Seven, eight, nine, 10 … the Belgian referee stopped counting and, spreading his arms wide to signal the end of the fight, he stared down sympathetically at the prone figure lying on the canvas. The British boxer and war hero Frank Dove’s Olympic career was over after less than five minutes of action at the Celebration Hall in Antwerp, cut down by a sledgehammer right hander to the jaw from Denmark’s Søren Petersen.
Just a handful of fans and officials were scattered around the ring on that warm August afternoon more than a hundred years ago to witness a quarter-final bout in the heavyweight competition.
