Look back through history and you'll see a minority of small men who have bestridden the world of sport like giants. In the 1990s, Prince Naseem Hamed briefly flourished as, pound-for-pound, the most entertaining boxer in the world. In the 1980s, Diego Maradona delighted football fans and sellers of hard drugs in equal amounts, and became one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. In the 1950s and 60s, Willy 'The Shoe' Shoemaker rode a record 8,833 winners despite a stature of 4ft 11in which, even by jockey's standards, was titchy.

When Tony Bloom bustles into an Italian caf?