Muhammad Ali vs. Richard Dunn

Muhammad Ali vs Richard Dunn

Date	24 May 1976
Venue	Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany
Title(s) on the line	WBA, WBC and The Ring undisputed heavyweight championship
Tale of the tape
Boxer Muhammad Ali Richard Dunn Nickname "The Greatest" Hometown Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK Purse £52,000 Pre-fight record 51–2 (36 KO) 33–9 (16 KO) Age 34 years, 4 months 31 years, 4 months Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) Weight 220 lb (100 kg) 207 lb (94 kg) Style Orthodox Southpaw Recognition WBA, WBC and The Ring undisputed Heavyweight Champion British, Commonwealth and European Heavyweight Champion
Result
Ali wins via 5th-round TKO

Muhammad Ali vs. Richard Dunn was a professional boxing match contested on 24 May 1976, for the undisputed heavyweight championship.^[1] This fight would mark Ali’s 37th and final knockout win of his career.

In the build up to fight, Dunn appeared on the popular ITV program This Is Your Life in which Ali appeared via video message to taunt Dunn, saying "So you've taken 67 parachute drops, well, I want you to mark this down now: you have one more big drop to come, a big hard drop, it's going to be the longest sharp drop you've ever had."^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Dunn would start the fight on the front foot chasing Ali who would land a number of overhand rights early. A pair of lefts from Dunn landed in third however Ali scored knockdown with a right later in round. Dunn would taste the canvas twice more in fourth and once early in fifth before a windmilling right from Ali sent Dunn down for the fifth and final time prompting referee Herbert Tomser to wave the contest off.^[7]

The fight is remembered for being the last time Ali would knock down any opponent in the ring in his boxing career.^[8] The punch Ali used to knockout Dunn was taught to Ali by Taekwondo Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee. Rhee called that punch the "Accupunch", which he learnt from Bruce Lee. Rhee was Ali's head coach for this Dunn fight.^[9]

Ali would praise Dunn, telling NBC broadcast: “He is better than I thought and I predict you will hear more from Richard Dunn.”

Tens of thousands of people would line the streets of Bradford to praise Dunn’s gutsy performance and welcome him home.

Confirmed bouts:^[10]

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Peter Wulf	Peter Scheibner	German Super Welter	Unanimous decision.
Duane Bobick	Bunny Johnson	Heavyweight (10 rounds)	2nd-round TKO.
Alan Minter	Frank Reiche	Middleweight (10 rounds)	8th-round TKO.
Ngozika Ekwelum	Tony Moore	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	Unanimous decision.
Rodney Bobick	Hartmut Sasse	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	3rd-round KO.
Horst Lang	Arno Prick	Heavyweight (6 rounds)	Draw.

Country	Broadcaster
Australia	Nine Network
Brazil	Band
Canada	CTV
France	TF1
Germany	ARD
Japan	TBS
Mexico	Televisa
Philippines	RPN 9
Spain	TVE
United Kingdom	ITV[11]
United States	NBC