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Henry Wharton


BoztheMadman
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Henry Wharton was, after Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, the best British super middleweight of the first half of the 90's. He fought both guys in world title fights and both times gave a good account of himself, losing by rather close decisions. He was known for his punching power, particularly the left hook, and scored 20 knockouts in 27 victories. He was also a tough come forward fighter and never got stopped, only losing to the best, Eubank, Benn and Robin Reid.

 

Born as one of eleven children in Leeds, 23 November 1967, young Henry fell in love with boxing instantly after first stepping into the boxing gym and started his amateur career at 14. He entered professional ranks in September of 1989 and won his first fight by TKO 1. After winning his first 10 fights, on 21 June 1991 he was matched against Rod Carr for the vacant Commonwealth title at Town Hall in Leeds and won on points after 12 rounds. He defended it 4 months later on 30 October against Lou Gent. who amazingly enough fought as cruiserweight also before and after that. The fight went the distance and was scored a draw. Wharton then had two fights at light heavyweight and in the second knocked out the American Kenny Schaefer in one round. He again defended his title against Rod Carr and this time won by a cut stoppage in the 8th round. His next defense was on 23 September 1992 against Fidel Castro Smith and he won by a close UD. After scoring three knockout wins, he challenged the reigning WBC champion Nigel Benn and fought him on 26 February 1994 at Earls Court Exhibition Hall in Kensington. Wharton started slow according to his gameplan but he later himself said that he lay back for too long and in the end it cost him the decision, despite winning several rounds and making the fight close. The scores were 117-112, 116-114 and 116-113, all for Benn. He then made one more defense of his Commonwealth belt and knocked out Sipho Moyo of Zimbabwe in only 38 seconds.

 

He then rounded out the year by taking on the other great British super middleweight, Chris Eubank, the WBO champion, 10 December at G-Mex Centre in Manchester. Again, the underdog from Leeds rose to occasion and gave Eubank a hard fight, this time coming forward from the start. Eubank's defensive skills however made him survive and neutralize Wharton's assault, despite a close fight, and in the end he earned a unanimous decision victory with uneven scores: 118-112, 116-112 and 115-113. That was Eubank's last successful defense and he would lose his title to Steve Collins 3 months later. For Wharton the next fight meant fighting for the European title against Mauro Galvano of Italy, former WBC champion. Here Wharton produced his greatest victory, on 8 July 1995 in York, knocking Galvano out in 4 to claim his biggest title. He defended both it and the Commonwealth title against Sam Storey and again won by the same result, KO 4. He made his second and last defense of the Euro title on 13 January 1996 when he stopped another Italian contender, Vincenzo Nardiello by a TKO 6 after Nardiello was cut on the right eyebrow and couldn't continue. After defending the Commonwealth title one more time by TKO 5 against Rick Thornberry, Wharton vacated that title too and set his sights on his last attempt at winning the world title.

 

His opponent was Robin Reid, the WBC champion. It was 3 May 1997 at the Nynex Arena in Manchester. According to Wharton, his best days were already behind him but he again gave a good account of himself, though in his eyes he could have won had it come earlier. After 12 hard fought rounds were over, one judge scored it even but the other two had Reid convincingly ahead and so his dream of becoming a world champion was over for good. After winning 2 more fights next year, Wharton retired, aged 31 and with a fine record of 27-3-1. After retirement he bought a run down building and turned it into a fish shop and apartments building. In 2013, he opened a boxing gym in York, where he has been living for a long time. It's a hard work as he himself says and despite having many members, they often need funding to send their fighters to training camps or competitions. Henry Wharton was just unlucky of having to box at the same time and in the same division as Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, otherwise he surely would have been a world champion. He was always a popular figure due to his humble nature and his performances in the ring.

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