By Ted Sares: I’m not getting hurt – well, very rarely. Every now and again you come up against somebody that is a bit different. I think you will find that in any walk of life —Peter
Peter Dunn
Light middle weight Peter “Desperate” Dunn, out of Pontefract, Yorkshire in the UK generally fights once or twice a month and has been doing so since December 12, 1997 when he beat a bloke by the name of Leah Daniels by points in a six rounder. Daniels retired with a 1-1-1 record. Dunn’s current record stands at 12 (KO 0) – 97 (KO 11) – 4 in 113 bouts and he shows no signs of slowing down..
In a monster understatement, young Brit boxer Stuart Kennedy, 2-0, recently said he was not bothered about giving away a lot of experience. ”It’ll be good to go in against a lad [Dunn] who has been round the block and knows the tricks of the trade.” (Ian Laws-Sunderland Echo).
Mark Dawes, another young fighter, said “in my first two wins against Peter Dunn and Karl [“Plug”] Taylor, it was hard to look good because they are spoilers.” (Adam Steel, Evening Gazette). “Plug” sports a plug ugly record of 16-111-6.
Dunn last fought (and lost) on June 28, 2008, to Joe Hockenhull, 0-0-0. While he remains “desperate” for a win, look for him to become a centurion in July
Paul Bonson
I thought, ‘I’ve got him here’ and I saw his legs do a little dance, but he got close enough to hold on to me and simply said, ‘are your hands hurting yet?’
–Tony Bellew, Bonson opponent
Bonson’s as tough as nails. He’s been the distance with Maccarinelli, Woods, Mark Hobson – all the top men.
–Micky Steeds, Bonson opponent
I have fought him three times and he just refuses to go down. Don’t think you are in for an easy time just because of his record
— Midlands fighter Rob Norton giving advice to a mate
Teak-tough journeyman Bonson, a former Rugby League player, is an iron-chinned cruiserweight also out of Yorkshire. He sports an eye popping slate of 20 (KO 1)-98 (KO 3)-7. His first fight was a 6-round PTS win over Michael Pinnock on October 4, 1996. Pinnock retired in 2005 with a dreadful 4-74-9 mark.
Bonson also fights 2 or 3 times a month and just about always losses but, like Dunn, also lasts the distance a high percentage of the time. As such, he is a promoters’ dream because he gives you a predictable number of rounds. He is able to step in at the last second to save many a boxing venue. I suspect he will hit the century mark by mid-July and thereby get there before Dunn. At any rate, both soon will join other UK fighters such as Seamus Casey, Brian Coleman, Tony Booth and, of course, Peter “The Professor” Buckley as centurions.
Slovakia
As an aside, Slovakian Jozef Kubovsky, now 13-101-14, recently reached the 100 mark when he lost to Jindrich Kubin, 1-0 coming in. Fellow Slovakian Anton Glofak, 2-78-6, seems intent on making his mark as well.
If their records aren’t a who’s-who, they still include recognizable names such as Carl “The Cat” Thompson, Clinton Woods, Roman Greenberg, Matthew Hatton, Carl Froch, Michael Jennings, Luis Antonio Navarro, Enzo Maccarinelli, Mark Hobson, Oktay Urkal, Khalid Rahilou, Emanuel Augustus and Michel Trabant to cite just a few.
In the final analysis, there is a need for such fighters; there always has been and always will be. After all, without losers, there would be no winners. While they seem to maintain a futile optimism, they also seem to be under no illusions as to what their role is. Unlike Stoker Thompson in the great 1949 movie The Set -Up, I doubt they delude themselves into thinking they are one punch away from the top. In the end, however, they truly are an admirable lot