This weekend at Wembley Stadium, British heavyweight boxing – at its proverbial home – will again be at the center of the boxing world, but it was not always like that.
It took almost 100 years from Bob Fitzsimmons’ reign as heavyweight champion for another to be crowned from British shores, and there was plenty of unkind mockery and name-calling that went before.
The brave efforts of Tommy Farr, Don Cockell and Henry Cooper against Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali respectively only served to enhance Great Britain’s unwanted reputation as the land of the Horizontal Heavyweights.
That is not so in the modern era, rather a new status quo that if the finest heavyweights in the world do not come from Britain alone, at least they do hail from Europe.
Still, here are some all-British heavyweight fights – some memorable, some controversial, some brilliant – that have left their mark on history, the same way IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua hope to on Saturday.
Bruce Woodcock w ko 14 Freddie Mills (June 2, 1949)
Former light heavyweight champion Mills, from Bournemouth, was up and down repeatedly, climbing off the deck in the first, fourth, eighth, 10th and 12th rounds before Doncaster’s Woodcock stopped Mills with a right hand in the 14th round. Mills weighed just 175 1/2lbs, and he came in at 173lbs for the final fight of his career six months later against Joey Maxim for the world light heavyweight title.
Defeating Mills was a repeat win after Woodcock had won their first fight in 1946.
Henry Cooper w tko 11 Joe Erskine (November 17, 1959)
Memorably, Joe Erskine was – according to one commentator – turned into a “human violin bow” when on the wrong end of a devastating left hook, also known as ‘Enry’s Hammer’.
Erskine, who had already been floored twice, was finally shaken and felled, dropping onto his back, by a huge shot that left his limp body arched over the bottom rope. His body seemed to go through each rope on his way to his final position.
Erskine held points wins over Cooper from 1955 and 1957, but Cooper won their fourth fight in five rounds in 1961, and Cooper stopped him again in 1962.
Joe Bugner w pts 15 Henry Cooper (March 16, 1971)
Bugner won the European, Commonwealth and British titles following 15 so-so rounds which saw referee Harry Gibbs score the contest six rounds to five with four rounds even.
Bugner, at 21, was 15 years Cooper’s junior and the crowd at Wembley’s Empire Pool “booed and stamped their feet in protest” at the decision.
Just eight days on from the first Frazier-Ali fight, an incensed Cooper did what Marvin Hagler would later do after his contentious loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, in that he walked away from boxing – and kept on walking.
“That’s it for me, I’m finished now. It’s a choker having to go out like this,” said the always popular Cooper.
“I thought I had done just enough to win,” countered Bugner. “I managed to keep out the way of his left hand and those that did connect didn’t hurt. I feel wonderful.”
Frank Bruno w ko 8 Joe Bugner (October 24, 1987)
The fight was frowned upon before the first bell, with the contest dubbed “a mundane domestic pairing of two men who have each been discredited by failures at international level… Bruno and Bugner have made their own contributions to the dismal annals of British heavyweight boxing, but tomorrow they will become the country’s highest paid failures.”
Bugner was 37, Bruno 11 years his junior, and the younger man boxed patiently for seven rounds before pouncing in the eighth to decisively capture victory at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane.
Barry Hearn, along with Mickey Duff and Terry Lawless, promoted.
Horace Notice w tko 10 Hughroy Currie (March 9, 1988)
Notice and Currie fought twice, both times with British and Commonwealth titles on the line. The second fight marked Notice’s third defense of his Lonsdale Belt but the boxing media remained skeptical. “Time will prove Notice’s worth,” wrote one journalist. “He is a good performer, not particularly outstanding in any one department of his trade but proficient all-round.”
In their initial encounter, both fighters were floored. In the rematch, neither touched down although Currie was “being driven around the ring and caught squarely to the jaw” when the end came.
Currie, surmised one ringsider, “fought very bravely, but in the end ran out of gas. He never ran out of heart.”
Lennox Lewis w tko 7 Gary Mason (March 6, 1991)
In a fight billed as one that would prove which British heavyweight was ready for an assault on world honors, Lennox Lewis came through his big test with heavy-punching Londoner Gary Mason.
Mason was 35-0 and No. 4 with the WBC, but his aspirations were “ruthlessly exposed by the superior boxing skills and physical gifts of Lewis,” wrote one ringsider.
Inside Wembley Arena, Mason’s right eye swelled from the third, and undoubtedly hindered him in front of a crowd of only around 6,000 but great things awaited Lewis, whose immediate future would spawn contests against Derek Williams and Glenn McCrory.
“The real test… will come when he takes on a leading American,” wrote one observer. “Then we’ll see if beating Gary Mason was the highlight of his career – or just a stepping stone.”
Lennox Lewis w tko 7 Frank Bruno (October 1, 1993)
Heavy rain threatened to cause the cancellation of the all-British WBC title fight between champion Lewis and perennial bridesmaid, at the time, Bruno at the stadium in Cardiff.
Lennox had not had things all his own way by the time the end came. Bruno had enjoyed moments of success and landed some of his biggest shots.
“Had those punches been landed by a hitter like Tommy Morrison, against whom Lewis defends in Las Vegas in March, or the ‘real’ world champion Riddick Bowe, we might now be writing the end of this most promising chapter in the history of Britain’s century-long search for a world heavyweight king,” read one ringside report.
Herbie Hide w ko 7 Michael Bentt (March 19, 1994)
The bout was recognized – if only by the fledgling WBO at the time – as a world title fight, and plenty criticized it for that. Hall of Fame boxing writer Harry Mullan deemed it “a travesty” that the 25-0 Hide was untested but somehow the WBO’s No. 3, while he took some solace in Bentt’s quick upset destruction of Tommy Morrison to at least mark him as a contender.
The build-up was marred by an ugly, infamous press conference brawl that saw both men rolling around in puddles in suits trying to get at one another following a press conference – costing them £10,000 fines apiece, but after an eighth-round stoppage, Mullan admitted “The big time beckons for Herbie Hide.”
Promoter Barry Hearn was clearly delighted with Norwich’s Hide, claiming Herbie was “the second coming of Ali… he may be the best the world has ever seen.”
Danny Williams w tko 6 Mark Potter (October 21, 2000)
In one of the most astonishing turnarounds in boxing, an almost-beaten Danny Williams, right arm dangling uncontrollably by his side courtesy of a dislocated right shoulder, produced an unforgettable left hand to knock out Potter in dramatic fashion.
Sky commentator Adam Smith was screaming how Williams was having to “hold on for dear life” and how the shoulder was “completely gone” and “he’s in a no-win situation.”
Then, Williams landed a hook-cum-uppercut and Smith cried, “Oh, that’s unbelievable!” and it was all over.
David Haye w tko 5 Derek Chisora (July 14, 2012)
This controversial clash at West Ham’s Upton Park stadium was licensed by the Luxembourg boxing federation. Both fighters had been suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control after a violent fracas in Germany following Chisora’s decision defeat to Vitali Klitschko.
But with Luxembourg licensing both boxers, the fight was on and arguably Haye was never better, certainly at heavyweight. He did something no one else – and the list is long – has been able to do, by getting rid of Chisora in devastating fashion in five rounds.
“He’s got one of the best chins in the business, but I don’t think he’s going to get up this time,” cried John Rawling, on commentary for BoxNation, as Chisora was wasted by a final left hook.
Tyson Fury w rtd 10 Derek Chisora (November 29, 2014)
This was their second fight and possibly the most meaningful. They met earlier in their careers, when both were respective novices, and later in their careers, when Fury was at the top and Chisora was over the hill, but this one was arguably with both closest to their primes.
But it was all Fury, who boxed most of the fight as a left-hander, bamboozling and bewitching Chisora before ultimately breaking him down and forcing Chisora’s corner to pull him out following 10 one-sided rounds.
Anthony Joshua w tko 7 Dillian Whyte (December 12, 2015)
This was, in some ways, ahead of its time and a rematch years later, scuppered due to an adverse finding for PEDs by Whyte, resulted in late notice sub Robert Helenius deputising (and also later testing positive).
But there was an appetite for a Joshua-Whyte rematch given the nature of their long rivalry, which stemmed back to their amateur days.
When they met, at the O2 Arena in London in 2015, Joshua got on top of fun fight in the seventh and closed the show, launching Whyte into the ropes with a right uppercut before he sagged loosely with his left arm draped over the bottom strand.
Joshua added the British title to his Commonwealth strap, but was now emerging onto the world scene.
Dillian Whyte w sd 12 Derek Chisora (December 10, 2016)
If the old adage style make fights is true – and sometimes it is – then Whyte and Chisora were always going to get down and dirty and turn in a violent fight. They have managed it twice. This first one, with both nearer their peaks, preceded the one that was heading the same way as this contest until Whyte bombed Chisora out with a terrific left hook late on.
“Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora gave us an absolute thriller, savage, beautiful, beautiful brutality,” said Adam Smith at the end of 12 breathless rounds.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing a draw and I wouldn’t mind seeing this again,” said David Haye. “What a fight.”
Calling for a round of applause from inside the Manchester Arena, Michael Buffer announced: “We have witnessed one hell of a heavyweight contest.”
The crowd stood as one and applauded as they listened to the split decision, 115-114 Chisora, 115-113 and 115-114 for Whyte.
Tyson Fury w tko 6 Dillian Whyte (April 23, 2022)
The curious build-up culminated with a huge night in Wembley Stadium and arguably Fury had never looked better, patiently dissecting Whyte before landing a thudding right uppercut that spelled the end of the bout.
Whyte was flat on his back, then rolled onto his front and tried to get up, but the fight was stopped and as Whyte was consoled by the referee, Fury went and kissed him on the head.
It was all over after 2.59 on the sixth round.
Joe Joyce w ko 10 Daniel Dubois (November 28, 2020)
As lockdown gripped the world – and the sporting world – the 15-0 (14 KOs) Dubois and the 11-0 (10 KOs) Joyce, fought in front of a select audience at Church House in London. Joyce got his jab motoring early on, but the fight was not defined by how it started but by how it ended.
With Dubois’ left eye swelling shut, in round 10 Joyce stepped in behind a jab and Dubois took a knee, where he remained listening to the count of referee Ian John-Lewis. Joyce left with the British, Commonwealth and European titles to his name while Dubois left with the scorn of the online community ringing in his ears and labels attached to his name that have taken years to shift.
“What can I say, he caught me with a good jab and his jab was accurate,” said Dubois. “I couldn’t see out of the eye. It just happens, man. I can’t explain it.”
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