BoxRec

bennie wrote: ↑29 Dec 2020, 09:59 Just read that former British and European bantamweight champion Johnny Clark has passed away after a long battle with dementia. Johnny was once desperately close to a shot at Mexico's WBC bantamweight champion Rafael Herrera in Mexico City in May 1974 but in the end former WBA champ Romeo Anaya got the shot and was crushed in six rounds by the forgotten Herrera, who was something special in his day.
Londoner Clark was a fine professional who paid his dues to emerge as British champ after 15 thrilling, gruelling, rounds with Belfast's Paddy Maguire in February 1973 at the Albert Hall, in the days when titles forced men to the well. He then proved himself the best bantamweight in Europe by outscoring Italy's Franco Zurlo two months later and was at the height of his game, still only 27 and still British and European king, when a detached retina cruelly forced him out in the summer of 1974 with a record of 39-3-1 (27). Johnny later turned his hand to training and coached Gary Stretch for a while.