Henry William Mallin (1 June 1892 – 8 November 1969) was an English

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. He came originally from

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...

, his younger brother was the Olympic boxer

Fred Mallin Frederick Granville Mallin (4 March 1902 – September 1987) was an English boxer who competed for Great Britain in the 1928 Summer Olympics. He fought as Fred Mallin. Boxing career In 1928, he finished fourth in the middleweight class a ...

. He lived in Dartmouth Park, North London and was a police officer with the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

Boxing career

Mallin was

Amateur Boxing Association England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the Sports governing body, governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Irela ...

British middleweight champion five years in a row from 1919 to 1923. He was also world champion in the middleweight class between 1920 and 1928. He never lost an amateur bout and never turned professional. In the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in middleweight division, defeating Canadian boxer

Georges Prud'Homme Joseph Arthur Prud'Homme (March 12, 1898 – January 7, 1978) was a Canadian middleweight boxer who competed in the early 1920s. He won a silver medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics, losing to British boxer Harry Mallin in the final. Prud'Homme lat ...

in the final. In

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

he went on to win another gold in the same weight class. In that year, he met

Roger Brousse Roger Brousse (8 June 1901 – 24 September 1975) was a French boxer. He competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1924, Brousse initially was awarded the victory on points in his quarter-final bout of the middleweight class. However, he was late ...

of France in the quarter-finals, and after the decision came down 2–1 in favour of Brousse, Mallin showed the referee fresh teeth marks on his chest, which further examination proved that Mallin had definitely been bitten by his French opponent. Brousse was disqualified, clearing the way for Mallin to win his second gold medal. After the incident versus Brousse, Mallin was referred to by one reporter as "the unroasted human beef of Old England". Mallin was the first to successfully defend an Olympic title in two consecutive games, and still remains the only male British boxer to do so. Subsequently, he managed the British Olympic boxing teams at the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

Summer Olympics. In 1937, he achieved the distinction of being the first British television sports commentator, when he gave commentary on two boxing matches that were broadcast by the BBC from

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

. Henry Mallin died at a nursing home in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

in November 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallin, Harry 1892 births 1969 deaths People from Hackney Wick Sportspeople from the London Borough of Hackney Boxers from Greater London English male boxers Middleweight boxers Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1924 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain England Boxing champions Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Metropolitan Police officers