RIP Chris Finnegan

[dondada]

Indeed, RIP Chris.

[Captain Hook]

RIP - great fighter

[TerribleTerry]

Both brothers pass away within months of each other :(

I saw his fight with Bob Foster many, many years ago on Sky Sports (when they used to reshow classic fights)

It was a valiant effort from Chris. I didnt realise at the time just how good the skinny, tall black guy he was fighting was

RIP - A true British great

[GlobalBox]

One of my first memories of boxing was waking up one morning and my dad telling me we had won a gold in the boxing and to this day for some reason I have always remembered that moment

RIP Chris

[fatcity69]

Terribly sad news and just a few months after his brothers death. His fight with foster is a classic and he gave a near peak john conteh 2 very tough fights. His biography is one of the best boxing biograhies I have read, funny, hard hitting and extremely vivid. RIP

[Poncey]

If only that fight was 12 rounds. RIP Legend. :(

[Quixall]

R.I.P

[banjo]

R.I.P.

I saw a rerun of his fight with Foster on Boxing Gold years ago, one hell of a showing against one of the greatest fighters of all time.

[DG.]

RIP.

[Datsue]

R.I.P.

[stujones]

RIP - I am really shocked.

[fatcity69]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sydney/story/ ... 59,00.html

I thought people might like to read this. Kind of funny story that I have read quite often concerning Chris, he was certainly a colourful and endearing character.

[Old bones Ian]

R.I.P Chris

here's another story from his gold medal winning day.

"I thought I had a good chance of winning a medal. I had seen or fought most of the best middleweights in Europe and didn't think there was anything to fear," Finnegan now recalls.
"I had four fights before the final and felt my confidence growing and growing."
There were few negative thoughts as he emerged from the dressing room to take on Kisselyov, who four years earlier had fought as a light-heavyweight in Tokyo.

"As we came out I saw the rostrum and jumped onto the gold medal platform and told our trainer David Jones that I was going to be back here in nine minutes," said Finnegan.

"He probably thought I was getting a bit over confident but he just said, 'I dearly hope so Chris'."

[harrygreb]

i listened to chris's tilt at fosters title live on the radio in 1972 and me and my dad both thought he was in with a chance. he won the first 3 rounds and then foster came on strong. what a fight then ensued!! i'll never forget the courage and will to win shown by chris and he outfought bob on numerous occasions through to the fateful 14th. i was 11 years old and even then my heart swelled with pride listening to finnegans great effort. i watched his career very closely even before the foster bout. the cut on the bridge of his nose against shmidke to lose the european belt was a bad night. but there were loads of great nights too.
i loved chris and i'll never forget his massive contribution to my childhood memories in our sport.
RIP champ. have one on me

[bennie]

Former British, Commonwealth and European light-heavyweight champion Chris Finnegan has died in hospital of pneumonia - just four months after his younger brother Kevin was found dead at the relatively young age of 60.
Chris, 64, a brave, talented, beautifully balanced southpaw from Buckinghamshire and above all a big man with a big personality, also struck Olympic gold from a field packed with middleweight talent in Mexico City in 1968, bettering the likes of Mate Parlov, American Al Jones and the fancied Aleksey Kiselyov of the old Soviet Union to do so, among others, and quickly grew into a natural light-heavyweight.
Not a puncher and always likely to spill the claret (there was a fair amount of Guinness spilling too), Chris knew more than anyone he needed to adapt his clever, counterpunching style to the pro scene and, under the guidance of London trainer Freddie Hill and manager Sam Burns, fought on dinner shows and even overseas (both, shades of Ken Buchanan) as he evolved into an aggressive menace of a fighter still able to pick off rivals between rucks and willing to do so with anyone.
Kevin had his three wars with Alan Minter and two with someone called Marvin Hagler (Hagler later described Kevin as "The toughest man I ever fought."); Chris, by now a popular figure at the big London venues, mixed it with the vicious John Conteh twice (Matthew Saad Muhammad was the only other man brave enough to tackle Conteh twice) and the magnificent Bob Foster in a magnificent crack at the undisputed world light-heavyweight title in 1972 at Wembley. Foster routinely took out heavyweights (and spilled Ali's blood), half-killed most light-heavyweights (Dick Tiger, Vicente Rondon, poor Mike Quarry...) and would have wiped out someone like Joe Calzaghe in less than three rounds, if you forgive my nostalgic swipe at today's fighters versus those of the past, but I do not exaggerate with Foster. To continue, Bob was one of those fighters who, like Joe Louis and Mike Tyson, licked most of his opponents before they had even left the dressing room. However, fearless Chris got stuck into the giant American and kept punching and punching until weariness, more than anything, enabled Foster to nail him in the 14th round and finish it with his usual one punch. Ring magazine voted it Fight of 1972.
Chris later said that fighting Foster was like fighting someone with a loaded gun. He liked to recall his encounter with a scary George Foreman in Mexico City, where George, who also won the gold, and on the prompting of team-mate Al Jones, attempted to intimidate Chris. He simply found himself sneering at a happy-go-lucky, loveable Engish rogue, impossible to intimidate, impossible to dispirit.
Finnegan proceeded to thrash Jones, while Foreman never fought a British man as a pro.
Conteh, by the way, outscored Chris over 15 competitive rounds at Wembley in 1973, then butted him out of the rematch in six rounds a year later. Chris saw more of Conteh's head than any wedding photographer. He jokingly labelled the Scouser "ol' pickle head". As for Finnegan's relationship with trainer Hill, it almost echoed that of the fighter's marriage to the bubbly, tiny, glamorous Cheryl: they argued and argued, cared and cared and simply lived life as it should be lived - spontaneously.
Chris was determined never to return to the hod-carrying world fom whence he came and when Reading's Johnny Frankham outpointed him for the British title in 1975 it looked like the beginning of the end for the ageing Finnegan but he shrugged off an underdog tag to win back the title in fine style just four months later but eye problems were really affecting him by this time (he wound up with a glass eye and once gave me a fatherly, kindly smike, glass eye clearly visible) and the Frankham win proved to be his last ring appearance.
Chris made a living in the pub trade for years after that, Cheryl and Hill now long-departed. Chris could really fight, you know. He gave Foster and Conteh harder battles than most people remember and won his Olympic gold at serious altitude.
Mickey Duff wrote of Chris and Kevin: "The Finnegan brothers were undoubtedly gifted."
Coming from the rather ungenerous Duff, that is praise indeed.

[harrygreb]

cheers bennie. and cheers chris

[Autobarn]

Former British, Commonwealth and European light-heavyweight champion Chris Finnegan has died in hospital of pneumonia - just four months after his younger brother Kevin was found dead at the relatively young age of 60.
Chris, 64, a brave, talented, beautifully balanced southpaw from Buckinghamshire and above all a big man with a big personality, also struck Olympic gold from a field packed with middleweight talent in Mexico City in 1968, bettering the likes of Mate Parlov, American Al Jones and the fancied Aleksey Kiselyov of the old Soviet Union to do so, among others, and quickly grew into a natural light-heavyweight.
Not a puncher and always likely to spill the claret (there was a fair amount of Guinness spilling too), Chris knew more than anyone he needed to adapt his clever, counterpunching style to the pro scene and, under the guidance of London trainer Freddie Hill and manager Sam Burns, fought on dinner shows and even overseas (both, shades of Ken Buchanan) as he evolved into an aggressive menace of a fighter still able to pick off rivals between rucks and willing to do so with anyone.
Kevin had his three wars with Alan Minter and two with someone called Marvin Hagler (Hagler later described Kevin as "The toughest man I ever fought."); Chris, by now a popular figure at the big London venues, mixed it with the vicious John Conteh twice (Matthew Saad Muhammad was the only other man brave enough to tackle Conteh twice) and the magnificent Bob Foster in a magnificent crack at the undisputed world light-heavyweight title in 1972 at Wembley. Foster routinely took out heavyweights (and spilled Ali's blood), half-killed most light-heavyweights (Dick Tiger, Vicente Rondon, poor Mike Quarry...) . To continue, Bob was one of those fighters who, like Joe Louis and Mike Tyson, licked most of his opponents before they had even left the dressing room. However, fearless Chris got stuck into the giant American and kept punching and punching until weariness, more than anything, enabled Foster to nail him in the 14th round and finish it with his usual one punch. Ring magazine voted it Fight of 1972.
Chris later said that fighting Foster was like fighting someone with a loaded gun. He liked to recall and would have wiped out someone like Joe Calzaghe in less than three rounds, if you forgive my nostalgic swipe at today's fighters versus those of the past, but I do not exaggerate with Fosterhis encounter with a scary George Foreman in Mexico City, where George, who also won the gold, and on the prompting of team-mate Al Jones, attempted to intimidate Chris. He simply found himself sneering at a happy-go-lucky, loveable Engish rogue, impossible to intimidate, impossible to dispirit.
Finnegan proceeded to thrash Jones, while Foreman never fought a British man as a pro.
Conteh, by the way, outscored Chris over 15 competitive rounds at Wembley in 1973, then butted him out of the rematch in six rounds a year later. Chris saw more of Conteh's head than any wedding photographer. He jokingly labelled the Scouser "ol' pickle head". As for Finnegan's relationship with trainer Hill, it almost echoed that of the fighter's marriage to the bubbly, tiny, glamorous Cheryl: they argued and argued, cared and cared and simply lived life as it should be lived - spontaneously.
Chris was determined never to return to the hod-carrying world fom whence he came and when Reading's Johnny Frankham outpointed him for the British title in 1975 it looked like the beginning of the end for the ageing Finnegan but he shrugged off an underdog tag to win back the title in fine style just four months later but eye problems were really affecting him by this time (he wound up with a glass eye and once gave me a fatherly, kindly smike, glass eye clearly visible) and the Frankham win proved to be his last ring appearance.
Chris made a living in the pub trade for years after that, Cheryl and Hill now long-departed. Chris could really fight, you know. He gave Foster and Conteh harder battles than most people remember and won his Olympic gold at serious altitude.
Mickey Duff wrote of Chris and Kevin: "The Finnegan brothers were undoubtedly gifted."
Coming from the rather ungenerous Duff, that is praise indeed.

No light heavy is even dropping Calzaghe, never mind stoppig him.

[galway jack]

I was lucky enough to see Chris box in the 1967 London ABA's at Wembley .....with Cheryl cheering him on from ringside !

Chris won the ABA title that year but in 1968 lost a controversial verdict to a Welshman callled Alan Ball in the Final . Brother Kevin jumped in the ring during the following bout as a protest at the decision .

I can't remember how it ended up with Chris getting picked for Mexico in 68 . I saw on Wikipedia today that Chris won a box-off for the Olympic berth . Maybe Benny can recall the sequence of events .

That year the BBC showed all the Boxing finals in a show that ran through the night . There were some great bouts . I think it was a storming last round that won it for Chris . And I think I'm right in saying that as the Light Heavyweight title was won on a walkover , the next bout up was big George Foreman winning Heavyweight gold .

The general feeling was that Chris would struggle as a pro ... too much a traditional amateur stylist . He proved them wrong though . No question he'd have been a World Champ today ... and a real one too .

RIP Chris

[Old bones Ian]

Peter McCann won the ABA's in 1968, Chris had lost in an earlier bout due to a cut eye.
There was a box-off arranged , but not sure of the reason it never happened.

Chris was selected by the committee, and Peter angry at being looked over turned pro. There was some calls that it was a North/South decision by the committee to send Chris, as McCann was from Birkenhead, but it was the right decision as the gold medal came home with Chris.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

I remember reading an article about Prince Phillip who was part of the GB olympic equestrian
team in Mexico City giving a pep talk to the whole British team about altitude and how it didn't
affect him - and then Chris Finnegan piped up -

'Yes sir - but wot about the 'orses?' which was greeted with peals of laughter from the rest
of the team

RIP.

[harrygreb]

my brother just reminded me that, in our tussles in the living room back when we were boys, i was always chris and he was always jan lubbers the dutchman. in the living room, as in the ring, chris always gave lubbers a proper pasting.

[Autobarn]

What was the Foster fight like? Was it really a classic?

[WildWaylon]

Very sad, now they are both gone. I remember their fights very well. Chris was slightly older than me while Kevin was a little younger so being roughly the same age I followed their careers. The Foster fight as everyone has already mentioned was the outstanding fight. Great lads, great entertainment. RIP God Bless.

[clubberlang]

I read an interview with Chris at Kevin’s funerals; he sounded like he was heartbroken in a life’s not worth living anymore kind of way, very sad.

RIP Chris & Kevin Finnegan