Alex Daley @thealexdaley Historian & author
BRITISH boxing’s absurd ‘colour bar’ cast an ugly shadow over the domestic scene for almost 40 years. This archaic rule, which effectively barred black and mixed-race boxers from British title fights, was confined to history in 1948 when Dick Turpin, son of a Guyanese father and a white English mother, outpointed Vince Hawkins to become king of the middles.
In the early 1970s, another racial barrier of sorts was being knocked down. In 1968, the BBBofC had passed a rule allowing immigrants to box for British titles if they had lived in the country for at least 10 years. This paved the way for Jamaica-born Bunny Sterling to become the first immigrant British titlist when he stopped Mark Rowe on cuts in 1970. Five years later another Jamaican immigrant, Bunny Johnson, became the first black British heavyweight champion when he demolished Danny McAlinden. Between these two milestones was another landmark fight. It happened this week in 1973.