Alan Minter

Alan Minter
Data
Birth Name	Alan Minter
Fight name	Boom boom
Weight class	medium weight
nationality	British
birthday	17th August 1951
place of birth	Penge
style	Southpaw
size	175 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	49
Victories	39
Knockout victories	23
Defeats	9
No value	1

Alan Minter (born August 17, 1951 in Penge , Kent ) is a former British professional middleweight boxer, two-time European champion and world champion of the WBA and WBC .

Amateur career

Minter moved to Crawley , West Sussex , where he joined an amateur boxing club there and was trained by Doug Bidwell, who later also became his father-in-law and trained him himself in the professional camp. In 1970 he took part in a multinational amateur tournament in the Netherlands , won the silver medal and, despite finishing 2nd, was voted best boxer of the tournament.

At the 1st European Junior Championships in Hungary in 1970, however, he retired in the first fight against Vyacheslav Lemeschew (Olympic champion and two-time European champion).

In 1971 he was British middleweight champion and took part in the 19th European Championship in Spain , where he was defeated by Hans-Joachim Brauske in the quarterfinals .

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich , he reached 3rd place in the light middleweight division. After victories over Reggie Ford from Ghana (knockout), Valery Tregubov from Russia (5: 0) and Loucif Hanmani from Algeria (4: 1), he reached the semifinals. There he finally lost controversially by majority decision (2: 3) against the later gold medalist Dieter Kottysch from Germany and therefore had to be content with the bronze medal.

As he was determined to be internationally successful, but didn't want to wait four years for the next Olympics, he decided to become a professional.

Beginnings of the professional career

He completed his first professional fight on October 31, 1972 against Maurice Thomas and won by technical knockout in round 6. By May 1973 he won ten consecutive victories against strong opponents, seven of them by knockout. The defeated opponents included the Austrian champion Anton Schnedl , the later Wales champion Mike McCluskie, and the English champions Pat Dwyer and Harry Scott.

He suffered his first defeat on June 5, 1973 against Don McMillan, when the fight was stopped because of a cut to Minter's eye. His opponent was then declared the winner by a technical knockout. After two consecutive wins against weak opponents, he got into the ring at the end of October 1973 against Jan Magdziarz. However, this opponent, who could never be successful beyond the region, proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for Minter. By October 1974 he boxed three times against Magdziarz in the Royal Albert Hall , losing twice to technical knockout and the third fight ended without evaluation due to poor performance by both boxers.

British champion and European champion

After five wins in a row, he was on November 4, 1975 by winning points over 15 rounds against Kevin Finnegan , British middleweight champion. He successfully defended his title against Billy Knight and in a rematch against Kevin Finnegan, before resigning the title to challenge the reigning European champion Germano Valsecchi. On February 4, 1977 he finally became the new European middleweight champion after knocking out Valsecchi in round 5. But already when he defended his title on September 21, 1977 against Gratien Tonna, he lost his title due to an injury due to a technical knockout in round 8.

On November 8, 1977 he was again British middleweight champion after he was able to defeat Kevin Finnegan again. This time he resigned the title in order to secure the vacant European championship title. On July 19, 1978 he rose against the Italian Angelo Jacopucci in the ring and won by knockout in round 12. Jacopucci was then in a coma and died on July 22, 1978 due to injuries sustained in the fight. The ring doctor was later convicted of manslaughter because, in the opinion of the court, he should have stopped the fight prematurely. Four months later, Minter defended his European title against Gratien Tonna and then resigned the title to challenge reigning world champion Vito Antuofermo .

World Champion of the WBA and WBC

In 1980 the WBA and the WBC were the only two recognized world associations. Antuofermo held both titles at this point, which is why Minter was looking for the title of Superchampion . The fight was set to 15 rounds, as was customary for title fights at the time, and took place on March 16, 1980 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas . The fight went over the full number of rounds and ended with a split point decision in favor of Alan Minter (144-141, 149-137, 143-145). However, after the fight there were quarrels and disagreements, because despite the participation of a British athlete, a Briton was used as one of the three judges and Antuofermo received the fewest points from him. Even the British press accused the judge of not acting neutrally.

Because of this, a rematch was agreed, which was played on June 28 at Wembley Arena in London . But now Minter clearly showed who the new middleweight champion was, dominated the fight from the start and defeated the Italian by technical knockout in round 8. This time Minter had also been unanimously in the lead with all three judges.

On September 27, 1980 there was a title defense fight against the American Marvin Hagler , also held in the Wembley Arena. Minter lost this encounter by a technical knockout in round 3, because the referee stopped the fight because of an injury to Minter's left eye. Before the fight, Minter had said he did not want to lose his "title to a black man" (Original: "I don't want to lose my title to a black man.") Then spectators attacked the boxing ring with projectiles, whereupon both boxers had to be escorted out of the ring by the police. Hagler is said to have been the particular target of these attacks. In addition, it was suspected that the attacks by the audience, among which members of the right-wing extremist National Front were allegedly found, had a racist motive.

Minter then tried in September 1981 a third time to be European champion, but failed by technical knockout in round 3 against the reigning champion Tony Sibson, whereupon he ended his professional career.

Overview of successes

amateur

• 1971: British middleweight champion
• 1972: Bronze medal in the light middleweight division at the Summer Olympics

professional

• 1975, 1976 and 1977: British middleweight champion
• February 4, 1977 to September 21, 1977: European middleweight champion
• July 19, 1978: European Middleweight Champion (title retired to box for world title)
• March 16, 1980 to September 27, 1980: World Middleweight Champion of all associations (WBA and WBC)

According to the independent BoxRec rankings, he is one of the 15 most successful middleweight boxers in Europe of all time.

predecessor	Office	successor
Germano Valsecchi	European Middleweight Boxing Champion ( EBU ) February 4, 1977 - September 21, 1977	Gratien Tonna

predecessor	Office	successor
Gratien Tonna	European Middleweight Boxing Champion ( EBU ) July 19, 1978 - 1980	Kevin Finnegan

predecessor	Office	successor
Vito Antuofermo	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) March 16, 1980 - September 27, 1980	Marvin Hagler

predecessor	Office	successor
Vito Antuofermo	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 16, 1980 - September 27, 1980	Marvin Hagler

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jim White: 'Of course he is not a Nazi. He is a man who likes history ' , The Guardian . January 3, 2003, accessed January 3, 2012. (English)

Web links

• Profile in the BoxRec database
• Biography at ABA London ( Memento from February 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )