By Miles Templeton
BUNNY STERLING from St Pancras will always be remembered as the first black fighter not born in Great Britain to win a British title. He was the first to benefit from the rule changes introduced by the Board in 1968 and defeated one of British boxing’s golden boys to win his title.
Mark Rowe had a very successful amateur career, culminating in his gold medal win at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. England’s Rowe outpointed Scotland’s Tom Imrie to win middleweight gold, sweet revenge for the Londoner who had been knocked out by Imrie in the ABA final at the same weight just three months earlier. When Rowe returned two months later, he did so amid a blaze of publicity at the Royal Albert Hall.
Bunny, meanwhile, made his professional debut in the lesser atmosphere of Shoreditch Town Hall. In losing on points in six rounds to Joe Devitt of Islington B.N stated that Sterling “was ready, threw a punch or two, and always fought back. With a chance to learn his trade, a St. Pancras lad could do well.
Sterling came to the UK from Jamaica in 1955 aged seven and attended Fortescue Boarding School, Twickenham, where he played rugby, football and cricket. He also boxed and was a fan with BC Polytechnic under the tutelage of the late George Francis. When he saw a good fighter, George encouraged Bunny to turn professional and stayed with him as his trainer. Devitt’s loss was quickly followed by two more, but Bunny learned from those losses and quickly turned things around, winning his next seven matches.
By 1969, he was mixing it up with Johnny Kramer, Wally Swift, Harry Scott and Dick Duffy. Despite losing to all four of these fighters, Sterling was selected by the Board to fight for the British middleweight title against Denny Pleas, and he defeated him in nine rounds at the Anglo-American Athletic Club. Next up came a final eliminator against Harry Scott, and Sterling got revenge by outpointing the Liverpool veteran at the age of twelve in Nottingham.
Bunny Sterling
Rowe won the British title at Wembley in May 1970 by knocking out fellow Liverpudlian Les McAteer over 14 rounds, and when he faced Sterling in his first defense four months later, many thought he could beat Sterling outright. . B.N was no exception, predicting a stoppage victory for Rowe. The two fighters could not have had more contrasting careers, with Rowe winning his last 15 bouts, mostly on the big London shows, and Bunny, who was hard to fight, losing regularly and promoting on the continent to find work.
Rowe’s trainer Bill Chevalley was already talking about matching his son with world champion Nino Benvenuti after beating Sterling, but those plans were derailed by what happened in the Wembley ring in September 1970. The Commonwealth title was also at stake, and Bunny, in what B.N The so-called “shock of the year” was not about chaos. He boxed on the back foot for the first two rounds, trying to avoid chasing Rowe’s big punches, and after catching Rowe with his head and causing a cut, Rowe tore into him, seeking an early stoppage.
This brought out the best in Sterling, who was boxing better than before and he was able to escape Rowe’s desperate attacks. Afterwards, Rowe was cut on the other side of his face and bleeding from two bad punches, referee Wally Thome stopped the bout after four rounds, angering Rowe and his camp.
Bunny remained champion for four years, holding the Lonsdale belt outright before losing to Kevin Finnegan in February 1974. He was the first expatriate to win the British title and his place in British boxing history was secured.
