Trivia

[bennie]

Can anyone name the overseas fighter who made the front cover of The Times before he even turned pro, fought three 'names' in his first three pro fights (one of them, a legend), licked two of our finest welters back to back...?

[dondada]

www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=2451&cat=boxer

Can't claim this one though. Someone far more knowledgeable than me had to tell me.

[bennie]

It is Reggie Ford. Well done, Ian (and friend). Poor Reggie got sparked by Alan "Boom Boom" Minter in the Munich Games, a shot of him going down making the front page of Times newspaper (when that paper really was top drawer). He turned pro in the States against men vastly more experienced than him (Hagler in his second fight!) but clearly learned a bit and came here and retired Dave Green (both ways; Dave was pulled out in his corner and then announced his retirement in the ring, and received a fantstic hand from the Albert Hall crowd; bizarrely, Ford was on the point of quitting himself when Andy Smith pulled out Green, the TV cameras proved it). Reggie came back and took a great decision over the gifted but temperamental Laing, working hard all the way through to take the close but deserved nod.
Then it was all downhill.