Alan Minter his winning streak ended when he lost to former world title challenger Ronnie Harris by a knockout in eight. Minter returned to top ten challenger status by upsetting the former World Welterweight and Light Middleweight Champion Emile Griffith with a ten-round decision win in Monte Carlo, but then he lost his European title to Gratien Tonna by a knockout in eight at Milan. He closed '77 with a third 15-round decision win over Finnegan to retain his British title. 1978 was a sad year for Minter, although he won all three of his bouts. On 15 February, at the Muhammad
Undisputed champion about WBA's alleged lack of desire to support professional boxing outside of the USA. In April 1983, members of United States Boxing Association along with Robert W. Lee (a former WBA vice-president) voted to expand the organisation and form the USBA-International. The organization later changed the name to International Boxing Federation. The inaugural IBF Heavyweight Champion was Larry Holmes, who relinquished the WBC title to accept IBF's recognition, thus helping the newly formed organization to establish its legitimacy. The fragmentation of titles was thus increased. After some negotiations, the heavyweight title was unified in the heavyweight unification series, a series