Micky Carter

A member of the famous Repton Boxing Club, Micky Carter was the 1965 junior ABA flyweight champion after extending his two-year unbeaten run as a junior by beating Graham Frankish. After moving up to the senior ranks, Carter fought as a bantamweight and won both the 1967 and 1968 ABA finals by beating Lew Yearwood and Les Pickett respectively.

Selected for the 1968 Olympics, London Stock Exchange jobber Carter reached the third round of the bantamweight division before controversially losing to the eventual gold medallist Valerian Sokolov (USSR). In the first round of their contest, Sokolov landed a powerful blow, which winded Carter. He took to the canvas on one knee to take a rest while the referee counted. Carter was up at the count of eight and ready to resume fighting, but the Japanese referee Hozumi Tanaka continued counting and counted out Carter.

An appeal was made, and failed, as Carter fell foul of yet another piece of dreadful refereeing at the Mexico Games. Needless-to-say, Tanaka became the sixth referee to be removed from the 40-man list of officials at the Games. On 8 November 1968, after a two-round victory over Bob Hanley at Bermondsey, Carter announced his retirement from the ring after 14 senior amateur contests that saw him lose just that once - controversially.