Christopher Martin FINNEGAN

After being ruled out of the 1968 ABA semi-finals because of a cut eye, Chris Finnegan was fortunate to be selected for the Olympic team. His critics, who maintained that only the ABA champions should be included in the team for Mexico, were silenced when Finnegan became the first Briton since Harry Mallin in 1924 to win the Olympic middleweight crown. In the semi-finals he survived two standing counts against the American, Al Jones, and was involved in another close decision in the final when the judges voted 3-2 in Finnegan’s favor at the end of his bout with the Russian, Aleksey Kiselyov. A bricklayer by trade, Finnegan was awarded the MBE after his victory in Mexico City and he soon turned professional, going on to win the British, Commonwealth and European light-heavyweight titles. In September 1972 he challenged for the world title at Wembley but lost to the defending champion, Bob Foster of America, in a 14th round KO. Before the year was out he had lost his European title and was soon deprived of his British and Commonwealth crowns by John Conteh. He regained the British title in 1975 but suffered a detached retina and was forced to retire soon afterwards. The name of Finnegan was not, however, completely lost to boxing fans as his younger brother, Kevin, won the European middleweight title in 1974 and again in 1980. Finnegan suffered ill health and financial problems in later life and died in 2009.