I met John Conteh today.

[Srebmun]

On the platform in Baker St, so just said "Sorry to bother you John... but you're an absolute legend" then rode the tube to Waterloo with him (about 10 minutes) talking about boxing, incl' Ali, him fighting in Dublin on the Ali vs Al Blue lewis undercard, Gypsey fighting, John H Stracey etc.. brilliant, totally chuffed!!

Got a photo with him too. He was a proper gentleman, he looked great and was busting jokes too. He even gave me his e-mail address and asked me to send him the photo.

How cool.

[Collins2000]

Always comes across as a nice guy when interviewed on TV.

His first fight with Saad Muhammad is an absolute classic.

[jimglen]

I met Conteh last year in Scotland, my wife and I had a right good laugh with him, talked with him about the "Band on the Run!" album cover.

Excellent lad and boxer too!

[Mr E]

Always comes across as a nice guy when interviewed on TV.

His first fight with Saad Muhammad is an absolute classic.

That was a great fight. I always thought John Conteh could/should have been an all-timer if not for the injuries (and his legendary love of the good life...). Class guy with real talent!

[Adamj1987]

lucky man glad to hear hes a nice bloke

[granberry]

Conteh had hand trouble.

[delisa]

SO let's see the photo!

He was one of my favorites. If I recall correctly there is a youtube of him on This is Your Life from around the band on the Run era.

[harrygreb]

the conteh who won the title was an animal in the ring. vicious puncher with aggresion in bucketloads. he has to be a top 3 brit of all time. there was a time when team conteh were thinking of getting john up to heavyweight to challenger bugner. peak conteh would have had a chance too.
not only that he has a great sense of humour as displayed on the weakest link a few months ago. i really like and rate john conteh.

[McCannW14]

I met Conteh last year in Scotland, my wife and I had a right good laugh with him, talked with him about the "Band on the Run!" album cover.

Excellent lad and boxer too!

I'd second that.

Terrific bloke and one of the best post war boxers we ghave ever had. Second only imo to Ken Buchanan

[Counter-puncher]

i think the most allround talented British fighter I have ever seen

mentioning Buchanan, I've often thought Conteh was somewhat like a 175lb upscaled version of Buchanan stylewise, with a bit more bite and pop p4p.

[harrygreb]

hhmmm...buchanan was a brilliant boxer but he had a classic brit upright style. john fought in a more american style and from the opening bell wanted to rip your head off. kenny wanted to box you into a daze. both men are a credit to the sport

[Counter-puncher]

oh, indeed, but largely i'd say Conteh could fight like that because he had more bite to his punches p4p than Buchanan did. Conteh was perhaps less upright than Buchanan but he was still not exactly James Toney on that front. i bet, anyhow, if Buchanan had more pop in his shots he would have been more aggressive in the way Conteh was.

also, if you look at their footwork and especailly the way they threw the jab off it (have any british fighters doubled and tripled the jab to better effect than these two?), I'd say they were pretty similar stylistically for men with 40lbs weight difference between them. probably my two favourite british boxers to watch, skillswise

[harrygreb]

cant agree more

how do you think conteh would have done against the natural heavy that was joe bugner?

[harrygreb]

thats right, ultimately john would have struggled at heavy, though. i reckon he would have given bugner problems in a bout and perhaps lost a close UD over 15 (might have nicked it over 12)

[Counter-puncher]

cant agree more

how do you think conteh would have done against the natural heavy that was joe bugner?

probably a quite boring fight with Bugner's defensive tendencies- maybe with a smaller man he would be more aggressive but even if he were, i think Conteh was skilled enough that he wouldn't get stopped by the bigger man

i should have said, by the way, the similarity i am suggesting between Conteh and Buchanan was much more pronounced in the Conteh of the late 70s, the one with the bad right hand who had to rely on the jab much more

[harrygreb]

makes sense

[bennie]

The man is an absolute lunatic. He would have nutted all the blood out of Bugner (as Earnie Shavers busted up Joe). I had the misfortune to meet him in the 1980s. I tried having a polite conversation with him but quickly gained the impression I was dealing with an unhinged individual.

[harrygreb]

thats how i like my fighters to be, bennie