Farewell Old Friend

A very sad weekend has just passed for many of us involved in the sport of boxing.

Just when we were digesting news of the passing of heavyweight giant George Foreman, we then learned that Colin Hart, a giant in his own field of journalism, had also left us.

I was aware that Colin’s time was closing in because he kindly called me a couple of weeks ago to put me in the picture, with regards to his dwindling health. He wasn’t feeling sorry for himself, he told me he was preparing to write his final column for The Sun, but much more he expressed how blessed he felt to have lived the life he lived with the family he adored and the profession he excelled in.

I counted Colin as a close personal friend, even though we didn’t start off that way when I came into the business some 45 years ago. He has since conceded that he was very much a loyalist to the old regime of Micky Duff and co and didn’t particularly welcome the distraction of a young, upstart promoter ruffling a few feathers.

We smoothed things over and got to know each other as time passed and then I too got to enjoy the loyalty and experience of such a formidable operator in the media game.

Colin had seen it all and been a fixture at ringside for over 60 years, covering the biggest fights and establishing relationships with the greatest names in the sport. It was the same in athletics, where he was a veteran of covering eight Olympic Games.

Probably Colin’s biggest pride and joy, professionally, was being right in the thick of the era that gave us Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Foreman. He was the last surviving member of the British media pack that covered events like the Thrilla in Manila, the Fight of the Century and the Rumble in the Jungle.

Colin, along with our mutual great friend Alan Hubbard, used to regale us all with tales from these times and their own exploits on BoxNation programmes and the nostalgia was always welcome and well received by the audience.

Perhaps there was some symmetry in Colin’s passing falling just after that of Foreman, the last of the three heavyweight titans. They had a bit of history, those two, but ended up being firm friends.

Colin could be a belligerent presence and was never short of a forthright opinion, but they just don’t make them like him anymore. He was one of a kind.

True giants of journalism is something, in my opinion, that we are sadly lacking these days. Genuine specialists of what they are reporting and commenting on, who do things the old fashioned way of developing trust.

Colin continued to take his place at ringside - as well as at press conferences - until very recently to keep his hand in and it was always obvious to see the respect and admiration everyone in the business had for him.

His company, along with his storytelling, will be hugely missed by myself and many others and my condolences and love go out to his wife Cindy and his family.

The 10 Bells we will have in his honour up in Manchester on April 5 will be a particularly poignant one for me.

Farewell my friend.