Alan Minter
Alan Minter is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1972 to 1981. He held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight from 1975 to 1976, and the European middleweight title twice between 1977 and 1979. As an amateur, Minter won a bronze medal in the light-middleweight division at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Amateur career
Minter was the 1971 Amateur Boxing Association of England Middleweight Champion. He won a bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the light middleweight classification. His loss in the semifinals was to Dieter Kottysch of West Germany. The West German boxer won the decision by a 3-2 margin that was hotly disputed. Kottysch was the eventual gold medalist. Minter left the amateur boxing ranks shortly thereafter.Minter began his professional career in London on 31 October 1972 by knocking out Maurice Thomas in six rounds.
1972 Olympic results
Below is the record of Alan Minter, a British light middleweight boxer who competed at the 1972 Munich Olympics:- Round of 64: bye
- Round of 32: Defeated Reggie Ford by second-round knockout
- Round of 16: Defeated Valeri Tregubov by decision, 5–0
- Quarterfinal: Defeated Loucif Hamani by decision, 4–1
- Semifinal: Lost to Dieter Kottysch by decision, 2–3
Professional career
1974 was a mixed year for Minter, beating Tony Byrne by a decision in eight, losing in two to Ricky Torres, having a third fight with Magziarz result in a no contest in four rounds and closing the year with a win in eight rounds by decision in his first international fight, against Shako Mamba in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1975, he won four fights in a row, including another bout in Hamburg and, by the end of the year, he challenged Kevin Finnegan for the British Middleweight title, winning it by a 15-round decision.
In 1976, he won six fights, to extend his streak to ten consecutive wins. Among the boxers he beat were Billy Knight by a knockout in two and Finnegan once again, by decision in 15, both in defence of his British title, along with former world title challenger Tony Licata, knocked out in six and United States Olympic Games Gold medal winner Sugar Ray Seales, beaten in five. These wins gave Minter a ranking among the top ten Middleweight challengers.
In 1977, he won the European Middleweight title by beating Germano Valsecchi by a knockout in five in Italy. But in his next fight his winning streak ended when he lost to former world title challenger Ronnie Harris by a knockout in eight. Minter returned to top ten challenger status by upsetting the former World Welterweight and Light Middleweight Champion Emile Griffith with a ten-round decision win in Monte Carlo, but then he lost his European title to Gratien Tonna by a knockout in eight at Milan. He closed '77 with a third 15-round decision win over Finnegan to retain his British title.
1978 was a sad year for Minter, although he won all three of his bouts. On 15 February, at the Muhammad Ali–Leon Spinks I undercard in Las Vegas, Nevada, he won his first bout in the United States by knocking out Sandy Torres in five. Then, he went to Italy once again to regain his European Middleweight title by knocking out Angelo Jacopucci in twelve rounds. Jacopucci died a few days afterwards, due to injuries sustained in the bout. Minter finished his year by avenging his loss to Tonna with a six-round knockout.
In 1979, Minter won all four of his fights, two of them by knockout. On 16 March 1980, in Las Vegas, he was given a shot at World Middleweight Champion Vito Antuofermo's title at Caesars Palace. He won the title by a 15-round split decision in which the judges' scorecards varied wildly. A Venezuelan judge had Minter losing the fight, while the British judge had Minter winning 13 of the 15 rounds. In a rematch held in London, Minter retained the world title by a TKO in eight rounds. Minter's run as world champion came to an end on 27 September of that year, when he was stopped on cuts in three rounds to Marvin Hagler at Wembley Arena in London.
In the run-up to the fight, Minter had caused controversy by stating that he "did not intend to lose his title to a black man". After the fight was stopped, Minter's supporters caused a riot, throwing beer cans and bottles into the ring and both boxers had to be ushered away by the police.
Minter beat fringe contender Ernie Singletary in London, in 1981, but after losses to future Hagler challengers Mustafa Hamsho in Las Vegas and Tony Sibson in London, he retired for good.
He left boxing with a record of 39 wins, 9 losses and 1 no contest, with 23 wins by knockout.
Professional boxing record
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
49 | Loss | 39–9 | ![]() | TKO | 3, 1:59 | 15 Sep 1981 | ![]() | For European middleweight title |
48 | Loss | 39–8 | ![]() | SD | 10 | 6 Jun 1981 | ![]() | |
47 | Win | 39–7 | ![]() | PTS | 10 | 17 Mar 1981 | ![]() | |
46 | Loss | 38–7 | ![]() | TKO | 3, 1:45 | 27 Sep 1980 | ![]() | Lost WBA, WBC, and The Ring middleweight titles |
45 | Win | 38–6 | ![]() | RTD | 8 | 28 Jun 1980 | ![]() | Retained WBA, WBC, and The Ring middleweight titles |
44 | Win | 37–6 | ![]() | 15 | 16 Mar 1980 | ![]() | Won WBA, WBC, and The Ring middleweight titles | |
43 | Win | 36–6 | ![]() | PTS | 10 | 23 Oct 1979 | ![]() | |
42 | Win | 35–6 | ![]() | TKO | 2, 1:05 | 26 Jun 1979 | ![]() | |
41 | Win | 34–6 | ![]() | TKO | 9, 2:40 | 1 May 1979 | ![]() | |
40 | Win | 33–6 | ![]() | PTS | 10 | 6 Feb 1979 | ![]() | |
39 | Win | 32–6 | ![]() | RTD | 6 | 7 Nov 1978 | ![]() | Retained European middleweight title |
38 | Win | 31–6 | ![]() | KO | 12 | 19 Jul 1978 | ![]() | Won vacant European middleweight title |
37 | Win | 30–6 | ![]() | KO | 5, 1:57 | 15 Feb 1978 | ![]() | |
36 | Win | 29–6 | ![]() | PTS | 15 | 8 Nov 1977 | ![]() | Won vacant British middleweight title |
35 | Loss | 28–6 | ![]() | TKO | 8, 1:10 | 21 Sep 1977 | ![]() | Lost European middleweight title |
34 | Win | 28–5 | ![]() | PTS | 10 | 30 Jul 1977 | ![]() | |
33 | Loss | 27–5 | ![]() | TKO | 8, 3:00 | 12 Apr 1977 | ![]() | |
32 | Win | 27–4 | ![]() | KO | 5 | 4 Feb 1977 | ![]() | Won European middleweight title |
31 | Win | 26–4 | ![]() | TKO | 5, 2:14 | 7 Dec 1976 | ![]() | |
30 | Win | 25–4 | ![]() | TKO | 6, 1:30 | 9 Nov 1976 | ![]() | |
29 | Win | 24–4 | ![]() | PTS | 15 | 14 Sep 1976 | ![]() | Retained British middleweight title |
28 | Win | 23–4 | ![]() | TKO | 8 | 24 May 1976 | ![]() | |
27 | Win | 22–4 | ![]() | TKO | 2, 3:00 | 27 Apr 1976 | ![]() | Retained British middleweight title |
26 | Win | 21–4 | ![]() | TKO | 8, 1:05 | 20 Jan 1976 | ![]() | |
25 | Win | 20–4 | ![]() | PTS | 15 | 4 Nov 1975 | ![]() | Won vacant British middleweight title |
24 | Win | 19–4 | ![]() | KO | 6 | 30 May 1975 | ![]() | |
23 | Win | 18–4 | ![]() | PTS | 10 | 25 Mar 1975 | ![]() | |
22 | Win | 17–4 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 10 Feb 1975 | ![]() | |
21 | Win | 16–4 | ![]() | KO | 1, 2:25 | 20 Jan 1975 | ![]() | |
20 | Win | 15–4 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 30 Nov 1974 | ![]() | |
19 | 14–4 | ![]() | NC | 4 | 29 Oct 1974 | ![]() | NC after both boxers were disqualified for inactivity | |
18 | Loss | 14–4 | ![]() | TKO | 2 | 21 May 1974 | ![]() | |
17 | Win | 14–3 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 26 Mar 1974 | ![]() | |
16 | Loss | 13–3 | ![]() | 6 | 11 Dec 1973 | ![]() | ||
15 | Loss | 13–2 | ![]() | TKO | 3 | 30 Oct 1973 | ![]() | |
14 | Win | 13–1 | ![]() | TKO | 5 | 2 Oct 1973 | ![]() | |
13 | Win | 12–1 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 10 Sep 1973 | ![]() | |
12 | Loss | 11–1 | ![]() | TKO | 8, 0:45 | 5 Jun 1973 | ![]() | |
11 | Win | 11–0 | ![]() | TKO | 5 | 9 May 1973 | ![]() | |
10 | Win | 10–0 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 27 Mar 1973 | ![]() | |
9 | Win | 9–0 | ![]() | PTS | 8 | 13 Mar 1973 | ![]() | |
8 | Win | 8–0 | ![]() | TKO | 7 | 20 Feb 1973 | ![]() | |
7 | Win | 7–0 | ![]() | TKO | 7 | 30 Jan 1973 | ![]() | |
6 | Win | 6–0 | ![]() | 8 | 16 Jan 1973 | ![]() | ||
5 | Win | 5–0 | ![]() | 5 | 8 Jan 1973 | ![]() | ||
4 | Win | 4–0 | ![]() | TKO | 5 | 11 Dec 1972 | ![]() | |
3 | Win | 3–0 | ![]() | TKO | 7 | 5 Dec 1972 | ![]() | |
2 | Win | 2–0 | ![]() | TKO | 3 | 14 Nov 1972 | ![]() | |
1 | Win | 1–0 | ![]() | 6 | 31 Oct 1972 | ![]() |