ABA champion. Olympic Bronze medallist. Twice British middleweight champion and owner of a Lonsdale belt. Twice European champion. Undisputed middleweight champion of the world.
Alan Minter was born in Penge, Kent on the 17 th August 1951, later moving to Crawley in Sussex. He joined the local amateur boxing club in Crawley and met a man he would grow to respect and trust, his future father-in-law, Doug Bidwell.
Bidwell was the competition secretary at Crawley and later became Alan’s trainer throughout both his amateur and professional career. Alan’s skills improved under Doug’s guidance and in early 1970 he was picked to box for England, travelling to Ireland to beat both Willie Cullen in Dublin and John Rogers in Belfast.
Alan was then picked to box for England at the Multi-Nations tournament in Holland. In May 1970 he faced and beat Peter Lloyd of Wales on points. Next came Rotterdam for the semi-finals against former European bronze medallist and Mexico City Olympian Ion Covacci of Romania, again Alan was a winner on points. Unfortunately he lost the final against Wittold Stachurski of Poland and returned home with a Multi-Nations silver medal, also winning the ‘Best Boxer’ of the whole tournament.
Further contests followed in America and Hungary with varying degrees of success. Alan boxed 30 times for England in total, winning 25.
He was ABA champion at middleweight in 1971 and in 1972 was picked to represent England in the Olympic Games being held at Munich.
His first contest in the Olympics was against Reggie Ford of Ghana, who Alan stopped in the second round. Next up was Valery Tregubov, a vastly experienced Russian southpaw and Alan was successful, beating him on points. Then came the quarter-finals against Algerian Loucif Hanmani and despite the referee giving Alan three cautions and a public warning for grunting he got the verdict.
The semi-finals saw the last fight of Alan’s amateur career when he lost a majority decision, which Alan still disputes, to Dieter Kottysch from Hamburg, Germany.
Not wanting to wait for four years for the next Olympics to roll round Alan made the decision to turn professional. His first contest in the paid ranks was at the Albert Hall against Maurice Thomas who he stopped in six rounds. This was in October, 1972.
A further four wins followed that year and in 1973 Alan fought a further 12 times, winning 9 and losing the other 3 on what would be a recurring problem – cut eyes.
1974 saw Alan fight just 4 times, winning 2 and losing 1, against Tony Byrne, again on a cut eye and the other, against Jan Magdziarz being declared a no-contest with the referee, Harry Gibbs, stopping the contest in round four.
The next year, 1975, saw Alan engaging in 5 contests, all wins. The highlight of the year being his win, against Kevin Finnegan, on November 4 for the vacant British middleweight title.
1976 saw Alan take part in 6 more contests, all wins, successfully defending the British title twice and winning a Lonsdale Belt outright.
In 1977 Alan was stripped of the British middleweight because of his inability to defend it due to European title commitments. He won the European title, beating Germano Valsecchi in Milan on February 4. Next came a loss, on a cut again, to Ronnie Harris. The cut wasn’t around the eyes this time but was a badly lacerated lip forcing the referee to intervene in the 8 th round. A points win over the great Emile Griffiths followed and then Alan lost the European title to Gratien Tonna when the fight was stopped on, yes, you’ve guessed – a cut to the forehead. However, Alan regained the British middleweight title in his very next contest, taking it from old adversary Kevin Finnegan with a points win over 15 rounds at Wembley.
 Alan started 1978 with a ko win, in February, against Sandy Torres in Las Vegas. Next came a fight with Angelo Jacopucci for the vacant European middleweight crown which Alan won with a ko in round 12. He next faced old foe Gratien Tonna in a defence of the title and this time Tonna retired in round 6. At the end of the year Alan relinquished the British title to concentrate on securing a world title shot.
1979 saw Alan take part in 4 fights with 4 wins and in March 1980 he faced Vito Antuofermo for the undisputed world middleweight title. The contest took place in Las Vegas and Alan was the victor after 15 hard fought rounds. Come June he defended the title against Antuofermo and was again successful with the tough American retiring after 8 rounds. In September he faced Marvin Hagler, in defence of the title, at the Empire Pool, Wembley and was forced to retire after being severely cut in round 3.
Alan didn’t fight again until the March of 1981 when he faced Ernie Singletary and beat him on points over 10 rounds. He returned to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in June to face Mustafa Hamsho, only to lose a split decision after 10 rounds. Alan’s last fight was in September 1981 when he lost the British middleweight title to England’s Tony Sibson when he was knocked out in the third round.
Since retiring Alan has looked after his business interests and remains to this day a popular figure. His charity work goes largely unsung and whenever he attends a boxing match he is besieged by autograph hunters and fans who want their photo taken with him. These requests are always met with courtesy and he remains a fine ambassador for the sport.
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