Welcome back to the 1990s sports page. As excitement grows for a proposed super-fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, in this piece we step between the ropes and take a look at a golden age for British heavyweight boxing.
March 17th 1897. Carson City, Nevada
British former middleweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons goes up against widely recognised world heavyweight champion James J.Corbett. Despite suffering facial damage and being knocked to the canvas in the sixth round, Fitzsimmons unleashed a body shot on his opponent that sent the American collapsing in pain. The fight was over in the 14th round and for the first time ever the world heavyweight boxing champion was a Briton. It would be 96 years before another British fighter ruled the world.
It wasn't for the want of trying, the likes of Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner and Brian London had all challenged for the world title but found themselves falling short as the division became dominated by stellar names such as Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, George Foreman and of course Muhammad Ali monopolised the division. By the early 1990s this was set to change.
Lennox Lewis: The first of our quartet of British world heavyweight champs of the 1990s, Lewis profited from Riddick Bowe's acrimonious vacation of the WBC title in 1993. Subsequent successful defences came against Tony Tucker, the classic and bitter all-British battle against Frank Bruno and then Phil Jackson before a surprise defeat to Oliver McCall in September 1994.
After regaining the title in a bizarre rematch against McCall, Lennox went on to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in 1999 following a rematch against Evander Holyfield after their first match ended in a controversial draw. Despite losing to Hasim Rahman in 2000, Lewis once again avenged his defeat and carried his dominance of the heavyweight division into the next century with wins against Mike Tyson and Ukranian Vitali Klitschko before he hung up his gloves in 2004, recognised as Britain's last heavyweight champion until David Haye claimed the WBA belt after beating Nikolai Valuev in 2009. In their 2012 special publication, trade paper Boxing News listed Lewis 35th in their 100 greatest boxers of all time.
Lennox Lewis unleashes another shot on his way to defeating Frank Bruno in their October 1993 clash, the first between two British fighters for the world heavyweight championship
Michael Bentt: Like Lewis before him, Bentt was born in London but emigrated at a young age (Bentt moved to America while Lewis went to Canada) and made his professional debut in 1989 although he was knocked out by Jerry Jones. Despite the early setback, Bentt recovered and amassed a decent unbeaten record leading into his fight with WBO champion Tommy Morrison (better known to many as Tommy Gunn in 1991's Rocky V).
Ranked 9th by the WBO, Bentt stunned Morrison and the boxing world when the fight was stopped just 97 seconds into the first round. Sadly for the Dulwich-born fighter, the glory proved to be fleeting as his next outing proved to be not only his first and only defence of his title but actually his last professional fight (see below). After suffering career-ending injuries in his loss to Herbie Hide, Bentt moved into the world of acting by portraying Sonny Liston opposite Will Smith's title role in the 2001 biopic Ali.
Herbie Hide: Bentt's opponent in his first defence of his WBO title would be Norwich's Herbie Hide at Millwall FC's home ground The New Den in March 1994. Memories were evoked of Lewis vs Bruno from the year before as the two fighters engaged in bitter verbal and physical altercations in the lead-up to the bout. Just over a year after he had defeated Michael Murray to capture the British title, Hide knocked out Bentt in the seventh round to capture his maiden world title.
Just like Bentt, Hide would surrender the title after just one unsuccessful defence when he was KO'd in the sixth round of his March 1995 clash with Riddick Bowe in Las Vegas although he regained the strap in June 1997 when he defeated former Lewis foe Tony Tucker inside two rounds in front of a fervent hometown crowd in Norwich. Successful defences came against American Damon Reed and German Wilhelm Fischer before Hide lost the title for the second and final time, this time suffering a second round knockout at the hands of emerging powerhouse Vitali Klitschko at the London Arena in 1999.
Nicknamed 'The Dancing Destroyer' Herbie Hide first won the world heavyweight title in 1994
Frank Bruno: The People's Champion and arguably the most popular British boxer since Henry Cooper had to wait until the latter stages of his career to land his one and only world heavyweight title when he finally claimed the WBC belt at the age of 34 in 1995.
After establishing a reputation as a tough puncher, winning his first 21 bouts by knockout before suffering a similar fate himself at the hands of future WBA heavyweight champion James 'Bonecrusher' Smith in 1984. Undeterred, Bruno regrouped and challenged for world titles twice in the late 1980s although both times he was TKO'd by Tim Witherspoon and Mike Tyson in 1986 and 1989 respectively. After losing a third title encounter to Lennox Lewis in 1993, Bruno eventually tasted world glory at Wembley Stadium when he won a majority decision over Lewis' former conqueror Oliver McCall in September 1995. Bruno's time atop the world did not last long however as he surrendered his belt in March 1996 when he was stopped in the fifth round in a rematch with Tyson.
Frank Bruno battles against Mike Tyson in their 1996 world heavyweight championship rematch
Henry Akinwande: The story of Henry Akinwande's ascent to the world title has a familiar beginning, he was a Commonwealth champion and a European champ before profiting from Riddick Bowe vacating a title, in this instance the WBO belt in 1996.
In order to crown a new champion, the WBO pitted Akinwande against former cruiserweight Jeremy Williams. The contest could well be described as a mismatch and the evidence became clear when Akinwande used his superior size advantage to make light work of Williams and KO him in the third round. Akinwande would go on to defend the belt twice first against Russian Alexander Zolkin before an all-British clash with Scott Welch which he won via a unanimous decision. Following on from Bowe, Akinwande vacated the WBO belt in order to challenge Lennox Lewis for his WBC title in 1997 although this clash ended in defeat when Akinwande was disqualified for persistently clinching with his opponent. The only time Akinwande got close to the world title picture after his defeat to Lewis was when he was slated to fight Evander Holyfield in 1998 with a Hepatitis B diagnosis putting an end to the planned contest.
Henry Akinwande is given his marching orders and disqualified by referee Mills Lane during his 1997 bout with Lennox Lewis. The former WBO champ was disqualified for persistent clinching.
Thanks as ever for taking a look at the site, remember to drop me a follow on Twitter @DanBarkerGray for more 1990s sports nostalgia.
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