- Legendary boxing journalist Colin Hart has passed away at the age of 89
- Long-time friend and colleague Jeff Powell remembers Hart’s extraordinary life
- His work in the sport saw him inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
Colin Hart was born to be a boxing writer. He was born into a pre-war Hebrew London family of a father, Nathan, who made sure that one of the first words he spoke was ‘Kid’ by constantly recounting to his infant son the histories of Ted Kid Lewis and Jack Kid Berg.
As Harty would say: ‘I grew up with a clear understanding that the East End was the spiritual home of boxing and that those two Jewish Kids were among the best fighters ever.’
A realisation that they were not quite the greatest of all time came once he had served two years of National Service as an RAF wireless operate. Started work in newspapers as ‘the office boy who made the tea and swept the floor and answered the phone.’ Slaved as a news reporter on the old Daily Herald. Switched from being night news editor of The Sun to boxing correspondent in 1964.
Along the way Joe Louis and Sugar Robinson became ‘my American idols.’ Then the ultimate judgement: ‘Sugar Ray Leonard is the absolute best boxer whose fights I covered. As brilliant defensively as Mayweather but unlike Floyd also a genius attacker. But Muhammad Ali was supreme in everything he meant to the game and his Rumble in the Jungle with George Foreman was the most incredible event I reported.’
Try arguing with that. If you dared before he passed away on Saturday night, his staunch friendship as great a loss as his profound knowledge.
Even Big George baulked at that. Hart was smoking a cigarette when Foreman presented himself for interview prior to a 1974 fight against Ken Norton in the Venezuela capital Caracas. ‘Put that thing out,’ commanded the world heavyweight champion.’ Replied our Colin: ‘Say please.’ Which George duly did.
Legendary boxing journalist Colin Hart has died aged 89 after decades covering the sport
Hart, pictured with Carl Froch last year, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
Hart pictured with fellow editor Roger Alton working for Oxford University’s student newspaper, Cherwell
Pictured alongside Frank Warren in February 2022 at the Grand Connaught Rooms
‘I should have listened to him,’ said Hart when he suffered a first bout of cancer several years ago. One which not only put a stop to his chain-smoking but brought an uncharacteristic rasping to the sharpest ‘Voice Of Boxing.’ That unofficial title went with him becoming the first British journalist to be presented with the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence by the Boxing Writers’ Association of America, followed by his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Neither of those reflect his equivalent prowess reporting athletics at eight Olympics, among which his coverage of the Munich Massacre and of Ben Johnson’s drug-fuelled sprint to infamy were highly acclaimed.
‘Once a reporter, always a reporter,’ he oft repeated. ‘That’s what our game is all about.’ As he demonstrated after a paraglider flew out of the night sky into the open-air ring before our startled eyes on the Las Vegas Strip, dangerously interrupting Evander Holyfield’s 1993 heavyweight fight with Riddick Bowe.
Come sunrise next morning Hart, courtesy of one of his countless contacts, was off into the desert to conduct a world exclusive interview with that so-called Fan Man.
It is not the deserved commendations for which Hart will be most fondly remembered by a the brotherhood of the ring which holds him in the highest esteem.
It will be his wise counsel, his humanity, the humour which made him a wonderful companion on our road-warrior travels, the honesty, the generosity he bestowed on every aspiring young journalist who crossed his path. And his love for theatre which he shared with his beloved wife Cindy and their family on their regular visits to the West End.
Never forgetting that unending devotion to West Ham United, which in all its frustrations surpassed even his deep-seated working class loyalty to those of us he befriended. Our last conversation ended with him asking how I thought the Hammers would do next season. ‘Better than the last,’ I ventured. ‘Yeah, go on,’ he chuckled. The only reference to his last fight with cancer: ‘I’ve enjoyed a fantastic life. Thanks to everyone.’
Spell his name Colin Heart.
