Blackpool Rock, British Heavyweight Champion Brian London Who Fought Ali, Dies at 87
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
British Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion Brian Sidney Harper London, known professionally as Brian London, “The Blackpool Rock”, who fought Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight title but was unsuccessful, has died in Blackpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom, at age 87.
Between 1955 and 1970, London compiled a professional record of 37-20-1 with 26 knockouts, London defeated such veterans as Willie Pastrano, Pete Rademacher, Tom McNeeley, Howard King, Young Jack Johnson, Roger Rischer, Amos Johnson, Zora Folley, and Joe Erskine.
Besides losing to Ali and Patterson in world title bouts, London lost to Eddie Machen, Jerry Quarry, Joe Bugner, Jack Bodell, Thad Spencer, Henry Cooper (twice), Ingemar Johansson, Dick Richardson, and Nino Valdes.
London, who held the British Commonwealth Heavyweight title from 1958 to 1959, fought Floyd Patterson for the world heavyweight title in 1959, and Muhammad Ali for the world heavyweight title in 1966. Brian’s father Jack London (no relation to the famous author) held the British Heavyweight title in 1944. London, an active jogger for several miles a day his whole life, had been in ill health recently.
COMMENTS
English