Bunce Diary: Memories of The Dancing Destroyer

HERBIE HIDE was from another time.

There was a gym once in Camden Town, not far fromย the modern Camden Boxing gym, where Herbie Hide once stared at a nail for an hour.

It’sย a long story with a stop in Las Vegas, the new Denย and a courtroom or two.

At the new gym last week, Adam Aziz, was going through the motions of a media day. He was slick, posed wonderfully, smiledย and he is still only a baby in boxing years. Once, in Jim McDonnellโ€™s gym just down the road in Camden, a sparring session in front of the media turned ugly and Hideย let his punches and senses go after the bell.

At another press conference to announce a world title fight, there was a full-scale fist fight with his opponent. One nightย at York Hall, when he was there to push a fight with Audley Harrison, there was a riot. No, a proper riot with the lights on and the police walking through the wrecked seating.ย He might have been innocent of all three skirmishes: Welcome to the world of Herbie Hide.

So, one night in Las Vegas in the summer ofย 2019, Riddick Bowe was at an old bar telling boxing stories. An hour or two earlier he had been sellingย selfies inside the MGM; in the bar he was eyeingย another gangย of eager fans. Boweโ€™s tumble from greatnessย remainsย one of boxingโ€™s tragic modern tales.

โ€œThe hardest I was ever hit was by Herbie Hide,โ€ Bowe said. โ€œDamn, he was brave and dangerous.โ€ Most of theย people listening had never heard of Hide.

Herbie Hide is, without any doubt, British boxingโ€™sย most invisible and forgotten โ€˜world heavyweight championโ€™. He is one of British boxingโ€™s lost fighters. Hideโ€™s trip to Las Vegas to lose his WBO title to Bowe is seldomย mentioned when heavyweight fights are discussed.

The Bowe fight was Hideโ€™s first defence. He had won the title by knocking out Michael Bentt in 1994, outdoors at Millwallโ€™s stadium. That fight is also forgotten. Hide also regained the heavyweight title, made two defencesย and lost it one night, when he was the betting favourite, to Vitali Klitschko in 1999. That was a weird night at the old London Arena.

In 1995, at the MGM in Las Vegas, Hide was dropped a total of six times before the merciful ending in the sixth round. He had, as Bowe admitted, hurt the big man. Hide went on to have 22ย more fights after that night and remained an enigma and a danger. Hideโ€™s last fight was in 2010, a bizarre Prizefighter appearance at York Hall; he won, but had to withdraw with a terrible cut.

The giant house that Hideย built was paid for by the money he madeย losing to Bowe. A few years later, at a party, a man was killed at the house. Hide was not there at the time. Hide was in a lot of scrapes, that is for sure.

After the loss to Bowe, there was a quick fight for the vacant WBO title whenย Hideย dropped and stopped Tony Tuckerย in just two rounds in 1997. Hide was just 25 when he regained the title. Hide stopped a lot of his opponentsย with both fists; he finished his career with 53 fights, 49 wins, 43 quick and just the four losses. When he lost to Bowe, heย entered the ring unbeaten in 26 fights with 25 ending quick.

โ€œIt just seemed that somethingย would always go wrong,โ€ Hide once said to me.ย โ€œI get a big fight;ย I get a win and then somethingย happens,ย and it all goes wrong.โ€ He was known as The Dancing Destroyer, a name given to him by Darkie Smith one night during a long drive back from somewhere like Preston. Well, thatโ€™sย the version I remember; there are two or three versions to most Hide stories.

Hide did have some spectacular fallouts with people. There were court dates and legal threats. He was banned from a couple of channels for swearing. He would always apologiseย later. He did me like a kipper on Setanta and then a few years later, when his book was out, he repeated the word on BoxNation.ย โ€œYou are game for having me back,โ€ he said, by way of a warning.

โ€œLosing to Bowe made me tougher,โ€ he once said. He had the ability to take big men out with just one punch and he could unravel. His two fights with the tough Joseph Chinganguย serve as a perfect example of the good and the very badย Hide. Chinganguย stopped Hide on a Harrison undercard in a shock, and then was stopped in a round when they fought again. Hide had been battling demons on the so-called safe side of the ropes. Everybody in the Herbie Hide business knew about his struggles, and today he might have gotย some help. He was, however, accused of some nasty stuff.

โ€œHerbie never had a great lifestyle; I tried to make him think differently and change the way he lived,โ€ said McDonnell. The nail idea, incidentally, was to improve concentration.

And then there are Hideโ€™s crimes and misdemeanours. It’sย a disturbing list with convictions, appeals, accusations going both ways, innocence, guilt, being cleared and being in bad, bad company. It’sย a sad list of ugliness.

One sunny afternoon in 2007, in Hideโ€™s gated community in Las Vegas, I was over interviewing him in his kitchen when Crocodile, aka Steve Fitch, wandered down from an upstairs bedroom. Crocodile was Mike Tysonโ€™s eternal fixer and mouthpiece. He was a player in Las Vegas. I think Hideย was Crocโ€™s next project; at that time, Hide was simply putting a roof over a friendโ€™sย head. Crocodile had his child with him. โ€œHeโ€™s a cool guy and needed somewhere to crash,โ€ Hide told me with a shrug.

Hide could really fight. It is a pity that he gets no attention for his boxing. ย He was better at fighting than heย everย was at criminality.

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