Hotspur Towers - The Ring

The new season will see Tottenham’s last at the current White Hart Lane. After a brief sojourn we will return to find our home regenerated to carry us into the next phase of the clubs history but with the same beating heart that has being an integral part of Tottenham since we first moved the couple of hundred yards from Northumberland Park in 1899.

As we continue to celebrate our stadiums amazing life we turn our attention away from the football and peep into the Boxing Ring.  

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Boxing first came to the Lane in July 1922, in what I’m told, was the first professional open air bouts in London and attracted 7,000 people to the ground. 
1942 again saw the sport at the ground when a Light Heavyweight fight was held between Len Harvey and Freddie Mills. This was for the World Championship (British version) (1) and the British & Empire Light Heavyweight titles. 30,000 saw Harvey knocked out in the second round. Reports claim he was knocked through the ropes and was unconscious. This fight below left.

One of the supporting bouts that night featured Bruce Woodcock who returned to the Lane three years later when in 1945 he defeated Jack London in a bout for the British Heavyweight crown, in front of 26,000.

The last professional event came in 1991 when Chris Eubank (a Tottenham fan) defeated Michael Watson for the WBO Super-Middleweight title when the fight was stopped in the 12th round after Watson suffered severe injuries.

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Back in October 1987 Frank Bruno (left) and Frank Bugner met here in an eliminator for the World Heavyweight Championship. This image shows our own Bill Nicholson tossing the coin to decide which fighter had which corner.

Possibly one of the strangest tasks he was called upon to perform in his many years at the club.

Bugner retired at the end of the eighth round. I’ve seen varying figures for the crowd of up to 40,000.

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The chap doing the announcement is our own Willie Morgan. Willie was the stadium announcer for a number of years at WHL.

Its grand to include Willie in our salute to WHL. He famously launched match days with “Hello this is Willie Morgan, and welcome to White Hart Lane - the world-famous home of the Spurs”.

Left - The Lane prepares for the entry of the fighters.

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Catch up with previous ‘look backs’ at the grand old stadium listed below and watch out as we continue to celebrate its glorious history over the coming season.

Previous look backs at WHL -
The Edmonton End,   The Marsh Lane End,    The East Side,   
Hotspur Towers 58,  33,  16 and 5.
Hotspur Towers 50 - The Cockerel, 
Hotspur 46 - Ground Sharing,

Talking Tottenham - At The Lane,   White Hot Lane,

If your too keen on Boxing then Hotspur Towers 35 looks back at when we played Baseball!

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COYS
Keith Harrison.
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Notes- 1 – I’m not a great boxing fan having only been to one pro event, but I’m told Boxing World titles at this time were very confusing with several bodies having their own titles. Thanks to my Boxing correspondent for his guidance.