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Brian
London is a retired
English
heavyweight
boxer.
He was
British
and
Commonwealth
Heavyweight
champion from 1958 to 1959, and had two world heavyweight title
fights. He was one of a quartet of British boxers, with
Henry Cooper,
Joe Erskine
and
Dick Richardson
who dominated the British boxing scene throughout the 1950s and
1960s.He was an orthodox fighter, who was 6ft tall and fought at
about 205 lbs. His nicknames in the ring were "The British
Bulldog" and "The Blackpool Rock". He was a rugged, no nonsense
fighter who lacked finesse, but showed lots of courage.
In June 1958, he fought Joe Erskine, the
Welsh boxer, for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight
titles. The fight was at the
White City Stadium,
London,
and London took the titles with an eighth-round knockout. He
followed this in September with a revenge win against Willie
Pastrano, by a technical knockout in the fifth round. On
12 January
1959,
London lost his titles in a fight against Henry Cooper, losing
for the second time to the Londoner by a points decision after
fifteen rounds.
In May 1959 he was given the chance of
a world title fight against current champion,
Floyd Patterson,
but he lost the bout in
Indianapolis
by a knockout in the eleventh. He also lost to the
Cuban
Nino Valdez
later that year, by a technical knockout in the seventh.
However, in January 1960, London bounced back when he beat the
American
Pete Rademacher
by a knockout in the seventh.[3]
Rademacher had made history by being the only man to fight for
the world heavyweight championship on his professional debut,
losing to Floyd Patterson.
In August 1966, London fought for the
world heavyweight title for the second time, when
Muhammad Ali
came to defend his title at
Wembley.
Ali put in a masterful performance to knock London out in the
third round. |
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