\n Dunn squares off with Ali ahead of their bout (Image: UGC)\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite being heavily outgunned – Dunn was knocked down five times – he still earned the hall of famer’s respect for his bravery and resilience.\n<\/p>\n
Thousands of people greeted Dunn in Bradford on his return<\/p>\n
\n Dunn earned a \u00a352,000 purse for the fight and thousands of people lined the streets of Bradford to welcome him on his return to the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n John Celebanski, a long-time boxing friend of Dunn, has spoken to the Telegraph & Argus about how special that time was.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen he got back, he got a massive reception,\u201d said Mr Celebanski.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThousands of people turned out to greet him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Dunn at a Mohammad Ali exhibition held at the Midland Hotel in 2013 (Image: T&A)\n<\/p>\n
‘When I fought him I couldn\u2019t beat him’<\/p>\n
\n Dunn, who was a scaffolder by trade, and Mr Celebanski spent many years sparring at a boxing club in Halifax, where the former grew up.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Celebanski said: \u201cRichard Dunn and I boxed together at the Halifax Stars Boxing Club.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019d spar together round after round.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI knew him better in the ring than out of it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cRichard was a southpaw and when I fought him I couldn\u2019t beat him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cRichard was clever, and he could box.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe had a terrific jab and he could knock you out. He could bang.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe were at Halifax Stars together from 1969 to 1973 until we turned pro.”\n<\/p>\n
\n John Celebanski (right) at the British Boxing Hall of Fame induction evening (Image: UGC)\n<\/p>\n
Dunn bought house and hotel with earnings<\/p>\n
\n Mr Celebanski added: \u201cBack then you could buy a terraced house for \u00a31,000.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen Richard fought Ali, he used the money he earned to buy a house and hotel in Scarborough.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cRichard\u2019s mother was a Halifax girl, so he was brought in Halifax.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen he got married, Richard lived in Undercliffe.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Dunn pictured a few years ago (Image: UGC)\n<\/p>\n
Where is Richard Dunn now?<\/p>\n
\n Mr Celebanski still stays in touch with Dunn.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI still talk to Richard,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s 81 now and lives in Scarborough.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHis daughter looks after him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen we spoke, we talked about the old times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 24, 1976, huge underdog Richard Dunn, who went on to have a sports centre named after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-601174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}