Brian London

Brian Sidney Harper (19 June 1934 – 23 June 2021), better known by the ring name Brian London, was an English professional boxer who competed from 1955 to 1970. He held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title from 1958 to 1959, and twice challenged for the world heavyweight title, losing to Floyd Patterson in 1959 and Muhammad Ali in 1966, both times via knockout. He was one of a quartet of British boxers, with Henry Cooper, Joe Erskine, and Dick Richardson, who dominated the British heavyweight-division's boxing scene throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

An orthodox fighter, London was 6 feet tall and fought at about 14 stone 12 pounds (208 lbs). His nicknames in the ring were "The British Bulldog" and "The Blackpool Rock".

Early life and career London was born in West Hartlepool, County Durham, on 19 June 1934. His father fought under the name "London" rather than Harper, as a homage to an American novelist with this name. Brian never liked the idea of boxing as a child, as he didn't like the idea of having cauliflower ears like his father and his associates. London was spurred to take up boxing during his time in the Royal Air Force for national service, after an officer learned of his familial relations. It wasn't so much of a choice, but rather the expectations of his colleagues. where he won the gold medal in the heavyweight category.

Professional career London made a good start to his career, winning his first twelve bouts, one of which was against RAF light heavyweight boxer Brian Wiltshire (UK) in 1951. He finally lost when he came up against Henry Cooper in May 1956. Cooper stopped him with a technical knockout in the first round.

World title fight 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. and in April 1963, he lost to Ingemar Johansson of Sweden on points over twelve rounds.

Second world title fight vs. Muhammad Ali

On 6 August 1966 London fought for the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time at the age of 32, when Muhammad Ali came to defend his title at Earl's Court Exhibition Hall in England. Ali at 24 years old with the advantages of height, weight, reach, speed and youth on his side, put on a masterful performance against a clearly out-classed opponent, almost hitting London at will as the fight went on. As London put it in an interview with the BBC: "he was just getting through all the time". Ali bouncingly circled continually, whilst London tracked doggedly after him for the first two rounds seemingly with a strategy of trying to land a single knock-out punch to the American champion. London succeeded in landing only one blow in the match, a left jab to Ali's jaw midway through the first round which caught Ali by surprise and left him for a moment stunned (and wide-open for a follow through right cross, which London failed to take advantage of), but the blow lacked weight and Ali was able to quickly recover. On coming out for the 3rd Round London hesitated to engage. Ali danced him into a corner and threw a rapid 12-punch combination in three seconds, with the tenth knocking London down and ending the fight.

In a post-career media interview, London described Ali as:Big, fast and he could punch, whereas I was smaller, fatter and couldn't punch. He stopped me in three rounds and that was it, I don't think I hit him. It was good money and I got well paid for it – that's all I fought for. Every fight I ever had I always had a go, but with Muhammad Ali I thought "don't get hurt Brian", and I therefore didn't try, which was wrong, totally wrong.

Later career In March 1967, London next fought American, Jerry Quarry, in Los Angeles, losing the fight by a unanimous decision after ten rounds. In November 1967, London had what was to be the last win in his career when he fought the talented American Zora Folley. Folley had lost a world title fight against Muhammad Ali earlier that year, and London beat him on points over ten rounds.

London's last fight was against the up-and-coming young boxer Joe Bugner, who would eventually take the British, Commonwealth and European titles from Henry Cooper. The bout was in May 1970, at Wembley, and Bugner won by a technical knockout in the fifth, signalling an end to London's career. He was married to Veronica Cliffe. Together, they had three children: Brian Jr., Melanie and Jack.

Like many other boxers, London continued fighting long after his prime. He was 22 wins to 3 losses early in his career but lost 17 of his last 33 fights. In judging London's career it should be remembered that he fought some of the best fighters in the world, including four who at some stage were world champions – Ali, Patterson, Johansson and Pastrano.

My dad was Jack London and I was expected to fight as well. I was never a great fighter. I was just really, really fit.

He had a dark sense of humour, and when asked if he would have done anything differently with Muhammad Ali, he replied, "Yeah, I should have shot him".

Professional boxing record

Loss 36–20–1

TKO 5 12 May 1970

Loss 36–19–1

KO 2 3 Sep 1969

Loss 36–18–1

TKO 1 10 April 1969

Draw 36–17–1

PTS 10 6 Feb 1969

Loss 36–17

TKO 9 10 Jun 1968

Loss 36–16

TKO 6 29 Feb 1968

Win 37–15

PTS 10 13 Nov 1967

Win 36–15

PTS 10 15 Jun 1967

Loss 35–15

10 9 Mar 1967

Loss 35–14

KO 3 6 August 1966

Win 35–13

7 21 Jun 1966

Loss 34–13

PTS 10 2 May 1966

Win 34–12

KO 1 20 Sep 1965

Win 33–12

PTS 10 30 Mar 1965

Win 32–12

4 2 Feb 1965

Win 31–12

TKO 4 15 Dec 1964

Loss 30–12

PTS 10 13 Jun 1964

Loss 30–11

PTS 15 24 Feb 1964

Win 30–10

KO 4 2 Dec 1963

Win 29–10

PTS 8 8 May 1963

Loss 28–10

PTS 12 21 April 1963

Win 28–9

PTS 10 29 Jan 1963

Win 27–9

PTS 10 11 Oct 1962

Win 26–9

KO 6 14 Jun 1962

Loss 25–9

PTS 10 7 Jul 1962

Win 25–8

PTS 10 26 Feb 1962

Loss 24–8

RTD 5 17 Oct 1961

Win 24–7

TKO 8 24 April 1961

Loss 23–7

TKO 8 29 Jun 1960

Win 23–6

KO 7 26 April 1960

Loss 22–6

TKO 7 1 Dec 1959

Loss 22–5

KO 11 1 May 1959

Loss 22–4

PTS 15 12 Jan 1959

Win 22–3

TKO 5 30 Sep 1958

Win 21–3

KO 8 3 Jun 1958

Loss 20–3

PTS 10 25 Feb 1958

Win 20–2

PTS 10 10 Dec 1957

Win 19–2

PTS 10 12 Jun 1957

Win 18–2

KO 2 1 Jul 1957

Win 17–2

KO 1 27 May 1957

Win 16–2

KO 1 5 Mar 1957

Loss 15–2

PTS 10 3 Feb 1957

Win 15–1

KO 2 19 Nov 1956

Win 14–1

KO 2 27 Jun 1956

Win 13–1

TKO 4 9 Jul 1956

Loss 12–1

TKO 1 1 May 1956

Win 12–0

TKO 1 13 Mar 1956

Win 11–0

TKO 4 17 Jan 1956

Win 10–0

TKO 2 6 Dec 1955

Win 9–0

KO 1 11 Nov 1955

Win 8–0

TKO 7 24 Oct 1955

Win 7–0

TKO 3 7 Oct 1955

Win 6–0

8 8 Jun 1955

Win 5–0

TKO 2 11 Jul 1955

Win 4–0

KO 4 6 Jun 1955

Win 3–0

KO 2 23 May 1955

Win 2–0

2 18 April 1955

Win 1–0

1 22 Mar 1955