Following a stellar amateur career, John Conteh left a trail of destruction behind him in the professional prize ring. He went on to rub shoulders with A-list celebrities, drink beyond the point of excess, fight on Muhammad Ali undercards, and, thirty-seven years after hanging up the gloves, receive an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) from the Queen.
The son of a West African father and an Irish mother, Conteh explained how his father introduced him to the noble art. “My dad came over in 1942 from Sierra Leone and was a tough, strict merchant seaman who was about six feet tall. At around eleven years old, he started teaching me.”
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Royal Seal: The Career of John Conteh
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thenonpareil
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chrisjs1985
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Re: Royal Seal: The Career of John Conteh
Excellent read and a nice story. Conteh really was a magnificent fighter who probably didn't achieve as much as he should have due to his fondness of the booze and playboy lifestyle. He still accomplished a lot though. That first fight with Saad was an absolute classic. Perhaps not the back and forth that Saad's bouts with Johnson and Lopez were but a thrilling contest with skill, shifts in momentum and late drama changing the bout.