That’s the argument made in Four Kings, Prime Video’s recent series which claims that the 1990s – buoyed up by the rivalries and showmanship of Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn – was when Black British boxing truly emerged.
For many people, the story of Black British boxing starts with the disgraceful scenes that took place at Wembley Arena in September 1980.
Based in Liverpool, which has the oldest settled Black community in the country and has produced a long line of fighting talent, boxing historian Nat Fleischer wrote that there was “no fighter of his era that was equal to him”.
The fighter – who was also a music-hall singer and a lion tamer at the East London Aquarium – was following in the footsteps of dozens of Black boxers who had found success (and tragedy) in British rings.
On the final few pages of Staying Power, Peter Fryer’s landmark history about Black British life in the UK, there is an appendix dedicated to boxers.
