Harry Mullan, man of dignity

HARRY MULLAN was a fine boxing writer, whose work was blessed with an essential dignity and spirit. Harry - as proud of it as he was, I don't think anyone used his full name of Patrick Henry Pearse Mullan - wrote for this newspaper for six years until last year. That alone was a fine body of work, and there were other stints on the Sunday Times and, more latterly, Sport First.

Boxing people will remember him as a forthright, often controversial editor of trade paper Boxing News, a position he held from 1977-96. He could be provocative, occasionally intransigent, but was always fiercely proud of his integrity. He loved boxing and worked to understand it, finding an authority in his writing as a result of the depth of his knowledge.

His family apart (he leaves wife Jessie, children Siobhan, Kevin and Ian, and four grandchildren) boxing was the subject that drew him in, captivated him and long afforded him a clarity of purpose. His death from cancer at 53 leaves a huge gap.

Harry was born in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, on 22 April, 1946, and moved to London in the late 1960s. While a schoolboy in Ireland his love affair with boxing began and, gradually, while working as a civil servant, he began to write freelance pieces. In the 1970s he was given his dream job on the Boxing News staff, and often remembered that he could never quite come to grips with the fact that he was being paid for something that he would have gladly paid to do.

From 1977 he was editor at Boxing News, and his leadership was committed. He was not afraid to stand his ground under pressure and consequently had a frosty relationship with several leading figures in the business. However, while some reacted in a combination of frustration and indignant outrage when he stuck to what he felt were proper points of view, most took the line that while they didn't agree with him, they respected his ability and authority. I am extremely proud of having worked alongside him.

He wrote a string of solid books, including the weighty Illustrated History of Boxing in 1987 and a self-published paperback Fighting Words, an anthology of his most accomplished newspaper work. He had the perception and depth to make even the potentially dry coffee table type of book a thought- provoking read. His Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Boxing is shortly to be reprinted.