Dunn played rugby in his teens and early 20's. Starting boxing as an amateur in the early 1960's, he turned professional in his mid-20's whilst continuing to work as a scaffolder, living in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He was unable to afford the expense of sparring partners to train with for most of his career, and his coach was his father-in-law. He was a soldier in the British Army, serving as a non-commissioned officer with 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment in the 1960's-70's, being awarded the Corps' Fishmongers' Trophy in 1974.
Boxing career
A southpaw, Dunn's professional career began with a win over Cardiff fighter Del Phillips in a heavyweight eliminator competition in Mayfair, London in July 1969. His second fight was on the same day in the semi-final. It was a first-round defeat against Danny McAlinden, who dispatched all three of his opponents in under three rounds to win the competition. However, in May 1973, Dunn defeated Billy Aird on points in an eliminator for the British Heavyweight Championship at Grosvenor House in London. He lost the final eliminator against Bunny Johnson, in October, after a tenth-round knockout at the King's Hall in Manchester. However, when he faced the same opponent at the Empire Pool at Wembley for both the British and Commonwealth titles in September 1975, he prevailed on points, after 15 rounds. He made his first defence against McAlindon two months later. However, this time it was Dunn that won with a knockout after McAlinden went down three times in the second round. On 6 April 1976 Dunn won the European Heavyweight Title by a third-round TKO of the German boxerBernd August at the Royal Albert Hall in London. On 24 May 1976 Dunn was given the chance of fighting for the WBC and WBA titles against the American champion Muhammad Ali at the Olympic Hall in Munich, Germany, for which he received £52,000. Dunn, despite fighting in a spirited fashion, found himself seriously outmatched by Ali in power and technique, being knocked down several times by the American champion, who clearly realized the un-equalness of the competition in his favour and began to land carefully timed and weighted punches to stun Dunn but minimize the chance of physical injury to him as the fight went on. At the 2:05 minute mark in the fifth round Dunn went to the floor for the final time and the referee stopped the match in a technical knock-out, with Ali playing to the crowd comically windmilling a punch that was coming that would be overwhelming, and to encourage the referee to end the match as having run its course.. Dunn lost his next fight in London five months later with Joe Bugner, surrendering all his titles in a first-round knock-out. His final fight was a fifth-round knock-out defeat to the South African boxer Kallie Knoetze at the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg on 10 September 1977, after which Dunn retired from the sport. Dunn was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews just ahead of his fight with Muhammad Ali.
Post-career civic honours
The 'Richard Dunn Sports Centre' was opened by Bradford Council in Dunn's home town in 1978, named in honour of his sporting achievements. The facility was closed in November 2019, and is due to be demolished in 2020, with the Council announcing the intention to name a new road on the site after Dunn in the future.
Later life
After his sports career, having lost money in a failed hotel venture, Dunn lived in Scarborough, North Yorkshire with his wife Janet and three children, returning to work as a scaffolder. He was seriously injured in 1989 on an oil rig in the North Sea after a 40ft fall which broke both of his legs. In retirement he lives in Scarborough, where he has been associated with charity work for Parkinson's UK and is the honorary president of the town's amateur boxing club.
