When people speak of great british boxers the names..Turpin, Wilde, Conteh, Cooper often crop up and with good reason..however one name that is seldom mentioned these days sadly is Len Harvey. Harvey was an outspoken man to promote better conditions for fighters, he fought from flyweight to heavyweight..lost in america due to gangsters and betting scams..lost to Lewis at lightheavy weight at the latter part of his fistic career when his hands were brittle..and got stuffed by up and coming Freddie Mills, tho Harvey was 35 and hadn't fought in 3 years and was given 1 week to train...I say Len Harvey is a forgotten boxing master and certainly one of Englands finest ever masters of the art.
I agree and he was a better pure boxer than any of those you mentioned When I was a kid I stayed at a b&b with my parents it was in Exmouth ,and run by a lovely lady her husband was an ex boxer who had fought Harvey,he said to my Dad "I dont think I touched him"
Len Harvey was a legend in Britain for his boxing skills, he was definitely one of the greatest we had. The competition was strong is those days though.
Back in 1979 there was a program on TV called 'The hardest game' and covered the likes of Len Harvet, Jock McAvoy, Benny Lynch, Freddie Mills, Randy Turpin etc etc. I heard all about these older fighters from the men I worked with when I was an apprentice, plus my dad and my trainer at the boxing club. Whether this programme is available still i don't know but I've mentioned it before on here and I'm sure others remember it. One of the blokes I worked with in the 70's remembered Harvey being a PT instructor during the war. Like a lot of the last few fights on a boxer's record where the losses pile up, the one with Mills is best ignored.
https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7239247e First time I've ever seen it mentioned. I'm glad I didn't just imagine it
I prefer McAvoy but only because he's a Lancastrian. They were both legends but sadly there aren't people around anymore who saw them in their respective pumps.
I prefer Mac too, but I'm just trying to make an overall Career Assessment in the vain of Alltime Great Lists (which I don't do, because they are ALWAYS Impossible, therefore Inaccurate), Harvey's Career, nearly 20 years from Flyweight to Heavyweight and always at the TOP from WW-HW... a could have, should have been World Champion in his own right. Hard to argue ANY such a career like that as nothing less than an ATG.
Who knows what would have happened if either him or McAvoy could have got a world title shot over here and away from the mob. McAvoy had already starched the world champion, Babe Risko, in 1 round but been offered a shot at John Henry Lewis instead. Both of the British lads lost on points to Lewis, but the American is a legend in his own right.
