Extra strong mint – profile of Alan Minter

Born on 17 August 1951, Alan Minter was a British professional boxer who sadly passed away in September 2020 from cancer at the relatively tender age of sixty-nine. 

Having competed professionally from 1972 to 1981, he held the undisputed middleweight title in 1980, having previously held the British middleweight title from 1975 to 1976, and the European middleweight title twice between 1977 and 1979. At twenty years old, he became the 1971 Amateur Boxing Association of England Middleweight Champion, after which he was selected to represent the UK at the Munich Olympics in 1972, winning a bronze medal in the light-middleweight classification, losing in the semi-final to eventual gold medal winner, Dieter Kottysch of West Germany.

Minter was born in Penge, Kent, before his family moved to Crawley and at eleven years old, he began his boxing journey and joined Crawley Boxing Club. 

Following his bronze medal triumph in Munich, he made his professional debut against Maurice Thomas in October that year winning by a knockout in the 6th round.

Nicknamed ‘Boom Boom’ Minter’s career saw him win thirty-nine of his forty-nine bouts with twenty- three of those victories by way of knockout. 

After his debut victory, he went on to record ten more wins, with his first five victories by knockout. He first tasted defeat in June 1973 against Don McMillan when the fight was stopped by the referee in the eighth round after Minter sustained severe cuts.

Following his loss to McMillan, he got back on the winning trail, recording back-to-back victories against Octavio Romero and Ernie Burns. However, his successful run ended after he lost to Jan Magdriarz in successive matches in October and December after both fights were stopped due to cuts sustained in the eighth and sixth rounds respectively. 

The following year began with victory over Tony Byrne in the eighth round, after which he lost  successive matches against Ricky Ortiz in round two. He also took on Jan Magdriarz for a third time but this fight ended in a draw. He finished the year with a win against Shako Mamba.

Minter won the British Middleweight Championship in 1975 where he was declared the winner over fifteen rounds against Kevin Finnegan. The year after, Minter achieved six victories, eventually taking his winning streak to ten consecutive wins, where he successfully defended his British title against Billy Knight and in a rematch with Kevin Finnegan. Finishing that year unbeaten meant he was able to be included in the top ten Middleweight challengers of the year.

His success continued into 1977, with victory over Germano Valsecchi but his undefeated status finally ended in April that year when he lost to Ronnie Harris after the fight was stopped in round eight. After bouncing back with a win against Emile Griffith, September saw him lose his European Middlewight title against Gratien Tonna. 

In 1978, he won all the three fights lined up for the year. His fight against Angelo Jacopucci which resulted in his favour after a 12th round knockout helped him regain his European Middleweight Championship. In the rematch against Gratien Tonna, he successfully retained his championship title.

The highpoint in his career came in 1980 when he was given a chance at World Middleweight Championship against Vito Antuofermo. Much to his delight, he won the fight over a fifteen-round contest in Las Vegas thus holding on to the World Middleweight Championship title for the first time.

In the aftermath of his victory against Antuofermo and his subsequent World Middleweight Championship title, a rematch was held which he won yet again by a TKO in eight rounds. He lost the next match to ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler at Wembley Arena on September 27, due to cuts sustained in round three in a bruising encounter. However, the build up to this fight was overshadowed by a war of words, with Minter being accused of racism and the contest ended in chaotic scenes as bottles and cans of beer flew into the ring hurled by drunken fans unhappy with the result. A sad end, but perhaps not a surprise one considering what had preceded it.

Hagler had reigned supreme during the bout and the result never looked in doubt. In an interview with Iain Probert of Boxing News five months before his passing, Minter had said,” What I didn’t realise he could do was go from southport (leading with the right hand) back to orthodox (leading with left hand), he was switching all the time. I didn’t know which punch to throw, I was bemused by it all.” Ironically this proved Hagler’s undoing when he eventually fought in the ring against the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard.

In 1981, he faced three fights of which he won once against Ernie Singletary in round 10. With this victory, he successfully retained his Britain and European Middleweight Championship. However, he lost the next two fights against Mustafa Hamsho and Tony Sibson and following these defeats, he retired from boxing. After losing to Tony Sibson, he retired aged just 29 after being transferred to hospital in Brighton following the fight to discover he had an infection in his nose which was leading to his brain.

Following his funeral in 2020, when crowds lined the streets as the funeral cortege passed by, some residents in Crawley had called for a permanent statue to honour his achievements.