Richard Dunn (boxer)

Richard Dunn
File:Part of a promotionpostcard by George Biddles of Leicester.jpg Richard Dunn Richard Dunn Heavyweight Champion of Europe, Great Britain, and the Commonwealth
Statistics
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Nationality	British
Born	(1945-01-19) 19 January 1945 Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	45
Wins	33
Wins by KO	16
Losses	12
Draws	0
No contests	0

Richard Dunn (19 January 1945) was born in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and was a heavyweight boxer who fought Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1976.

Dunn was defeated by many top boxers of the time, losing to Muhammad Ali, Joe Bugner, Jimmy Young, and Kallie Knoetze. However, he did defeat some professional fighters such as Johnny Griffin, Neville Meade, Bunny Johnson and Danny McAlinden.

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, 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.

File:Richard Dunn’s sports centre - geograph.org.uk - 16164.jpg

Richard Dunn Sports Centre, Odsal Top, Bradford

He made his first defence against McAlindon just two months later. However, this time it was Dunn that won with a knockout after McAlinden went down three times in the second round. After winning the European Heavyweight title with a third round TKO OF Bernd August in April 1976, he was given the chance of fighting for the WBC and WBA titles against Ali in Munich, Germany, for which he received £52,000 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £472,500 in 2011).

Dunn is also notable as the only Yorkshireman ever to fight Ali, who knocked him out 2:05 minutes into the fifth round; this was to be the last knockout Ali ever achieved in his professional career. Although he was seriously overmatched, many British fans have said that Dunn made one of the most courageous showings of any British fighter when he faced Ali. Dunn was knocked down five times in five rounds. After the fight, Muhammad Ali promised the gloves he had used in the fight to British promoter Mickey Duff, who was raising funds for Chris Finnegan, a terrific fighter who had lost sight in one eye. When he passed his gloves to Duff's PR Norman Giller in the ring, Ali told Giller to look inside. In one it was written 'Ali wins' and in the other 'round five'. Dunn lost his next fight to Joe Bugner, surrendering all his titles in a stunning first round knockout and retired after his next fight, a fifth round defeat to big hitting Kallie Knoetze in the Ellis Park Tennis Stadium in Johannesburg.

A sports centre is named after Dunn in his home town of Bradford in honour of his achievements. Richard Dunn is now retired and living in Scarborough. On TV in around 2005 he explained serious injuries he received from an unfortunate accident whilst working on an oil rig.

Professional boxing record

33 Wins (16 knockouts, 17 decisions), 12 Losses (11 knockouts, 1 decision)
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	12-2	Kallie Knoetze	KO	5	10 Sep 1977	Ellis Park Tennis Stadium, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Loss	51-7-1	Joe Bugner	KO	1	12 Oct 1976	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British/Commonwealth/EBU Heavyweight Titles.
Loss	51-2	Muhammad Ali	TKO	5	24 May 1976	Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany	WBA/WBC World Heavyweight Titles. Referee stopped the bout at 2:05 of the fifth round.
Win	21-2-1	Bernd August	TKO	3	6 Apr 1976	Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom	EBU Heavyweight Title. Referee stopped the bout at 1:38 of the third round.
Win	32-12-1	Terry Krueger	TKO	3	25 Nov 1975	Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, United Kingdom	Referee stopped the bout at 2:29 of the third round.
Win	27-5-2	Danny McAlinden	KO	2	4 Nov 1975	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British/Commonwealth Heavyweight Titles.
Win	43-6	Bunny Johnson	PTS	15	30 Sep 1975	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British/Commonwealth Heavyweight Titles.
Win	22-17-3	Rocky Campbell	TKO	7	7 May 1975	Solihull Civic Hall, Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Win	5-1	Neville Meade	TKO	4	17 Feb 1975	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	8-2-1	Tim Wood	PTS	8	9 Sep 1974	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	79-78.
Loss	44-5-3	Jose Manuel Urtain	KO	4	22 May 1974	Madrid, Spain
Loss	2-1-2	Ngozika Ekwelum	KO	7	11 Apr 1974	Berlin, Germany
Loss	9-4-1	Jimmy Young	TKO	8	18 Feb 1974	Mayfair Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	12-2	Obie English	TKO	10	14 Jan 1974	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	Referee stopped the bout at 2:50 of the tenth round.
Loss	34-6	Bunny Johnson	KO	10	11 Oct 1973	King's Hall, Manchester, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Heavyweight Title Eliminator.
Win	12-5	Larry Beilfuss	TKO	4	9 Jul 1973	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	13-5-2	Billy Aird	PTS	10	14 May 1973	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	BBBofC British Heavyweight Title Eliminator. 49.25-48-75.
Win	21-7	Johnny Griffin	KO	3	15 Mar 1973	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	17-5	Rufus Brassell	DQ	3	13 Feb 1973	Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Win	17-2	Roy Williams	PTS	8	15 Jan 1973	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	39-38.
Win	24-10-5	Ray Patterson	PTS	8	20 Nov 1972	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	39.5-39.25.
Win	16-5	Larry Renaud	KO	1	16 Oct 1972	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom	Renaud knocked out at 1:45 of the first round.
Win	21-6-3	Roger Tighe	PTS	10	21 Mar 1972	Midland Hotel, Bradford, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Win	3-2	Ron Oliver	KO	1	21 Feb 1972	Mayfair Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Loss	18-11-1	Rocky Campbell	TKO	1	9 Dec 1971	Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Win	11-3	Cliff Field	TKO	4	24 Nov 1971	Nottingham Ice Stadium, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Win	31-10	Carl Gizzi	PTS	8	22 Sep 1971	Solihull Civic Hall, Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Win	8-2	Dennis Forbes	PTS	8	22 Jun 1971	Cafe Royal, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Win	22-4	Bunny Johnson	PTS	8	13 Apr 1971	Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Win	7-3-2	Brian Jewitt	PTS	8	25 Jan 1971	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Win	6-1	Dennis Forbes	KO	1	14 Dec 1970	National Sporting Club, Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom
Loss	8-18-4	George Dulaire	TKO	1	2 Nov 1970	County Hotel, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Loss	6-1	Billy Aird	TKO	6	7 Sep 1970	Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester, United Kingdom	BBBofC Central Heavyweight Title.
Win	9-16-2	Obe Hepburn	TKO	5	21 May 1970	Anglo-American Sporting Club, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	12-25-3	Billy Wynter	PTS	6	4 May 1970	Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Win	9-15-2	Obe Hepburn	PTS	6	31 Mar 1970	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
Loss	4-1	Billy Aird	PTS	8	23 Feb 1970	Grosvenor House, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Win	18-22-3	Lloyd Walford	PTS	6	25 Nov 1969	Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Win	5-15-3	George Dulaire	TKO	2	3 Nov 1969	County Hotel, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Win	3-3	John Cullen	PTS	3	3 Nov 1969	County Hotel, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Win	4-0	Billy Aird	PTS	3	3 Nov 1969	County Hotel, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
Win	2-4	Jack Cotes	TKO	3	13 Oct 1969	Nottingham Ice Stadium, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Win	2-3	Jack Cotes	TKO	2	8 Sep 1969	Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester, United Kingdom
Win	7-0-1	Del Phillips	PTS	3	7 Jul 1969	Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
Loss	--	Danny McAlinden	KO	1	7 Jul 1969	Mayfair, London, United Kingdom

External links

• Professional boxing record for Richard Dunn from BoxRec