Richard Dunn (boxer)

Richard Dunn, (January 19, 1945) was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and heavywieght boxer who fought Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1976.

Dunn was beaten whenever he stepped up to true world class, losing to Muhammad Ali, Joe Bugner, Jimmy Young, Kallie Knoetze and Jose Manuel Urtain. However, he did defeat some useful fighters such as Bernd August, Terry Krueger, Carl Gizzi, Ray Patterson, Roy Williams, Johnny Griffin, Billy Aird, Neville Meade, Bunny Johnson, Obie English and Danny MacAlinden.

A southpaw, Dunn's career started off badly with a first round defeat on his debut against Danny McAlinden in July 1969. However, by May 1973 Dunn was beating Billy Aird on points in an eliminator for the British Heavyweight Championship at Grosvenor House in London. He lost the final eliminator against Bunny Johnson in October after a tenth round knockout at the King's Hall in Manchester. However, when he faced the same opponent at the Empire Pool at Wembley for both the British and Commonwealth titles in September 1975, he prevailed on points after 15 rounds.

He made his first defence against McAlindon just two months later. However, this time it was Dunn that won with a knockout after McAlinden went down three times in the second round. After winning the vacant European Heavyweight title with a third round TKO OF Bernd August in April 1976, he was given the chance of fighting for the WBC and WBA titles against Ali in Munich.

Dunn is the only Yorkshireman ever...
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