John Anthony Conteh, MBE, was born in Toxteth, Liverpool on the 27th of May 1951, one of ten siblings to an Irish mother and Sierra Leonean father living in Vine Street, off Myrtle Street. His family moved to a council estate in Kirkby, Merseyside, when he was a child where his father encouraged him and his brothers to take up boxing to stay out of trouble, leading him to join the Kirkby Amateur Boxing Club at the age of 10 when it opened. Originally an RAF base, on the base there was the officers' mess which Kirkby Urban District Council gave to the highway superintendent Mr Atkinson as a boxing gym in 1961. John and his brothers attended St Kevins RC Comprehensive School and John proved his talent from a young age and won the middleweight gold medal at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, aged just 19. Turning professional in 1971, in just two years he featured on the undercard of Muhammad Ali’s clash with Joe Bugner in Las Vegas, stopping former world heavyweight title challenger Terry Daniels in seven rounds. The European title followed, along with back-to-back wins over Chris Finnegan to confirm John as the country’s premier light-heavyweight. Despite leaving a legacy in light heavyweight history, John’s first 18 bouts were actually at heavyweight, albeit, he was only ever a few pounds over the 175lbs limit, while many of his opponents weighed north of 200lbs. In the absence of the Cruiserweight division, John fought the bigger men to gain publicity, which also included two contests on 'The Greatest’s' undercards. Muhammad Ali would often joke with Conteh saying, ‘Get out of my division!’, but it was the prolific heavyweight who also suggested that Britain’s boxing darling pursue a title shot in a lower division. He was now being featured on the front cover of a number of publications, including the 'Wings' album, 'Band on The Run'. Paul McCartney, a big boxing fan would often be seen cheering Conteh from ringside, and the two soon struck up a friendship. Having
stopped domestic rival Chris Finnegan in the second fight of a
thrilling trilogy in May 1974, he was handed a shot at the vacant WBC
world title. "That was fantastic," John declared. " On the 1st of October 1974, fighting Jorge Ahumada from Argentina" he claimed the title of Britain's first light-heavyweight champion of the world in over 25 years defeating Ahumada over 15 tough rounds at the Empire Pool, Wembley to claim the vacant WBC crown. He defended it three times before being controversially stripped by WBC president José Sulaimán, who reportedly held little regard for the Briton, for not going through with a mandatory defence.
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| Conteh vs. Ahumada |
John was the British Superstars competition champion in 1974, the second year of the televised sporting event. The same year he appeared on the BBC television programme 'Sporting Legends' which was presented by Eamonn Holmes. There he spoke at length at how he started out in boxing and how Ali persuaded him to fight at light-heavyweight instead of heavyweight. Ali believed that Conteh was too small to be a heavyweight.
His bid to reclaim his title ended in frustration, a split-decision loss to Mate Parlov in front of 40,000 fans in Serbia in 1978. A year later, he was engaged in a brutal war with the new champion, Matthew Saad Muhammad. He lost on points in a controversial decision and suffered a heavy defeat in the rematch in 1980 and retired the same year aged 29 with a professional record of 34 wins and 1 draw and 4 losses and seven world title fights. It had been announced that Muhammad's first victory was declared void because his cornermen had used an illegal substance on a cut, hence the rematch.
The kid from Kirkby was one of the most iconic handsome boxers from the 1970s, enjoying all the trappings of superstar status, the leather jackets with fur trim, bespoke Saville Row suits and a Rolls Royce with the number plate, 'JC 1'.
Many boxing fans consider John Conteh to be Britain’s greatest ever fighter.
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