Terry Hinke

His nickname was actually "Dinky." But really, and I'm just saying, it's best to ignore what Chuck Wepner says, in general. Chuck Wepner says a lot of things. I mean, hell, he wouldn't even quote Hinke's real nickname, for crying out loud.

 

I remember that piece on Wepner and him saying how he had to get by top contender Terry Hinke. Believe me, that's a lot of rhetoric. There was never anything top ten about Hinke. He was -as already mentioned - a sparring partner for Foreman and maybe a few others. The truth of the matter was very good managerial manipulations. Chuck was never going to be anything but a journeyman, but in '73 he got a NJ gift decision by the woefully erratic Harold Valan over top ten rated Ernie Terrell (Ring Mag scored it 9-3 Terrell). Valan, who was also the sole arbiter of the infamous decision in Patterson-Ellis, clearly should never have a pencil in his hand by being the sole arbiter in 2 of the most controversial decisions ever. But being that as it may, that win got Wepner rated at #10 by Ring and Wepner's brain-trust were smart enough not to engage anyone in the top ten and he remained at #10 for the next year by staying busy against ordinary competition. The best he fought was Randy Neuman who was just outside the top ten. Neuman was ahead on points in their bout when Randy - ironically - was cut and Chuck got another decent 'win.' That #10 rating was gold, however, when Ali was looking for that easy first defense.

 

I always wondered about him myself after running across his record a few times. On paper he didn’t look like a bad fighter.

 

Couple of articles. Here, Hinke is preparing for a fight in April 1973 that apparently never took place, meanwhile Foreman and Sadler are away doing exhibitions.

https://img.newspapers.com/img/img?...1eOVSrYoP5XwhzsUHnyuBpYdgJ_mSVo&ts=1627054138

In this one, it references that Hinke is sparring in an exhibition with Yaqui Lopez.

http://www.wbanmember.com/caroline-svendsen-scared/

This is one from the NEW YORK TIMES in 1974 when Hinke lost to Wepner, and it was on the undercard of Foreman and Ali sparring against a couple of guys to drum up press for their upcoming fight.

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 4 (AP)—Chuck Wepner retained his “American heavyweight title” with an 11th-round technical knockout of Terry Hinke of Hayward, Calif., last night in the Salt Palace. Wepner knocked Hinke down three times in the 11th round of the 12‐round bout before the referee called the ‘fight.

The fight was the main event in a boxing extravaganza featuring George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in exhibition sparring matches.

Foreman, the world champion, and Ali appeared in the same ring, but not together. Foreman went three rounds and Ali five with their sparring partners. The two are, meet in Zaire, Africa, in a title bout on Sept. 24.

Ali said he was embarrassed at the small turnout (little more than one‐fourth of the 12,000 seats were occupied), but it didn't keep him from offering his newest line of verse: “If you think the world was shook when Nixon resigned, wait ‘till I win this and whip Foreman's behind.”



ALSO, here is a sheet listing missing HBO Sports telecasts. The sheet says Duane Bobick fought Terry Hinke on April 4, 1975. But the fight is probably missing because Duane didn't fight Hinke on that night.
http://sportsvideo.org/main/files/2013/10/Missing-HBO-Sports-Sheet1.pdf

A look at Bobick's record shows Duane fought Roy "Cookie" Wallace that night and Rodney Bobick fought Pedro Agosto, which is on YouTube. (In case you are interested, here is that fight.)

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I was a senior in HS when Terry was a 6'2 200lb tight end and natural athlete. I's learned how to box from two Panamanian fighters from around the 7th grade. I wrestled at 148 and I put the gloves on Terry. He thought it was great that I could hit him w/o him really seeing it coming. So good natured. He started fighting here in Eugene - naturally left handed no-one taught him how to fight Southpaw. He was the NW champ I think.
There were some good fighters up here like Leonard Kesey and Indian Mike Seyler.
Young Terry got hooked up with some shady people who took him down to spar w George Foreman. They would save Terry for the last then let George and him go hammer and tong. Terry got used up for some pats onnabutt from old guys. That's the seemy side of boxing.
Yep Terry never boxed one day of amatuer. This is 2023 and I was just reminiscing about Terry and found his name in here. I think he may have been all state in B and or Football.

 

Terry Hinke received a #10 top ten rating in the 1974 Boxing Illustrated Issues from the WBC Dated December 1974 and January 1975, and nobody else. All respect to Terry, shows how weak WBC rankings really were when they were not copying they're counterpart WBA.
1974
Ko loss (cuts) in Hawaii to Charlie James
victories over Terry Daniels, Lou Bailey and Elmer Rush got Terry in the WBC ten!!

So they actual dates of these rankings for Terry Hinke would have actually been dated like July and August months for 1974. 9/3/74 he lost in 11 rounds to Wepner

6' 4" Terry Hinke had a great record 39-5-1 (29 knockouts) AND WAS STOPPED 4 TIMES.
He defeated Rodney Bobick, Terry Daniels and a 1972 victory over Eduardo Corletti. and also journyed to Durban South Africa and was ko'd by Mike Schutte.

 

I love how members come to the fore to answer questions and provide excellent information about fighters who are not discussed so much otherwise. Great stuff.

 

I know nothing of the situation other than what people have posted here, but if the promoter raises the idea of a guy (Wepner in this case) getting a shot at the champion (Ali) and he already had a fight lined up, it might be contingent upon him winning that fight first to get the title shot.

More a ‘don’t blow it’ situation than a title eliminator where whoever wins gets the shot.