Ringside Report Looks Back at Boxer Jimmy Dunne (1941-2002)

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Liverpool in the 1960’s. It was about to become the birthplace to the cultural epicentre of the earth. It was youth culture capital because of four fresh faced young lads one of whom claimed they had become bigger than Jesus, one of whom got arrested in Japan for having illegal substances and all of whom drove the idea of pop culture to its own extremes. Paul, John, Ringo and George – the Beatles – were the most famous thing to emerge from the cavernous underground music of Merseyside.
But not the only thing of note.

Liverpool has always been a city filled with fighters – literal and metaphorical. Spend five minutes on the internet searching for the fight Liverpool mounted for justice over the soccer fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough in Sheffield, and you will see that the women, as well as the men have what it takes to prolong a fight until they win it. Boxing has a proud tradition and of the recent past there have been not one, not two, not even three but four brothers – the Smiths – who have won or fought for world titles. There is also a recent escapee from the jungle, I’m a Celebrity’s second placed Tony Bellew, as well as current unified and two weight world champion Natasha Jonas.

But Liverpool, in the 1960s also had a boxer who emerged from the grime and made his mark, most notably as an Olympian. Jimmy Dunne 3-1-1, 3KOs. Born not long after the beginning of the Second World War into an area where there was a dock and therefore under attack from aerial bombardment, Dunne was born right after the worst of it – torment which was to devastate a city in the first eight days of May 1941, but leave Mrs. Dunne with a bundle of joy which would, 23 years later make his mark on the other side of the world.
According to his local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo, Jimmy Dunne was “The boy who keeps coming forward.” Having donned boxing gloves at the tender age of seven years old, Dunne was to box regularly at Friar’s School, representing through his amateur years, St. Teresa’s and Kirkby Amateur Boxing Clubs (ABCs).

Dunne was to represent the United Kingdom in Tokyo, in the 1964 Olympics. He fought there due to being the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) lightweight title holder of 1964, when representing the Maple Leaf ABC.

Dunne was immensely proud to be a part of the Games. It was the first time that an Asian country had hosted it. It was also and just a shade off twenty years after Japan had been the enemy of the US and UK during the Second World War: it was heady times.

He fought twice – firstly against the Cuban, Bienvenido Hita, who he beat, but then came up short against the Filipino, Rodolfo Arpon. But those are the statistics. Here are the contexts. Firstly, the Games had a poignancy – the final torch bearer was Yoshinori Saki. Significantly they had been born the day that the bomb fell on Hiroshima. Secondly, the boxing ring was witness for the second time in a row to heavyweight greatness. In Rome it had been Cassius Clay, in Japan it was Joe Frazier.

For Dunne, it was some platform for a boy from Liverpool. He got a bye in the first round and then a Cuban. Cuban boxing was imperious, the greatest, the highest of the movement and Dunne humbled his opponent winning 4-1. Many had tried and failed, but Jimmy Dunne beat a Cuban. In many ways it was his personal gold medal and badge of honour because as much as he had beaten Hita – 4-1 -that was the score that Arpon beat him by in the next round.

In 1965, Dunn was to start his professional journey, but it was not to last long. Five fights over less than a year began in Liverpool on the 4th of March when he faced Paddy Winter and stopped him in the 4thr round. It ended on the 21st of February 1966 in the Hilton Hotel, London, when he was stopped by Lex Hunter in the 5th round.

On the 3rd of March 2002, aged just 60 and after a brave battle with ill health, Dunne passed away in the same city that had borne him – Liverpool. With his nephew Colin “The Dynamo” Dunne having won the WBU lightweight championship of the world in the 1990s, like many families in Merseyside, the Dunnes were clearly true and doughty fighters – true Liverpudlians and a credit to their city.

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