‘He wanted to get the truth’ Tributes pour in for Sun’s Mr Boxing Colin Hart after ‘greatest’ reporter’s death
LEGENDARY Sun boxing writer Colin Hart was hailed as “The Greatest” yesterday following his death at the age of 89.
Colin had worked for The Sun since its launch in 1969 and was still passing on his unmatched sporting knowledge to readers until a few days before his passing.
The brilliant sports journalist covered eight Olympic Games, motor racing and even showjumping in a stellar career.
But he will forever be remembered as one of the wisest and most authoritative ringside figures in the world of boxing, whose heroes led a stream of warm tributes yesterday.
British great Frank Bruno called him “Mr Boxing” and told how Colin was his hero.
He said: “When it comes to the kings of boxing reporters, Colin was the undisputed champion.
“No one else will ever lay a glove on him. RIP, my friend.”
Fellow former world champion Lennox Lewis said: “He was clearly the leader of the boxing press pack.
“I knew that he wanted to get to the truth and tell the truth and if he upset people along the way, so be it.”
Another ex-world title holder, Ricky Hatton, added: “Colin was one of the first people to congratulate me when I was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
“He had previously been inducted himself, and I know how proud he was of that — he will be sadly missed.”
Former middleweight hero Michael Watson — whose career was ended by a near-fatal injury in his fight with Chris Eubank — called The Sun writer “a boxing man through and through”.
He added: “Colin cared about us fighters and he campaigned for us.
“I felt like he was in my corner during my boxing career and definitely after it.”
Former super-middleweight world champ Joe Calzaghe added: “Colin was a real giant of boxing writers and there will never be another like him.”
Boxing promoter Frank Warren described him as a “dear friend” and a “superb journalist”, adding: “Colin has been there since the start of my journey in this great sport.
“It simply will not be the same without him.”
Ring favourite Barry McGuigan said of Colin’s death — coming soon after that of US heavyweight hero George Foreman this weekend: “Colin was a master when it came to boxing journalism.
“We are losing all the good ones.”
The Sun’s Editor-in-Chief Victoria Newton added: “Colin was a brilliant writer who was hugely admired by all of us.
“It takes a special journalist to still be at the top of their game approaching the age of 90.
“He was never afraid to take on the scariest of heavyweights with his sharp pen and was working in an industry he loved right until the end.
“The number of warm and heartfelt tributes which have come in say everything about how he was revered and respected around the world.
“Colin was the best of The Sun — The Greatest.”
Cockney Colin grew up in London’s East End during the Second World War and recalled cowering in Tube stations from the German bombs.
He was a life-long supporter of West Ham but fell in love with boxing when his gran took him to see his first professional bill at a local baths when he was ten.
Colin’s career in newspapers began with the East London News Agency at 17 before work as a crime reporter and news editor following his national service.
But he later switched from news to sport and joined the fledgling Sun newspaper where he quickly established himself as a star.
Colleagues and rivals marvelled at his ability to compute every detail from fast-moving sporting events then talk them down a phone line to go directly into print.
His talent was such that he stayed at the top of his game for decades, despite shunning modern communication methods which transformed the profession.
He was — almost certainly — the only journalist still working up until recently who never owned a mobile phone and still preferred to bash out his reports on a clattering, old-school typewriter.
After he gave up smoking, the gruff, white-haired newspaper great was known for chewing on an ever-present toothpick in one corner of his mouth while talking out of the other.
Colin never pulled his punches as he covered every epic heavyweight clash involving Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Joe Frazier during the 1970s.
He was also ringside at all the epic bouts involving British boxing greats, from Henry Cooper and Joe Bugner to Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
But the most memorable clash of the Sun man’s career was spent in Zaire covering the incredible Rumble in the Jungle classic between Ali and Foreman in October 1974.
Foreman — then a terrifying 25-year-old brute — was expected to humble ageing icon Ali but was lured into an astonishing sucker-punch knockout in round eight.
Colin described covering the fight as the “most bizarre ten days” after watching locals worship Ali like a god.
He added: “At 25, Foreman wasn’t the smiling carefree giant who resembled a benign Buddha that we saw in his latter year.
“He was surly, bad-tempered and far from lovable — his fists were like two wrecking balls.
“But I had a gut feeling Big George lacked stamina, which is why in Sun Sport I picked Ali to beat him in nine rounds.”
Ali would become a personal friend of Colin in his later life and trusted him to break the news of his diagnosis with Parkinson’s.
Colin “retired” when he turned 65 in 2000 but continued to write columns for another 25 years, and attend big fights.
He also ran with the Olympic torch down South East London’s Old Kent Road in 2012.
And he carried on passing on his knowledge to colleagues, combined with hawk-like analysis of fight game skills and weaknesses.
In 2017, after Joshua had knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in an epic battle at Wembley, he said the bout ranked in the top ten he had ever witnessed.
But he also said that he believed Fury — who had beaten Klitschko two years earlier — was a better fighter.
Colin watched his last major heavyweight bout only last year in Riyadh where he saw Fury’s first pro defeat against Oleksandr Usyk.
And yet again, he had correctly predicted the result.
Colin died after a short illness days short of what would have been his 90th birthday on April 6.
He is survived by wife Cindy, and daughters Laura and Lisa.