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Alan Minter story


BoztheMadman
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Alan Minter was one of the most exciting and hard hitting English and British fighters of all time, as well as one of most talented ones. However, his career was always marred with a tendency to cut, which led him to lose some important fights and some fights that should have been his. He also had a rather short career, retiring at 30 after barely 9 years as a pro. Still, despite all that, he was and remains a very pivotal figure: he was the man that brought back the world middleweight title back to Britain, 28 years after Randy Turpin lost it to Sugar Ray Robinson. He was tough, he hit hard and was aggressive. Perhaps it was just this aggressive style that made him a frequent target to cuts. Despite the 9 losses on his record, Minter was one of the most talented and capable European fighters ever.

 

Alan Minter was born on 17 August 1951, birthplace unspecified. He was raised in Crawley, Sussex. As amateur he won the 1971 British middleweight championship and a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics. He began his professional career in October that year by knocking out Maurice Thomas in 6 rounds. He won his first 11 fights, 8 by ko, before experiencing his first loss; he was fighting against journeyman Don McMillan and had him down three times and was well ahead on points when he got a cut eye and the fight was stopped in the eight round. He won two fights before running into his worst opponent ever, Jan Magdziarz; he lost two consecutive fights to him, both by a cut eye stoppage and the third ended as a no contest because the fighters were disqualified for not giving their best. After all these setbacks, his career finally went on the right track as he won five fights in row and then beat Kevin Finnegan for the British title: he defended this title twice against Billy Knight (TKO2) and again against Finnegan with a decision, where he won the Lonsdale belt outright. In November 1976 he faced the former Monzon-challenger Tony Licata and stopped him in the 6th round after flooring him three times. Just a month later he scored a very important victory over Sugar Ray Seales, the Olympic gold medallist; Seales dominated the first four rounds and Minter appeared in danger of getting stopped after suffering facial damages. But then in the fifth Minter suddenly produced a tremendous right hand which floored Seales halfway through and he followed up the knockdown with a barrage of punches which led the referee to stop the fight.

 

The next year was also busy: first he took on the Italian Germano Valsecchi in February and knocked him out cold with a left hook in the fifth to lift the European belt. But then in April he faced the unbeaten American Ronnie Harris, 23-0, who dominated him and gave him a bad beating-the fight was stopped after eight rounds, once again due to big cuts. Minter's career seemed in jeopardy and the world title dream lay in tatters. However, three months after that he produced an impressive display against the aging legend Emile Griffith and knocked him down once en route to a dominant decision victory. But then another setback happened against Tunisian-French Gratien Tonna when he was stopped again in the 8th round, AGAIN due to a cut, this time on the forehead. Next year he reclaimed the European title with a TKO12 over Angelo Jacopucci, but that fight ended in tragedy when Jacopucci died after the fight and the ringside doctor was found guilty of manslaughter for not stopping the fight. Minter then avenged the loss to Tonna with a 6th round TKO. After a few more convincing victories over minor opponents, he was finally handed a title shot against Italian-born American Vito Antuofermo, who had drawn with Marvin Hagler previously. Fight took place on 16th March 1980 in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas; it was a hard fought fight and Antuofermo managed to knock Minter down once (surprisingly, since he wasn't a big puncher) in the eight round but Minter outworked him enough to land a split decision victory. In the rematch, it was Antuofermo's turn to be halted in the eight round with a big cut by his left eye after suffering a beating. Minter won all the rounds on all scorecards.

 

The high times would soon come to an end however. Unfortunately, being the first boxer of purely English heritage to become a world champion in a long time, Minter became a cult figure to the members of the National Front and it seems the whole idea of being the White Champion appealed to Minter because prior to the fight with Marvelous Marvin Hagler, he attended a rally with the NF where he declared "No black man is going to take my title". That incident turned him from an overly popular figure into a controversial one. However, he claimed he was angered when Hagler refused to shake hands when they met before Hagler's fight against Antuofermo. He lost the fight and his title to Hagler after 3 rounds when he suffered massive cuts and though his corner didn't protest, the crowd went berserk and started throwing bottles into the ring, forcing Hagler and his entourage to leave in haste. It was a very dark ending to a championship reign, one of the darkest in history. He returned to the ring not long after that and after a points victory over Ernie Singletary, he was matched against Mustafa Hamsho, again in Caesars Palace. After 10 rounds, Hamsho was declared the winner by split decision: Minter did control the fight with his jab but Hamsho was more aggressive and managed to sway the judges. Minter protested the verdict and his manager called it "diabolical". Very few would expect this would be Minter's last good performance and the end of his career, for in his next fight, in September 1981, he was stopped by Tony Sibson in 3 rounds. There was bad blood between the two and Minter started the fight well but then was dropped three times in the third and counted out. After he got up, he went to Sibson's corner and started taunting him. It was his last fight and the darkest possible ending to a brilliant career. His record is 39(23)-9-0.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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Re: Alan Minter story

 

Nice work. I got to met Alan at HOF a few years back, and there were a few Brit fans who were pushing him for induction. I didn't agree, but I certainly enjoyed watching him fight. He made the MW division in the late-seventies and early eighties a whole lot of fun.

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