Brian London
Boxer
THE BOXER Brian London, who died at 87, was a legend in the ring and fought against some of the world’s best, including Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson.
Born Brian Sidney Harper, he moved to Blackpool from West Hartlepool when he was 16, and took the nickname Blackpool Rock. He was encouraged to follow in the footsteps of his boxing father, Jack London, training while serving his three years’ national service. It was, he said, simply expected of him.
When he turned professional, he took part in street fighting contests at the Winter Gardens, before graduating to the big league. He was British heavyweight champion in 1958 and 1959, and by the close of his career had fought 58 contests, winning 37, drawing one and losing 20.
He had taken the British crown by beating Joe Erskine, but was deposed by Henry Cooper, who said later that nobody hit him harder.
His encounter with Ali came in 1966, a few days after England had won the football World Cup. Despite being buoyed by the national spirit of jubilation, London lasted only three rounds but said he had been told by Ali’s manager, Angelo Dundee, that his first-round knockout of one of his other boxers, Roger Rischer, in 1964 had a huge bearing on how the fight was approached. “This guy can fight,” Dundee told Ali.
Seven years earlier, London had fought the American Floyd Paterson for the world title, and went 11 rounds before losing by a knockout.
In 1960 he was involved in the notorious “Brawl in Porthcawl”, a bad-tempered bout with Newport’s Dick Richardson which erupted into a post-match fight involving both camps.
London was fined £1,000 for punching Richardson’s trainer.
His final fight was a defeat by Joe Bugner in 1970 and he went on to run a nightclub back home in Blackpool, which was opened by the footballer George Best.
The club made the headlines in 1971 when it was revealed that the England footballers Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves had been among a group of West Ham players who had been partying there the night before a winter FA Cup tie which they expected to be postponed. The game went ahead and the team crashed out to Blackpool in a humiliating 4-0 defeat.
London, who was teetotal despite his reputation for good hospitality, married his childhood sweetheart, Veronica Cliffe, and they had three children. They later divorced and he is survived by his children.