully, but his main dispute with the official verdict concerns the first six rounds when he thought Cowdell was much more dominant. Regardless of the result, the competition met expectations, and thanks to Undercard, including Midland’s favorites Paul Chance, Mickey Baker and Roy Skeldon, it was an excellent boxing.

The management ordered an immediate rematch between two warriors, which took place at Royal Albert Hall seven weeks later. On the arranged card with the participation of Jim Watt in a successful defense of the title of WBC and Kevin Finnegan, beating Tony Sibson for the title of British medium weight, Cowdell stood a record, straightening Needham in over 15 high -quality rounds. This time the judge was Jim Brimmell, who fired for six to four or even five.

Dave Needham died 14 years ago, but Pat is still with us, one of the most talented boxers that I saw on the British ring.