RIP Alan Minter

[TheGoods]

Can’t believe Hagler was the betting outsider v Minter? Pure madness!

[TheGoods]

Without Hagler, how many defenders could Minter have made? On his best form he was superb

Good question. I think Minter would have licked Fully Obel in another defence of his title and maybe even Ronnie Harris in a revenge fight, having tightened up his defence under trainer Bobby Neill, but then his career pans out much the same as it did after the Hagler debacle, dropping a tight decision (and the title) to Mustafa Hamsho because Alan tired towards the end of their 10-rounder and allowed Hamsho to bull him around. There is one round in the Hamsho fight, I think it is the fifth, in which Alan boxes arguably the greatest three minutes of his career and for me, Minter was the best middleweight in the world for two or three years before he won the title from Antuofermo in 1980 - better than a 'shot' Rodrigo Valdez in 1977, Argentina's Hugo Corro in 1978 and the brave but face-first Antuofermo in 1979, although Vito fought superbly in his drawn fight with Hagler. (He'll eat my jabs all night," said an overconfident Hagler).
Better than Hagler? Even the surly southpaw admits that Kevin Finnegan gave him the hardest fight of his career in their first fight in Boston in 1978 - a man Minter had beaten three times - but Mickey Duff would have steered Minter away from Hagler for as long as humanly possible. Corro, by the way, later admitted that he threw his fight with Antuofermo (and threw away his world title) because he did not want to defend against Hagler, which explains his horribly listless effort on the night in Monte Carlo where he allowed Vito to outwork him for 15 rounds.
As for Minter, Tony Sibson was climbing the mountain and Alan was on his way down. If boxing is all about timing...

What a post.

Bennie = The Guvnor

[dookus]

Without Hagler, how many defenders could Minter have made? On his best form he was superb

Good question. I think Minter would have licked Fully Obel in another defence of his title and maybe even Ronnie Harris in a revenge fight, having tightened up his defence under trainer Bobby Neill, but then his career pans out much the same as it did after the Hagler debacle, dropping a tight decision (and the title) to Mustafa Hamsho because Alan tired towards the end of their 10-rounder and allowed Hamsho to bull him around. There is one round in the Hamsho fight, I think it is the fifth, in which Alan boxes arguably the greatest three minutes of his career and for me, Minter was the best middleweight in the world for two or three years before he won the title from Antuofermo in 1980 - better than a 'shot' Rodrigo Valdez in 1977, Argentina's Hugo Corro in 1978 and the brave but face-first Antuofermo in 1979, although Vito fought superbly in his drawn fight with Hagler. (He'll eat my jabs all night," said an overconfident Hagler).
Better than Hagler? Even the surly southpaw admits that Kevin Finnegan gave him the hardest fight of his career in their first fight in Boston in 1978 - a man Minter had beaten three times - but Mickey Duff would have steered Minter away from Hagler for as long as humanly possible. Corro, by the way, later admitted that he threw his fight with Antuofermo (and threw away his world title) because he did not want to defend against Hagler, which explains his horribly listless effort on the night in Monte Carlo where he allowed Vito to outwork him for 15 rounds.
As for Minter, Tony Sibson was climbing the mountain and Alan was on his way down. If boxing is all about timing...

Top work bennie. I wasn't even a twinkle in the eye in 1977 and now I feel like I was following boxing then!

[MightyWarrior]

Great post Bennie, I didn’t realise Minter might’ve won the title a few years earlier...

[THEBUTCH]

Yep, excellent post Bennie

[nickcat0]

My childhood hero. I was 12 when he had his first 2 fights with Finnegan, and they captured my young imagination. I then followed his journey to World Championship glory with the passion that only a young fan can have.

It wasn't until he made some very unpleasant racist comments before the Hagler fight, that I lost my respect and admiration for him.

He is one of only two famous boxers that I have ever met (the other being Mike Tyson), when he tried to borrow my girlfriend in a nightclub, but that's another story

Such a shame that he has died so young.

[bobmee]

Just been told of this thread. I agree wholeheartedly - obviously. It was a mind-numbingly bad prediction. I remember sitting with Harry Mullan (in the George on Great Portland Street, does that excuse it? No probably not.) We were talking over the fight, mulling the what ifs, then Harry had the idea of speaking to Kevin Finnegan to see what he thought. Kevin had fought Hagler twice and Minter 3 times, so it made sense. Kevin, who was a wonderful fighter - often overlooked now, but one of the best not to fight for a world title - but one of a kind, eccentric, a little crazy, insanely brave. He said he thought but for the cuts he'd have stopped Hagler, that he sensed he wasn't that brave! We know now that was a bonkers assessment and maybe when Harry spoke to him, Kevin was in the pub. Or maybe we all were...time blurs one or two things. In those days you didn't see every cough and spit of a fight, if you saw it at all. You got highlights. Hagler had drawn with Antuofermo (most thought it was a robbery but still he'd faded late on, so I thought - idiotically - that perhaps Minter might outlast him) Minter had outboxed Antuofermo first time in Vegas and stopped him on cuts second time... you know the rest. I got a lot wrong over the years but all of you are right, this is right up there in terms of heights of incompetence. So belated apologies to anyone who took any notice of it and put a few quid on Alan.

[MightyWarrior]

Well said Bob and reading back over this, I didn’t mean to dig you out For what it’s worth I always thought your predictions were some of the best…and reminds of all those great writers there at the time: Tim Mo, Harry, Tony, Steve and Grahame Houston. A real heyday for the paper and never equalled.

Great backstory, I know that pub and makes sense you were there, as it had some stained glass windows of boxers if I recall.

[samwbr]

Hello Bob, good post. Thanks for signing my copy of your Tiger Flowers book. Anything else in the pipeline?

[si7dog7]

Bennie’s post is A1.

I remember the Hagler fight like it was yesterday.
Alan got cut to pieces.

Game as fcuk was Alan.

Met him a few times and a lovely respectful man. People took liberties with him when he was struggling a bit. Shame on them.
Respect to the Crawley man. RIP.

[olij999]

Just been told of this thread. I agree wholeheartedly - obviously. It was a mind-numbingly bad prediction. I remember sitting with Harry Mullan (in the George on Great Portland Street, does that excuse it? No probably not.) We were talking over the fight, mulling the what ifs, then Harry had the idea of speaking to Kevin Finnegan to see what he thought. Kevin had fought Hagler twice and Minter 3 times, so it made sense. Kevin, who was a wonderful fighter - often overlooked now, but one of the best not to fight for a world title - but one of a kind, eccentric, a little crazy, insanely brave. He said he thought but for the cuts he'd have stopped Hagler, that he sensed he wasn't that brave! We know now that was a bonkers assessment and maybe when Harry spoke to him, Kevin was in the pub. Or maybe we all were...time blurs one or two things. In those days you didn't see every cough and spit of a fight, if you saw it at all. You got highlights. Hagler had drawn with Antuofermo (most thought it was a robbery but still he'd faded late on, so I thought - idiotically - that perhaps Minter might outlast him) Minter had outboxed Antuofermo first time in Vegas and stopped him on cuts second time... you know the rest. I got a lot wrong over the years but all of you are right, this is right up there in terms of heights of incompetence. So belated apologies to anyone who took any notice of it and put a few quid on Alan.

Lovely to have you posting on here, Bob. Hope you're keeping well.

[Coco]

Just been told of this thread. I agree wholeheartedly - obviously. It was a mind-numbingly bad prediction. I remember sitting with Harry Mullan (in the George on Great Portland Street, does that excuse it? No probably not.) We were talking over the fight, mulling the what ifs, then Harry had the idea of speaking to Kevin Finnegan to see what he thought. Kevin had fought Hagler twice and Minter 3 times, so it made sense. Kevin, who was a wonderful fighter - often overlooked now, but one of the best not to fight for a world title - but one of a kind, eccentric, a little crazy, insanely brave. He said he thought but for the cuts he'd have stopped Hagler, that he sensed he wasn't that brave! We know now that was a bonkers assessment and maybe when Harry spoke to him, Kevin was in the pub. Or maybe we all were...time blurs one or two things. In those days you didn't see every cough and spit of a fight, if you saw it at all. You got highlights. Hagler had drawn with Antuofermo (most thought it was a robbery but still he'd faded late on, so I thought - idiotically - that perhaps Minter might outlast him) Minter had outboxed Antuofermo first time in Vegas and stopped him on cuts second time... you know the rest. I got a lot wrong over the years but all of you are right, this is right up there in terms of heights of incompetence. So belated apologies to anyone who took any notice of it and put a few quid on Alan.

Lovely to have you posting on here, Bob. Hope you're keeping well.

X2

[SeanBrennan]

Without Hagler, how many defenders could Minter have made? On his best form he was superb

Good question. I think Minter would have licked Fully Obel in another defence of his title and maybe even Ronnie Harris in a revenge fight, having tightened up his defence under trainer Bobby Neill, but then his career pans out much the same as it did after the Hagler debacle, dropping a tight decision (and the title) to Mustafa Hamsho because Alan tired towards the end of their 10-rounder and allowed Hamsho to bull him around. There is one round in the Hamsho fight, I think it is the fifth, in which Alan boxes arguably the greatest three minutes of his career and for me, Minter was the best middleweight in the world for two or three years before he won the title from Antuofermo in 1980 - better than a 'shot' Rodrigo Valdez in 1977, Argentina's Hugo Corro in 1978 and the brave but face-first Antuofermo in 1979, although Vito fought superbly in his drawn fight with Hagler. (He'll eat my jabs all night," said an overconfident Hagler).
Better than Hagler? Even the surly southpaw admits that Kevin Finnegan gave him the hardest fight of his career in their first fight in Boston in 1978 - a man Minter had beaten three times - but Mickey Duff would have steered Minter away from Hagler for as long as humanly possible. Corro, by the way, later admitted that he threw his fight with Antuofermo (and threw away his world title) because he did not want to defend against Hagler, which explains his horribly listless effort on the night in Monte Carlo where he allowed Vito to outwork him for 15 rounds.
As for Minter, Tony Sibson was climbing the mountain and Alan was on his way down. If boxing is all about timing...

What a post.

Bennie = The Guvnor

this is what I love about the forum, you can learn a lot from the posts.

[margaret thatcher]

bob fcking mee is here, welcome bob