Ringside Report Looks Back at Tough Former Ranked Heavyweight John Dino Denis
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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
I was 7 in 1972.
It was the year of the Munch Olympics and Mark Spitz.
It was the year of the attack on Israeli athletes.
Many suggest it was a more innocent time, but it never felt like that.
We had attacks in Ireland and there were concerns that these would spread onto the mainland.
The United Kingdom liked to have a distraction.
In the midst of that turmoil and on the 24th of June 1972, in Providence John Dino Denis, 45-5-2, 20 KO’s made his professional boxing debut. It was never going to register in the UK but about a decade later we were to learn his name as he made quite an impression on us in one fight that pitted him against one of “our own” or at least he claimed to be!
An orthodox heavyweight from Massachusetts, he was to be an active fighter right up until a draw in Hollywood in 1990 when he hung up the gloves and finished his 52 fight career.
In between – well…here’s a tale…
Making your debut at the beginning of what was arguably, a golden time for heavyweight boxing in the world may have been likely to end up with you being “under the radar” and Denis certainly may be evidence of this phenomenon. He was a tough man who fought all that were put in his pathway and many of them were names that went onto greatness whilst many were less memorable but in the tale of a man who straddled two decades in the ring, each type of opponent played their part in cementing his reputation.
It’s easy to see why he started to make a name for himself and a tremendous reputation. This was a guy who, in his first 4 years as a professional racked up 29 fights!
He lost none of them and only drew one!
It led, in 1976, to a fight against a legend of the ring, none other than Mr George Foreman.
Denis was unable to get beyond the 4th round.
Overwhelmed by the power that Foreman possessed he was at least in the fight up until then proving he deserved to be there.
Whilst many saw a battling heavyweight lose to a more skilled fighter there is little doubt that a better set of matchmaking might have prepared him for a better pathway to a title at the elite level. Mind you the 1970’s was a time when politics in the sport were toddling along, rather than galloping at the pace we have now. They were not innocent, certainly far from simpler but it was a smaller set of options on the table. It could be argued that taking the opportunity when he did was the only real option open to him.
Whilst Foreman had been on his comeback trail, following that defeat Denis was on his own blazing return to the ring and boy did he embrace it. It led to another name and in 1979 he was in against Gerry Cooney.
Denis found that Cooney was on fire at the time and this time Denis failed to even get to the 4th round, being stopped in the 3rd.
Again, he needed to rebuild and after 9 straight wins found himself across the ring from Donnie Long in 1982. It was supposed to be the 10th win for him but ended up being his next loss; it became a prophetic one.
Denis fell from the rankings after that.
It was then he came across the pond and managed to find himself in a headline bill when he took on Joe Bugner in 1983.
Declaring that, due to his Italian heritage, and with Bugner Hungarian/English that this would be an eliminator for the European title, Denis made a splash outside of the ring. He was widely quoted at the time as saying, “It would be a challenge and an honor to be European champion. I’ve always wanted to fight in Italy.”
He got some buy in from the promotor of his fight, Frank Warren, who called it an “unofficial final eliminator” for a shot at Frenchman Lucien Rodriguez’s European title.
Once again Denis was fighting someone on the comeback trail as Bugner on a mission to take Larry Holmes’ world crown, having come out of retirement to do so. Bugner was the guy who had been in with the best, Ali, in 1975.
Bugner has always been underrated, even by his own fans, and Bugner was to win by stoppage whilst Denis was now facing the wrong end of his career.
Briefly, in 1983 he retired but came back for 2 fights in 1990 against less than stellar opposition – between them they had fought 6 times and only won once before facing Denis! Denis won one and drew the other – an undefeated comeback!?
With the Foreman, Cooney and Bugner contests as highlights of his career it could be argued he was overshadowed by others but lit up the ring nonetheless. In 1976 he had managed to get to the dizzy heights of being ranked 6th in the world but any higher was put paid to by that loss to Foreman.
His highest accolade could be argued to be the only belt he won, the New England heavyweight title but in a sport that takes two of quality to tango, he was a very good dance partner.
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