Pro Boxer Spotlight – Alan Minter
Today’s professional boxing spotlight shines on the late, great boxing professional Alan Minter. Find out more about him and what he achieved in his illustrious boxing career.
Alan Minter
Alan Minter (born 17th August 1951, died September 2020) was a former British boxing professional who held the British Middleweight and European Middleweight title for a number of years. Alan also won a bronze medal in the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics in the light-middleweight division when he was an amateur.
When Alan was 11, his family moved to Crawley in West Sussex, and Alan began to box at the Crawley Boxing Club. This is where his love and passion for boxing began, training under Dougie Bidwell and John Hillier. He lost his first three fights but then won the next one. He is quoted as saying “There’s nothing better than having your arm raised, and I really thought I’d achieved something”.
Hi amateur career proved to be successful, winning 25 of his 30 appearances. Alan was also the ABA Champion in 1971 and four-times southern area champion. Alan’s professional boxing career began on 31st October 1972, where he won a knockout against Maurice Thomas. He went on to collect 10 more wins after this bout, before his first defeat in an eight-round fight with Don McMillan. Some of his loses were due to bad cuts suffered by Alan.
In 1975 Alan won the British Middleweight title in a 15-round bout with Kevin Finnegan. In 1976, Alan ranked among the best ten Middleweight challengers, thanks to his victories over Billy Knight, Kevin Finnegan again and Sugar Ray Seales the Olympic Games Gold medal winner. 1977 saw Alan win the European Middleweight title, but lost his next match against Ronnie Harris.
Despite a difficult & injury sustaining bout in 1980 with Marvin Hagler where the crowd started to riot and throw glass, Alan came back strong to beat Ernie Singletary in 1981. When he retired from professional boxing, he left with an explosive record of 39 wins, only 9 defeats and one ‘no-contest’.
During his boxing career and after he retired, Alan was often seen on TV programs like This is Your Life, Family Fortunes, A Question of Sport and Punchlines. Roger Dorway (Head Coach of Lions of Judah Boxing Academy) often boxed for Alan’s son Ross Minter, taking part in boxing events at Race Courses to raise money.
Stats
Division: Middle
Status: Inactive
Bouts: 49
Career: 1972-1981
Alias: Boom Boom
Stance: South-Paw
Lions of Judah Boxing Academy is a well-equipped boxing gym in Bournemouth. We run boxing classes, men’s & women’s training, kids boxing classes & boxing bootcamps so you can become strong and confident in life and fitness.
Lions of Judah Boxing Academy
2 Wilson Road, Springbourne, Bournemouth BH1 4PH
Tel: 01202 720729 (gym office) or 07341 840187 (Roger Dorway, head coach)
Email: rogerdorway@hotmail.com
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