Alan Minter
Boxer who won the world middleweight title but lost his crown in a bloody defeat to Marvin Hagler
ALAN MINTER, the former undisputed world middleweight champion boxer who has died of cancer aged 69, became a household name in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he was an attacking southpaw who overcame heartbreak at the 1972 Munich Olympics to enjoy great success in the professional ranks, but his career was blighted by his notorious clash with the great American Marvin Hagler at Wembley in September 1980, which in the view of many observers culminated in a new low for British boxing.
During a pre-fight press conference, Minter, who was making the second defence of his crown, said: “It has taken me 17 years to become champion of the world. I’m not going to let a black man take it away from me.”
This thoughtless remark – which Minter himself immediately regretted – was viewed as the catalyst for an appalling outbreak of crowd violence following the Briton’s brutal thirdround stoppage defeat, his face a mask of blood.
Instead of being hailed for achieving a notable win on foreign soil, Hagler and his team found themselves pelted with bottles by an enraged crowd which included members of the far-right National Front, in a shocking display which the television commentator Harry Carpenter described as: “The low point of my many years at British ringsides. Wembley Arena was reeking not so much of nationalism, but had a decidedly rancid smell of racialism.”
Hagler said afterwards: “I wanted to tear up Alan Minter because I didn’t like his attitude. Minter felt as though he was better than anybody else. Basically, that’s how most English people act. I had to bring Minter down to earth. I had to make him feel reality.”
Minter, for his part, initially maintained that he had been misquoted and was inclined to argue that the crowd’s violent response was due to their mistaken belief that he had been headbutted.
Later, he would describe the infamous remark as “ridiculous”, claiming that he had been instructed to say it by an unknown party. Whatever the truth of the matter, the unfortunate comment rebounded disastrously on the man from Crawley, whose face was cut to ribbons as Hagler’s slashing fists opened up wounds that required 15 stitches.
Twelve months later, following a third-round loss to his fellow Briton Tony Sibson in a European title challenge, Minter, whose nose was smashed so severely that it required plastic surgery, decided to retire.
His time at the pinnacle of his sport, following an arduous ascent pitted with setbacks and disappointments, had been brief. Like so many exfighters before and since, Minter’s real problems began after he had hung up the gloves. His marriage broke up, and for years he fought a very public battle with alcoholism.
Born at Crawley, West Sussex, on August 17 1951, Minter was a somewhat unruly youngster who took up boxing at 12 and overcome an unpromising beginning to become one of the country’s top amateurs.
An ABA champion in 1971, he competed at the Munich Olympics the following year but had to settle for a bronze medal, having dropped an outrageous points decision to the West German Dieter Kottysch in the light-middleweight semi-final.
Turning pro later that year under the tutelage of Doug Bidwell, his former amateur mentor and future father-in-law, Minter won his first 11 fights before being stopped by the Scot Don Mcmillan on a cut eye – like Henry Cooper before him, the Sussex fighter was horribly prone to cuts.
Another low point came in a British title eliminator against Jan Magdziarz in October 1974 which was ruled a no-contest after the referee Harry Gibbs disqualified both fighters for “not giving their best”.
Minter emerged from this fiasco a better fighter, however, and in November 1975 he outpointed Kevin Finnegan at the Empire Pool, Wembley, to capture the British middleweight crown; it would be the first of three narrow, extremely hard-fought wins over the rugged man from Iver.
Minter’s star was now in the ascendant and in November 1977 he travelled to Milan to win the European title by knocking out Germano Valsecchi with a left hook in the fifth round, only to come unstuck two months later against the awkward American southpaw Ronnie Harris, who stopped him on cuts in the eighth round at the Royal Albert Hall.
Although Minter again rebounded by ending the career of the former world champion Emile Griffith, he then lost the European title on a cut to the Tunisian Gratien Tonna.
The worst, however, was yet to come. Minter’s joy at winning the vacant European title against Angelo Jacopucci of Italy in Bellaria in July 1978 proved short-lived, as his opponent collapsed shortly afterwards following a massive brain haemorrhage and never regained consciousness.
In his 1980 autobiography, Minter stated: “I will be haunted forever by the memory of that terrible experience.”
Understandably devastated, the Englishman persuaded himself that Jacopucci’s health had already been undermined by too many hard fights. “As far as I’m concerned I never done it,” he said. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He subsequently raised money through public sparring sessions for a fund set up for Jacopucci’s wife and children.
Minter showed considerable character in putting the episode behind him, and four months later established himself as a world title contender by stopping his old foe Tonna in the sixth round at Wembley.
The following year proved frustrating, with the Briton having to content himself with four “marking time” wins before finally landing his long-awaited world title shot against the short, squat Italian brawler Vito Antuofermo in Las Vegas in March 1980.
Minter – who was inclined to lose his temper occasionally, both in and out of the ring – was able to curb his wilder instincts on the night it mattered most by boxing his way to victory on a split points decision.
“To be honest that bout was one of the easiest of my life,” he reflected afterwards. “OK, he was as strong as an ox; but when it came to skill and style he wasn’t worth tuppence. They screamed and shouted when I got the verdict, but I punched his head off.”
Some peculiar scoring created the myth that the Italian had been robbed, so Minter granted him an immediate rematch at Wembley, duly silencing the sceptics by stopping Antuofermo in the eighth.
This set the stage for Minter’s ill-fated clash with “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler – which, according to one veteran fight commentator, took place “in the ugliest atmosphere I have ever experienced at a title fight”.
The champion could probably have avoided the menacing, shaven-headed American for some time, but admirably proved his reluctance to duck anyone by taking on the formidable challenger.
“I thought – hand on heart – that I could beat him,” Minter recalled. “What I didn’t realise was that he could go from southpaw back to orthodox, he was switching all the time. I didn’t know what punch to throw. I was bemused by it all.”
Following that savage defeat, Minter’s attempts to work his way back into title contention ended when the Syrian Mustafa Hamsho outpointed him at Las Vegas in June 1981. Following defeat to Sibson three months later, Minter retired with a record of 39 victories, nine losses and one no-contest.
Life outside the ring proved difficult. For a time Minter remained a well-known television personality while running a restaurant in Crawley with Lorraine Bidwell. But after his marriage ended he left town and became a builder, occasionally cropping up on television as a ringside pundit.
Minter always struggled to curb the destructive drinking, but took immense pride at the achievements of his son, Ross, who followed his father into the professional ring and fought unsuccessfully for the World Boxing Union welterweight title in 2008.
Another blow came when the ex-fighter lost his long-time partner in 2014. In an interview shortly afterwards Minter revealed that he no longer followed boxing, “as today’s fighters have no class”.
Alan Minter married Lorraine Bidwell, but they later divorced. Their son and daughter survive him.
Alan Minter, born August 17 1951, died September 9 2020