Henry Cooper vs Joe Bugner revisited
Steve Bunce remembers Henry Cooper vs Joe Bugner, an unforgettable night in British boxing, 50 years on
IT was just eight nights after the Fight of the Century, another night in a business so remote it is often hard to understand. The fighters, promoters, trainers, managers, the man in the middle and the press were all witnesses to the unforgettable night Henry Cooper and Joe Bugner fought. It was March 16, 1971 and the British, Commonwealth and European titles were the side issue on that Tuesday night. The British public watched and waited; Princess Anne was on red alert.
Ringside at the Fight of the Century
Alan Hubbard explains what it was like to be a ringside reporter at The Fight of the Century
WE were strangers in the night exchanging glances when the guy with the trilby standing next to me in a men’s urinal at Madison Square Garden enquired: “How ya doing fella?”
“Fine thanks, Mr Sinatra.” I stuttered.
“Who d’ya fancy?” he enquired.
“Well… Ali,” I replied hesitantly.
“Nah, Frazier’ll destroy him,” came the snapped response.
End of conversation. We returned to the press seats – Sinatra was accredited as a photographer for Life Magazine and I was a humble young scribe from south London covering the Fight of a Lifetime.
Desert Island Fights: The 1990s
So far BN readers have voted Frazier-Ali I as their favourite fight of the seventies and Hagler-Hearns from the eighties. What will be the choice for Desert Island Fights from the nineties?
THE premise for Desert Island Fights is simple: You will soon be stranded on a desert island. To ease the boredom, you can take along one – and only one – fight from each of the last five decades (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s) to watch while you’re there. Which five fights do you take?
For many fans, the 1990s was the last true golden era. The decade began when Mike Tyson was still an invincible man and it ended with his powers exposed. That descent, which was bumpy in the extreme, saw fighters like Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis pass Tyson on their way up.
Hagler vs Leonard: The narrative of a superfight
Supreme sports writer Brian Doogan reveals how his fascination with the timeless Hagler vs Leonard rivalry led to him writing one of the best boxing books of recent years
DARKNESS was Ray Leonard’s light during his years away from boxing. Denied the stage he had illuminated as his sport’s most celestial exponent in the immediate aftermath of Muhammad Ali’s sad decline and exit, he descended into an abyss.
“I discovered alcohol and cocaine mix very well together, very easily, and I nearly lost it, I really did,” he acknowledged. “I went all the way to the edge and I nearly went over.”