- Ask Steven
A long way from home
ESPN staff
April 18, 2014
Audley Harrison won Olympic gold in 2000 © Getty Images
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Which postwar British fighter held the European heavyweight title but never the British one? asked Keith Gregory.
There's actually more than one answer to this.
For years the standard answer was the Welshman Dick Richardson, who won the vacant European title in 1960, and defended it three times (including against fellow Brit Brian London) before losing to Ingemar Johansson in 1962.
Richardson never won the British title, though, losing his only challenge to Henry Cooper. In 1956 Richardson had beaten the former world heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles.
In more recent years, though, Frank Bruno, Derek Williams, Henry Akinwande and Audley Harrison have all held the European heavyweight championship, but never won the British one.
