Alan Minter...how good was he?

very good boxer minter was. it was just his cuts that let him down. aside that him and antofuermo were both very good.

 

Whilst a few rounds were close, I thought Hamsho won it going away, 8-2 or so.

 

I agree, it wasn't close.
Mustafa smothered him from the get-go.
6-2-2 Hamsho, and thats being generous to Alan.

 

i must have had a few that night then

 

The British commentary team were riding Minter hard that night and still could only call it an either way fight. Says it all for the outcome imo...

 

Just a small disagreement here, Il Duce.

I think that staright left gave Minter a bit too much confidence and he went forward looking for Hagler, which played right into his hands.

Marvin didn't like a guy who froce dhim to lead but pretty much ate up everyone who came to him. If Minter had remained cagey it could have been a closer fight. Hagler would still have won but people might give Minter a bit more deserved respect.

 

i remember minter catching hagler too.i knew hagler was a tough guy but for some reason i thought minter could have out-boxed him.wrong

 

Somebody over their in England must have convinced Alan that he could take him out quick.
Made no sense to go after Hagler like that, and leave yourself open.

 

I've never been able to get my head around Minter in any decisive way. He was clearly - as his career proved - a very good fighter, but there's something about the odd mix of classical uprightness and slightly herky-jerky unorthodoxy that I've never completely warmed to. This sort of slight coldness on my part is partially compensated for by Alan's grit, strength, caginess and consistency, all of which leaves me with mixed feelings. Although he could box well enough off the back foot and had solid footwork coupled with a good gauge of distance that complimented his jab and straight left, he always seemed too upright and lacking in head movement to exert complete control by fighting that way exclusively, hence my thinking that he was better when applying steadyish, cagey aggression despite the danger of cuts. It seemed to work reasonably well for him the Antuofermo rematch and the Finnegan/Seales fights, although he was a bit too gung-ho against Hagler.
Speaking of Finnegan, I've always much preferred his cuter, smoother and fundamentally solid style to Minters and thought that he maybe could have had the beating of Alan over their series if he hadn't so lazy, inconsistent and seemingly dispirited, especially in the second fight. Plus he had as much bad luck with cuts and injuries over his career as Minter did, if not more. It ultimately seems to have been Minter's guts, workrate and determination combined with the right breaks at the right time that elevated him to the pinnacle that Finnegan was quite able to reach in spite of his slightly superior (imo) natural ability.

As for the question in the thread title, I'd say Minter was very, very good and perhaps even excellent despite not being my cup of tea. In short, he generally did very well with he had apart from the tender skin.

 

Sibson caving his skull in was a glorious night.

 

Yup.Minter was a ****!"No black man will ever take my title,"and he was right.Marvin ripped it right out of his chest.

 

Clinton,,,,,,,,that was priceless:good

Alan could get a little cocky in their.
I think it was because back in the 1972 Olympics he Knocked-out Reggie Ford in the Olympics.
And Reggie had beaten Marvin Hagler in the Amateurs, a few months earlier.

 

That's not really surprising. Minter was the champ, and beat the man Haglar screwed the pooch against.

 

Good tough fighter, but easy to cut.

It didn't help that he was a blatant bigot, either.

 

Yes, it did.

Hagler grew up wary of White people. I remember reading a piece where he was quoted as saying that the only White people he saw growing up were police, and they weren't too fond of Blacks. It took him a while to trust the Petronelli brothers because of the color of their skin, but he eventually did. I am 100 percent sure those idiotic remarks motivated Hagler to just crush Minter, and he did.

To this day, I still laugh when I see how badly that racist got his face cut up. He deserved it.