John Rawling
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/ 4 April 2008

Don King refuses to fade away

At an age when he could be forgiven for slipping on his favourite pair of slippers, relaxing in a fireside armchair and re-watching any one of the 500 or more world-title fights he has promoted, Don King refuses to fade away. The stentorian voice still booms as it has since the days of Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle.

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/ 19 November 2004

Dirty deeds

This week, along came a moment to leave even the most cynical observer stunned by the sheer crassness of the behaviour of those entrusted with running football clubs. The directors and management of Blackburn Rovers ought to stand up to account for actions that fly in the face of all remaining standards of decency in the game.

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/ 23 July 2004

Move to pardon ‘Papa Jack’

A modern world might find it impossible to comprehend the level of racism in the United States in 1910 when the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson, inflicted a beating on the so-called ”Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries, a former champion lured out of retirement to give Johnson the beating white society craved.

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/ 30 May 2003

Famously fast

They say Monaco is the sort of place you either love or hate, and my mind was made up years ago by a late-night visit to one of the principality’s upmarket nightclubs. Maybe the serried ranks of open-top Bentleys, Aston Martins and Ferraris parked outside should have given a clue to what lay ahead, but you know how it is after a meal and a couple of glasses of wine – in for a penny, in for a pound and all that sort of thing.

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/ 4 April 2003

Lewis,Tyson fight apart

Plans for a world heavyweight title rematch between the World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson have fallen through, at least for now, and talks have begun to put together a bill on June 21 involving both men against different opponents.