A Boxing Memory: Maurice Hope
Maurice Hope was just nine when he left his native Antigua and grew up in Hackney, London. Inspired to take up boxing by his elder half-brother Lex Hunter. Hunter was a decent enough professional, and Hope followed his older sibling by joining the Repton Amateur Boxing Club when he was just eleven.
Hope had to deal with plenty of racism in his time at Repton, but Hope rose above it and was a more than decent amateur. Hope boxed in the 1972 Munich Olympics and lost in the quarter-finals to the German boxer Janos Kajdi. Hope turned pro in 1973 under the Terry Lawless banner and got his career up and running with an eight-round points victory over John Smith in Nottingham. Hope lost his unbeaten record in his fifth fight when he lost a decision to Mickey Flynn in London, but in his eleventh fight, Hope defeated Larry Paul to be crowned the British light-middleweight champion. Hope travelled to Wolverhampton and boxed extremely well to stop Paul in eight rounds on his home turf.
After three more victories, Hope moved up a weight to challenge Bunny Sterling for the British middleweight title in 1975. But in a one-sided fight, Hope was eventually stopped in eight rounds. But Hope rebounded with six wins, including a repeat victory over Larry Paul, and in 1976, Hope challenged a future world middleweight champion for the European light-middleweight title.
The tough Italian Vito Antuofermo defended his European bauble against Hope in 1976, but he lost his title in Rome against an inspired challenger and was eventually stopped in fifteen rounds. Antuofermo would later win the world middleweight title. He got a disputed draw against Marvin Hagler before eventually losing his world title to Alan Minter. The win over Antuofermo looks a lot better now than it did at the time.
Five months later, Hope made his maiden attempt at winning a world title when he travelled to Germany to fight the local hero Eckhard Dagge for the WBC light-middleweight title. The old take about needing to knock someone out to get a draw was almost in play here. Hope looked to have won clearly, but Hope had to settle for a highly disputed draw. But despite the controversial nature of the fight with Dagge, Hope would have to wait two years for another shot at a world title. The alphabet boys would come later.
Hope stayed busy with six fights, including two defences of his European title before that elusive second world title opportunity finally came his way. It was another away trip for Hope and another trip to Italy to challenge Rocky Mattioli for his WBC light-middleweight title. Mattioli had relieved Dagge of his world title in 1977 and had defended his title on two occasions prior to facing Hope in 1979. They fought in a circus tent in San Remo.
The Italian was dropped in the opening round and broke his thumb as he fell. Mattioli fought on until he was pulled out by his corner after eight painful rounds. Hope made three defences of his world title, including a repeat win over Mattioli before travelling to Las Vegas to defend his WBC title against a true superstar of the sport in the brilliant Puerto Rican Wilfred Benitez. There had been talk of Hope fighting the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard or Roberto Duran before the deal was done to fight the former two-weight world champion Benitez, who had lost only to Leonard in forty fights.
Hope was highly competitive in the early stages against the defensive genius, who was probably just starting to fade away from the fabulous fighter he once was. But Benitez was starting to take over when he unleashed a stunning right hand that rendered Hope unconscious. It was a sickening knockout. Benitez became a three-weight world champion, but for Hope, the end was near.
The former champion was taken to the local hospital as a precaution after that brutal and worrying conclusion to the Benitez fight, but thankfully there was no long-term damage and the day after the fight, Hope got married to his long-term partner Pat in a pre-arranged ceremony.
There was only one more fight after the loss to Benitez. But the loss and the manner of it had taken something out of Hope. In 1982, Hope lost a wafer-thin split decision to the Italian Luigi Minchillo at Wembley Arena and retired soon after.
Hope was awarded the MBE for his services to boxing and spent time coaching the national team in Antigua and Barbuda before returning to the UK in 2014. Hope is probably one of the most underappreciated fighters of his time. He won a lot of his fights on the road and against very good fighters, and in an era where there were only two versions of the world title to fight for. Make no mistake, Maurice Hope was no paper champion.
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