Chris Finnegan

Christopher Martin “Chris” Finnegan was a southpaw who boxed as a middleweight in the amateur code and made his name as a light heavyweight professional. He was born in Iver, Buckinghamshire, on 5 June 1944. He was one of eight children, with a father from Liverpool and a mother from Newry, and he carried that mixed background into the ring by wearing both the Union Flag and a shamrock on his trunks. He died on 2 March 2009 in Uxbridge, aged 64.

Finnegan’s amateur story was the making of him and, in places, nearly the undoing. He worked as a hod carrier while he boxed, won the 1966 ABA middleweight title, then came close to packing it in when John Turpin, the man he beat in the ABA final, was selected ahead of him for the 1966 Commonwealth Games. Defeat at the 1967 European Championships and an eye injury threatened his Olympic hopes, and he went badly off course when he thought the chance had gone. A box off arranged by Dick Gunn, his trainer at Hayes boxing club, brought him back into contention, and even then, he nearly missed Mexico City because of a small but awkward debt in National Insurance stamps. At the 1968 Olympics, he was dropped early by Tanzania’s Titus Simba and had to climb back into himself, then outpointed Mate Parlov, survived standing counts against the American Al Jones, and edged the Soviet Aleksei Kiselyov 3 to 2 for Olympic gold at middleweight, Britain’s last boxing gold until 2000. He was awarded the MBE in February 1969.

Within months, he was a professional, and the reasons were plain enough; the gold medal did not pay the bills for long. Managed by Sam Burns and trained by Freddie Hill, he debuted on 9 December 1968, and his early run was brisk: 13 wins in his first 14, the only blot a cut-eye stoppage loss to Danny Ashie. Those early fights had substance, too. Brendan Ingle was among the opponents, and he beat Harry Scott, then ranked Britain’s leading middleweight. In his fifteenth bout, he was thrown in as a late replacement against the reigning European middleweight champion, Tom Bogs, in Copenhagen and lost a close 15-round decision, a harsh education but the sort of night that tells you whether a man is merely brave or properly equipped.

Finnegan’s peak as a professional came quickly once he settled at light heavyweight. On 24 January 1971, at London’s Grosvenor House, he stopped Eddie Avoth in the 15th and final round to win the British and British Commonwealth titles, a gruelling finish that suited a man who liked his work honest and his victories earned. Four months later in Berlin, he challenged Conny Velensek for the European title and drew, and he took the belt the second time at Nottingham Ice Rink with a unanimous 15-round decision. He was named Ring Magazine’s “prospect of the year” for 1971 and defended the European crown by knocking out Jan Lubbers in eight at the Royal Albert Hall, a rare statement finish at championship distance.

The night the wider public remembers is Wembley, 26 September 1972, when he challenged Bob Foster for the world light heavyweight title. Finnegan went in as a heavy underdog against a champion who had been making short work of contenders, yet he stayed with Foster deep into the fight and was only stopped in the 14th of a punishing contest later voted Fight of the Year. Six weeks on, he was back at Wembley and lost his European title to Rüdiger Schmidtke on a 12th-round stoppage after suffering a bad cut on the nose, and the pattern of the back end of his career was set: hard fights, cuts, and little time to recover. He defended the British and Commonwealth titles with a 15-round decision over Roy John, then lost on points to the emerging John Conteh, beat Mike Quarry over ten, and was stopped on cuts in a Conteh rematch. He also lost a British title decision to Johnny Frankham before turning the tables to avenge it and win the Lonsdale Belt outright, the final meaningful act of a career built on stubbornness as much as skill.

Finnegan retired in 1975 after surgery for a detached retina, the kind of injury that ends arguments as well as careers, and his professional record closed at 29 wins, 7 losses, and 1 draw from 37 bouts, with 16 knockouts. He died after several weeks in hospital suffering from pneumonia, and his legacy sits in two distinct ledgers that rarely belong to the same man: Olympic champion at middleweight, then British, Commonwealth, and European champion at light heavyweight, a southpaw who could do the hard rounds and, on his best nights, make world-class men earn every inch of the ring.