Bounce Magazine 79

A Mountain To
Climb...
MAY 2019 | ISSUE #79
BY RALPH OATES
A series of articles which will feature boxing facts
from both the past to the present...
Alan Rudkin was a world class
bantamweight who during his
career won the British, European
and Commonwealth titles.
The said list of titles held by
Rudkin more than confirmed
that he had a very successful
professional career. However
the championship which Rudkin
strongly desired was the one
which eluded him the world title.
It seemed that the Liverpool
fighter was not fated to add
the global crown to his name.
Rudkin who was born on the
28th November 1941 had three
attempts to win world honours
each time against outstanding
champions. To make his task
even harder was the fact that
he had to venture into the title
holder’s country. In truth Rudkin
had a mountain to climb in each
title bid.
Rudkin’s first attempt to win the
championship took place on the
30th November 1965 against
the reigning title holder Fighting
Harada at the Nippon Budokan
in Tokyo Japan. Rudkin was
considered the underdog in the
contest and it was viewed that
he would leave the land of the
rising sun a well beaten fighter.
However the British challenger
surprised many by pushing the
champion hard and did not
look out of his league in his
title bid. Rudkin lost a 15 round
points decision but in so doing
received a great deal of praise
for his impressive showing in
the contest. Harada was also a
former world flyweight king.
After rebuilding by getting
more solid victories under his
belt Rudkin was given another
shot at the title. Once again
Rudkin had to pack his suitcase
and get his passport ready to
travel. This time the destination
was Australia where he crossed
gloves with the then champion
Lionel Rose at the Kooyong
Tennis Stadium in Melbourne
Australia. The bout took place
on the 8th March 1969. Rose
was a clever boxer who had
produced the goods to take the
title from Fighting Harara on the
27th February 1968 with a shock
15 round points victory at the
Nippon Budokan. Rose was no
easy touch and was not likely to
surrender his crown easily to the
visitor from the UK. Some boxing
pundits were optimistic feeling
that Rudkin’s trip down under
might well prove successful
since he had the boxing skills
to topple the champion by
outpointing him over the
scheduled 15 rounds. Rudkin
performed well often giving
the champion a few worrying
moments during the exciting
encounter. Rose however proved
to be a worthy title holder and
much to the disappointment of
UK fans retained his crown on
points and also won the Briton’s
Commonwealth title which at
the time was also on the line.
A third opportunity to win the
crown took place on the 12th
December 1969 when Rudkin
met Mexico’s Ruben Olivares
at the Forum Inglewood in
California USA. Olivares had
ripped the championship from
Rose with a devastating display
of punching power stopping
the Australian in five rounds of
a slated 15 on the 22nd August
1969 at the Forum. It was clear
from the first bell that Rose was
not going to last the distance
with his challenger. Olivares
was considered to be very
special a potential great and
few if any gave Rudkin a chance
of lasting the full 15 rounds let
alone win the world crown. The
pessimism proved to be correct
when Rudkin was easily stopped
in two rounds by the powerful
Olivares.
On the 25th January 1972 Rudkin
had his last professional fight
against Johnny Clark whom
he outpointed over 15 hard
rounds to retain his British and
Commonwealth bantamweight
titles in a crowd pleasing affair
at the Royal Albert Hall in
Kensington London. Rudkin
thus bowed out on a winning
note against Clark a good
competitor who had no quit in
him. During his paid career in
the ring Alan had an impressive
record of 50 contests winning
42 and losing eight. Rudkin was
a well respected fighter who
served boxing well during his
time in the ring. Rudkin was
awarded the MBE in 1973 an
honour he richly deserved. Alan
sadly passed away on the 22nd
September 2010 at the age of 68
years 9 months and 25 days.
The latest book by Ralph Oates is
now available. A Round of Boxing:
A Trip Through Time is published
by Fonthill Media at a price of
£16.99. Available from Amazeon
and all good bookshops.
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