THE history of British sport is strewn with iconic figures who exemplify periods when everything seemed to make sense. One decade in particular, the 1970s, falls into the category of a “case in point.”

George Best, Stan Bowles, Billy Bremner, Kevin Keegan, Sammy Nelson — the list goes on and on — all plied their footballing craft in the 1970s. In athletics Mary Peters, David Hemery and David Wilkie were in their primes. While when it comes to rugby union, among the greats were Barry John, JPR Williams, Gareth Edwards and Andy Irvine, among so many others.

No British boxer, turning to the primary object of this column, reminds us of that decade and era more than Dave Boy Green. The name alone is redolent of a time when the British working class was the strongest and most organised it had been since the second world war. The result was an economy which served the interests of society rather than the other way round, as is the case now.

Green grew up in rural Cambridgeshire. There his first experience of work as a young boy involved helping his dad on the family farm. Boxing first came into his life at age 14 in 1967, when he joined Chatteris Amateur Boxing Club. His was an amateur career of 105 bouts, of which he won 84 with 33 inside the distance.

The year that Dave Boy Green turned pro, 1974, was one of the most significant of the postwar era. It was the year of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, which brought an end to Portuguese colonialism in Africa and led the country on the path to democracy.

In the UK, meanwhile, 1974 was the high point of trade union power. It was the year in which the miners succeeded in bringing down the Tory government of Edward Heath. He’d called a snap election on the back of the anti-union mantra of “Who runs Britain?” The British electorate provided him with the resounding reply of “Not you” in the process of voting into Number 10 Labour’s Harold Wilson.

The price of a pint in 1974 was 17 pence, a bottle of whisky set you back £2.45, a loaf of bread cost 45 pence, and the starting salary of an NHS nurse was £1,692 per annum.

Slade, Gary Glitter, The New Seekers, Alvin Stardust, Mud, Led Zeppelin, Abba and David Essex were riding high in the music charts, while in the world of TV light entertainment, Love Thy Neighbour, George and Mildred, The Sweeney, It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum, and The Likely Lads were popular.

Dave Boy Green’s professional boxing career in the first two years saw him rack up 15 straight wins to earn him a shot at the British light-welterweight title in June 1976 against titleholder Joey Singleton. Green’s power wore Singleton down until the fight was stopped in the sixth round, when Singleton’s corner wisely stepped in to prevent their man from sustaining further damage.

Green’s next step, in a pro boxing career being forged at a time when titles mattered more than YouTube and Pay Per View numbers, saw him challenge for the then vacant European light-welterweight title against Jean-Baptiste Piedvache of Paris. This he won in the ninth round with a stoppage. The raw power which underpinned his work in the ring by now was not in doubt.

More broadly, the year 1976 saw a heatwave cripple the UK, with temperatures in some parts of the country hitting 90 degrees fahrenheit for 15 days straight. In the same year the English football league was won by Liverpool with QPR close runners-up, while the then much prized FA Cup was won by Southampton, who defeated Tommy Docherty’s Man Utd 1-0 at Wembley.

The following year, 1977, is when Dave Boy Green entered the ring at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on March 29 to face another British 1970s sporting icon in the person of John H Stracey. The occasion was a final eliminator for the WBC welterweight, held by Mexico’s Carlos Palomino.

Stylistically the fight pitted Green’s front foot marauding aggression against the more refined classic boxing of Stracey. From the opening bell, in front of a packed roaring crowd, Dave Boy Green jumped on his opponent and began unleashing barrages of punches to the body and head.

Stracey was unable to keep Green off, the pressure of the latter being so relentless, and at various points in the opening round, the east Londoner was in trouble. Green’s punch output in this opening round was so prodigious that it was clear he was intent on an early stoppage. However in the end Stracey survived and made it to the sanctuary of his stool.

Commentor Harry Carpenter added his customary gravitas to proceedings as the action swung back and forth. Notable by the end of the second round was Dave Boy Green’s phenomenal engine, as he continued to come forward on a classic seek and destroy mission. It worked in the end, as he emerged exhausted but victorious with a stoppage in the tenth round to set him up for a shot at the world title, the ultimate prize in boxing.

It wasn’t to be. The Mexican champion travelled to London to defend his belt against Green in London in June 1977. Green fought with his heart on his sleeve, as always, but went down to a thunderous Palomino left hook in the eleventh and was counted out. It was the first defeat of Dave Boy Green’s professional career.

The Chatteris man wasn’t done yet, however. He set about clawing his way back into contention and 10 fights later entered the ring at the Capitol Centre, Lavender, Maryland to challenge for the WBC welterweight belt once again. Facing him, defending the title, was a prime Sugar Ray Leonard.

The date was the 31st of March. By now Ronald Reagan had been ensconced in the Oval Office as the 40th President of the United States for just over two months. As with Thatcher in the UK, Reagan was no sooner in office than he kickstarted a free market deregulated capitalist revolution that was destined to upend the country’s manufacturing base and, with it, the US labour movement.

Sugar Ray Leonard did some upending of his own in the way that he dazzled and moved like a boxing ballerina to make Dave Boy Green appear to be fighting while standing in cement. Green by now was past his prime and Leonard was in his. But even if both men had been in their respective primes, Leonard still belonged on a different plane.

The inevitable came towards with end of the fourth round in the shape of an explosive combination from the majestic American to KO his opponent and end Green’s dream of winning the title at the second time of asking.

From farm boy to British and European champion, Dave Boy Green was a fighter’s fighter. No flash, no dash, just solid honest endeavour.

Maggie Thatcher would have hated him.