John Conteh vs Jorge Ahumada

Liverpool's John Conteh won the vacant WBC light-heavyweight championship by outpointing Jorge Ahumada over 15 demanding rounds at the Empire Pool, Wembley, on October 1, 1974. Referee Harry Gibbs, acting as the sole scoring official under the British system then in use, awarded Conteh the contest by 147 points to 142. There were no three judges and no unanimous decision; the three scorecards quoted in some later accounts do not belong to this fight.

Bob Foster had relinquished the championship after his long reign at 175 pounds. Ahumada had already established his right to contest the vacancy by holding Foster to a draw in Albuquerque four months earlier, in a bout many observers believed the Argentine had won. Conteh had earned the British, Commonwealth and European championships and strengthened his position by stopping Chris Finnegan in six rounds in their return contest. Both men weighed 174 pounds.

The fight was hard and closely contested from the beginning. Conteh attempted to use his quicker hands, straighter punches and greater mobility, while Ahumada advanced steadily and sought to reduce the contest to exchanges at close and middle range. The Argentine was strong through the body and difficult to discourage. Conteh met him with both hands rather than relying solely upon the left jab, landing combinations as Ahumada came forward and then trying to move before the challenger could establish himself inside.

Neither man was able to secure a comfortable command during the first half. Conteh produced the cleaner boxing and often caught Ahumada on the way in, but the Argentine maintained his pressure and obliged the Englishman to fight at a severe pace. Ahumada accepted punches to deliver his own and remained dangerous whenever Conteh stayed within range. The exchanges became increasingly direct, with both men working to head and body and neither willing to concede ground for long.

Ahumada made his strongest impression in the eighth round when a heavy right to the chin hurt Conteh. The blow checked the home boxer’s movement and gave the Argentine encouragement to press harder. By the tenth round a swelling beneath Conteh’s right eye had become more pronounced, and his earlier sharpness appeared to be fading. Ahumada continued coming forward, forcing exchanges and giving the impression that Conteh’s early work might be slipping away. The crowd, which had begun the evening in confident support of the Liverpool boxer, grew noticeably apprehensive.

Conteh recovered in the 11th and began to regain control. He found sufficient strength to meet Ahumada’s advance with firmer combinations and prevented the Argentine from dominating the closing stages. The 12th was fought largely at close quarters, with both men exchanging heavily. Conteh obtained the more telling advantage when he drove a solid left-right combination into Ahumada’s head. The challenger’s left eye, already swelling from Conteh’s punches, deteriorated further during the round.

By the 13th, Ahumada’s left eye had closed. Conteh continued to direct punches towards the damaged side while using his feet more effectively than he had in the middle rounds. Ahumada remained willing and advanced whenever he could, but his punches had begun to lose force, and the impaired vision made it harder for him to follow Conteh’s movement or see the right hand coming. The momentum had passed back to the British boxer.

Conteh finished strongly through the final two rounds. Ahumada still tried to force exchanges, but his work no longer carried the same authority, and Conteh was able to beat him to the punch with greater regularity. The crowd, alarmed only a few rounds earlier, responded loudly as Conteh maintained his recovery and carried the fight to its conclusion. Both men remained on their feet after 15 rounds, their faces showing the effects of a contest fought at a consistently hard pace.

Gibbs returned his score of 147–142 for Conteh, giving the 23-year-old the WBC championship. The margin was clear, although it did not convey the danger Conteh had faced after being hurt in the eighth and tiring towards the end of the tenth. His decisive work came in the last five rounds, when he recovered his balance, damaged Ahumada’s left eye and finished with the stronger punches. Ahumada had provided the severe test expected of a man who had recently extended Foster, but Conteh’s late rally, two-handed combinations and superior accuracy secured the championship.

Amazingly, I can still remember watching this fight and thinking what a hard slog it was from beginning to end. There was nothing easy or glamorous about it. Jorge Ahumada was a genuinely tough man who had recently held Bob Foster to a draw and believed he had already done enough to become champion. He came to win, kept pressing and made Conteh earn every inch.

Conteh had worked his whole life for that moment and was not going to surrender it easily. His quicker hands and straighter combinations gave him the early advantage, but Ahumada kept dragging him into heavy exchanges. When the Argentine hurt him with a right hand in the eighth, then continued pressing as the swelling worsened beneath Conteh’s right eye, I thought the title might be slipping away. By the tenth, Conteh looked tired and was having to dig deep.

What impressed me was how he found another gear. From the 11th onwards, Conteh began beating Ahumada to the punch again. His left-right combination in the 12th damaged the Argentine’s left eye, which closed completely in the 13th. Ahumada never stopped trying, but his punches lost their weight, and Conteh finished strongly.

Harry Gibbs scored it 147–142, and I thought that was fair. Conteh deserved it, but the margin does not explain the physical hardship involved. This was not a masterclass. It was two proud men digging into themselves, and Conteh proving he could fight as hard as he could box.