BoxRec

I first took notice of him when he stopped Terry Daniels, and for a few yrs it looked like this talented LHW was destined to be a great fighter. Looking back at his career three and a half decades later, and without trying to provoke anyone on the other side of the Atlantic, I've got to say, all things considered, he was a bit of an under achiever.

Seamus wrote:I first took notice of him when he stopped Terry Daniels, and for a few yrs it looked like this talented LHW was destined to be a great fighter. Looking back at his career three and a half decades later, and without trying to provoke anyone on the other side of the Atlantic, I've got to say, all things considered, he was a bit of an under achiever.

damn right, a huge talent. great combination of size, athleticism, and natural boxing instinct. one of the best jabs you'll ever see, great footwork, hooked off the jab like a dream, could lead, counter, box a lot, slug a bit..... like a more physically talented Ken Buchanan scaled up to 175lbs with added punching power p4p (but less stamina and, shall we say, commitment to training)

Counter-puncher wrote:

Seamus wrote:I first took notice of him when he stopped Terry Daniels, and for a few yrs it looked like this talented LHW was destined to be a great fighter. Looking back at his career three and a half decades later, and without trying to provoke anyone on the other side of the Atlantic, I've got to say, all things considered, he was a bit of an under achiever.

damn right, a huge talent. great combination of size, athleticism, and natural boxing instinct. one of the best jabs you'll ever see, great footwork, hooked off the jab like a dream, could lead, counter, box a lot, slug a bit..... like a more physically talented Ken Buchanan scaled up to 175lbs with added punching power p4p (but less stamina and, shall we say, commitment to training)

John was all of these things...thing is with John, he was a handsome bugger and loved the ladies...Big Time....he was a godamn sexual Triceratops !

Seamus we're all with you.

Conteh also had a really mean streak.

Super talent. Too much charisma.

Never got that superfight either, and seemed to be in decline by about age 27. Still, if he had gotten one of the last 2 shots at Bob Foster it would have been interesting.

watched some footage of Conteh not too long ago. Good fighter. fun to watch. Nice resume too. Didn't realize he was on one of Paul McCartney's album covers either.

Lot of management problems when family got involved in his career. Broken hands and problems making weight (he started as a heavyweight) all contributed to his career not panning out as it should. Should have been Britains best and I have no doubt he would have beaten Galindez.

I thought he was a party animal and liked a sniff, this is why he didn't achieve what he could have?

Rexob wrote:I thought he was a party animal and liked a sniff, this is why he didn't achieve what he could have?

I think that too played a part, but he broke his right hand in a daft non title fight, which had been booked by his brother who had no real management experience, and which he broke again a few months later, and was never really the same fighter.

I think Conteh felt that his hands had been bandaged wrongly and that had George Francis been there it wouldnt have happened.

For the latter part of his career Conteh was effectively a one handed fighter.

Broomhall wrote:

Rexob wrote:I thought he was a party animal and liked a sniff, this is why he didn't achieve what he could have?

I think that too played a part, but he broke his right hand in a daft non title fight, which had been booked by his brother who had no real management experience, and which he broke again a few months later, and was never really the same fighter.

I think Conteh felt that his hands had been bandaged wrongly and that had George Francis been there it wouldnt have happened.

For the latter part of his career Conteh was effectively a one handed fighter.

Very sad, he had it all in some fights.

Watching the John Conteh vs Terry Daniels fight you could not helped but be impressed with John Conteh's performance Terry Daniels was extremely tentative throughout the bout he never established an offense often anticipating Conteh's attack without reacting with his own punches. Conteh was really "dressing him up" with nice combination punching until the referee mercifully stopped the bout at the conclusion of Round 6. It is apparent from this fight that Terry Daniels was "Damaged Goods" shortly following the Frazier fight.
Mikey Capp

Conteh was a nasty bugger, with all the tools.

Ive always wanted to see the Conteh-Daniels fight. Its out there but Ive never really actively pursued it. Having seen Daniels fight a few HWs it would be interesting to see him against Conteh.

An interesting thing about Conteh is that he was pursuaded to drop to light heavy by Ali, who told him he felt that he was too small to compete at heavyweight.

He felt that even with the knockdowns in the first Franklin fight he had done enough and of course Franklins corner literally glued his cuts shut with illegal substances. My impression at the time and as that Conteh had done enough, but Harry Gibbs the British judge actually scored against him-I am sure some of the American posters on here would probably agree with Gibbs as I admit I am biased towards Conteh as my favourite fighter of that time.

I thought he was also jobbed in the Parlov fight and by then I think making weight had become very very hard for him, but his one handed performance against Lopez proved I think that had it not been for the injury to his hands he could have gone on to be a great champion.

I'm going to have to go back and score some of these fights, because the way I seemed to remember it was. MSM clear winner in the 1st bout with Conteh in bad shape in the late rds. Parlov fight very close, and I'll thow in the non-title bout with Burnett, where I believe Conteh was very lucky to get a draw. Maybe I'll get one in today. Afterall, as I tell my gf, if you check my computer's history, you won't find any links to naked ladies, just lot's of videos of topless men punching each other in the head.

He was lucky against Burnett. MSM I guess it depends on what you prefer. I think a 2 handed Conteh could have won that. But I wouldn't begrudge Saad his victory.

Broomhall wrote:An interesting thing about Conteh is that he was pursuaded to drop to light heavy by Ali, who told him he felt that he was too small to compete at heavyweight.

He felt that even with the knockdowns in the first Franklin fight he had done enough and of course Franklins corner literally glued his cuts shut with illegal substances. My impression at the time and as that Conteh had done enough, but Harry Gibbs the British judge actually scored against him-I am sure some of the American posters on here would probably agree with Gibbs as I admit I am biased towards Conteh as my favourite fighter of that time.

I thought he was also jobbed in the Parlov fight and by then I think making weight had become very very hard for him, but his one handed performance against Lopez proved I think that had it not been for the injury to his hands he could have gone on to be a great champion.

i didn't think there were any kd's in the first Franklin/Saad fight...? haven't seen it in ages though....

Dropped him late on, twice. Good fight!

I think MSM dropped Conteh twice late. Now I gotta check.

aaaaah ok got it i misremembered that fight somehow thanks

I watched Conteh fight that canny scouser Billy Aird a couple of weeks ago. It was a very solid performance against a pretty good heavyweight. He really did have all the tools. It really was the lifestyle he led that brought him down. He became a champagne charlie, loved the booze and birds. And why shouldn't he ; he had youth, wealth , charm and the looks.
Today he is a fabulous after dinner speaker

OK, did some fight scoring

Matthew Saad Muhammad vs John Conteh I

R1.10-10
R2.10-10
R3.10-9 MSM
R4.10-9 MSM
R5.10-9 MSM
R6.10-9 JC
R7.10-9 JC
R8.10-9 JC
R9.10-10
R10.10-9 MSM
R11.10-9 JC
R12.10-9 JC
R13.10-10
R14.10-7 MSM
R15.10-9 MSM

Matthew Saad Muhammad 145-142

For the first 5 rds Conteh looked like he was holding back alot, but he suddenly came alive in rd 6, and for the next 3 rds looked dominant, slipping, blocking punches, jabbing well and scoring with hooks and combinations which busted up Muhammad. In the 9th and 10th, Saad began coming back into the fight by effectively jabbing Conteh and keeping him from landing at will. Conteh came back strong in the 11th and 12th and going into the 14th was ahead by a pt on my scorecard, but MSM came up big in the last 2, scoring a pair of knockdowns in the 14th and having Conteh in a bit of trouble at the end.

The Parlov vs Conteh fight was missing the 14th, but I had Conteh ahead by 4 for the 14 rds I watched. Parlov was clearly the better fighter through the first 5, really frustrating Conteh with his unorthodox stance and frequent jabbing, but oncce Conteh started landing to the body he slowed Parlov up and clearly controlled the remaining rounds. So, this does look it may well have been a bad decision.

Prime for Prime how does Conteh do vs the following over 15 rds.


1.Bob Foster
2.Michael Spinks
3.Dwight Muahhamad Qawi
4.Roy Jones Jr

hard to say but JC was a very vicious customer at his best and the partying/hand issues/poor management spoilt the career of one of our finest ever. in my view he would have beaten the other JC (the welsh one) and might even have stopped him. my dad recently had a good jokey few minutes with john at a golf course and he is a top fella.

Seamus wrote:Prime for Prime how does Conteh do vs the following over 15 rds.


1.Bob Foster
2.Michael Spinks
3.Dwight Muahhamad Qawi
4.Roy Jones Jr

I could see Conteh giving Foster and Spinks the fights of their lives, losing close decisions in both.He would beat Qawi by UD, and Roy Jones Jr. by a close UD.