Author: Miles Templeton
BUNNY STERLING from St Pancras will forever be remembered as the first non-UK born black fighter to win a British title. He was the first to benefit from the rule changes introduced by the Board in 1968 and beat one of British boxing’s golden boys to win the title.
Mark Rowe had a very successful amateur career, culminating in winning a gold medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games held in Perth, Australia. Representing England, Rowe outpointed Scotsman Tom Imrie to win the welterweight gold and it was sweet revenge for the Londoner, having been knocked out by Imrie in the ABA final at the same weight just over three months earlier. When Rove surrendered two months later, he did so in a blaze of publicity at the Royal Albert Hall.
Meanwhile, Bunny made his professional debut in the less austere surroundings of Shoreditch Town Hall. In a six round points loss to Islington’s Joe Devitt BN stated that Sterling “was willing, threw a punch or two and always hit back. Given the opportunity to learn his trade, the St Pancras lad could do well”.
Sterling arrived in the UK aged seven from Jamaica in 1955 and was educated at Fortescue Boarding School in Twickenham where he played rugby, football and cricket. He also boxed, and as an amateur with BC Polytechnic came under the tutelage of the late, great George Francis. Recognizing a good fighter when he saw one, George encouraged Bunny to turn pro and stayed with him as his trainer. The loss to Devitt was quickly followed by two more, but Bani learned from these losses and quickly turned things around, winning the next seven.
By 1969 he was mixing it with Johnny Kramer, Wally Swift, Harry Scott and Dick Duffy. Despite losing to all four of these fighters, Sterling was selected by the Board of Directors to box a British middleweight title eliminator against Danny Pleas, and defeated him over nine rounds at the Anglo-American Sporting Club. Next up was the final eliminator against Harry Scott and Sterling got his revenge by outplaying the Liverpool veteran past twelve in Nottingham.
Bunny Sterling
Rowe won the British title at Wembley in May 1970 by defeating another Liverpudlian, Les McAteer, in 14 rounds, and when he was paired with Sterling in his first defense four months later, most thought he would beat Sterling. . BN was no exception, as Rowe predicted a stoppage win. The two fighters couldn’t have had more contrasting careers, with Rowe winning his last 15 bouts, mostly on big London shows, and Bunny, who struggled to win fights, regularly losing and campaigning on the continent to get work .
Rowe’s trainer, Bill Chevalier, had already talked about matching his lad with world champion Nino Benvenuti after beating Sterling, but those plans were derailed by what happened in that ring at Wembley in September 1970. The Commonwealth title was also on the line and Bunny, in what BN dubbed the ‘shock of the year’ didn’t mess up. He boxed on the back foot for the first two rounds, trying to avoid big shots from a stalking Rove, then after catching Rove’s head and causing a cut, Rove slammed into him, looking for an early stoppage.
This brought out the best in Sterling, who boxed better than ever before and was able to avoid Rowe’s desperate attacks. Rowe was then cut on the other side of his face and with blood pouring from two bad cuts, the referee, Wally Tom, stopped the bout after four rounds, much to the anger of Rowe and his camp.
Bunny remained champion for four years, immediately winning the Lonsdale belt, before losing to Kevin Finnegan in February 1974. He was the first immigrant to win the British title and his place in British boxing history was secured.