Remembering Chris Finnegan

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

It’s 10 years since we lost Chris Finnegan MBE and the man who departed us left the domestic boxing scene a little less rich having gone as he graced us with such marvelous competition when he was active. The thing about Finnegan was that he was a great in the UK and not so much outside of Europe, but his influence can be seen in the current crop of fighters that are coming up in the UK. For many, their aspirations to world title honors shall not be achieved and they shall not be any the lesser for it, just as Finnegan was no less a boxer or champion for not managing the title he craved.

His 37 professional fights, 29 of which he won, 16 by way of knockout, brought him the British, Commonwealth and European belts at light heavyweight whilst he fought only once for world honous. As an amateur he was an Olympic Gold medalist with that honor won in the 1968 Mexico Games. It was notable insofar as it took British boxing another 32 years to secure another Gold at the Olympics thanks to Audley Harrison in Sydney in 2000.

Finnegan’s Olympic triumph was a journey he nearly never made as he was up in court for non payment of National Insurance stamps just before the Games. The magistrate became lenient when he heard that the unemployed Finnegan was well enough employed trying to win Gold for Britain. He got to go and the magistrate wished him well enough to hope that he would return with that Gold; Finnegan duly obliged to prove that one good turn…

One of two boxing brothers his younger sibling Kevin was also a British and European middleweight champion.

They came from mixed stock as they had a mother from Northern Ireland and a father from Liverpool, Finnegan never forgot where he came from, wearing a shamrock and a union flag on his shirts to show both sides of his diverse story.

Moving into the professional ranks came in 1968, months after his Olympic success and he went 14 fights, undefeated in 13 with his only loss due to a cut eye. There were other eyes beginning to take note of his rise in the ranks and by the early 70’s he could be counted as one of our brightest prospects.

It was in August 1970, that he fought for his first belt in Copenhagen when he lost a 15 round decision to Tom Bogs for the European title. Finnegan was a late replacement and theoretically was not in the shape needed to win the title. In January 1971, he managed to win his first two belts by stopping Eddie Avoth in the 15th to win the British and Commonwealth titles at light heavyweight.

Next was an assault on the European light heavyweight crown and in May 1971, 4 months after winning the British and European belts he was in Berlin to draw with Conny Velensek. Many thought, including the German press, Finnegan had done enough to win it so a rematch happened on the 1st February 1972, in Nottingham, England and Finnegan took the belt.

Those admiring eyes now included The Ring Magazine who pronounced Finnegan progress of the year for 1971 and named as a possible opponent for the world champion – Bob Foster.

In 1972, Finnegan fought in the fight of the year for 1972 before Foster stopped him. Foster was probably one of the best light heavyweights of any generation and second only in many people’s eyes to the Old Mongoose, Archie Moore. Finnegan had outlasted both the two previous opponents of Foster’s put together, as he got past the 6th round but a right hand bomb connected and it was all over in the 14th.

Finnegan had proven that he was at the elite world level with his world title fight the top of his professional career mountain. From no things began to unravel and falter. His European defense – 6 weeks after his world title fight – saw him lose in the 12th round to Rudiger Scmidtke at Wembley.

Time was beginning to catch up on him and the slide downwards began but the dedication and wily nature of him meant he had plenty more still to give before the retirement sofa was to be placed in front of his TV.

It took him into massive domestic fights in the UK and fights worth watching – unfortunately his hand was not being raised at the end of them as often as he needed to prolong his career. In 1973, he was back in the ring for the British and Commonwealth belt and then in 1974 for those two plus the European belts. It was the old guard against the new pup as Finnegan took on the new British light heavyweight sensation, John Conteh. He lost the first fight on points and then lost the second due to a clash of heads causing a cut above his ear that meant the fight was stopped.

But before he was to hang up his gloves he had one piece of unfinished business.

His final two fights were a double header against Johnny Frankham. Both for the British Light heavyweight title, he lost the first on points and then won the second. His final fight was his third successful British title fight, meaning he got to keep the Lonsdale Belt outright. It was enough for retirement now as his business was done.

His retirement was also down to a detached retina and once the razzmatazz of the ring had gone, he found life more difficult. Not always flushed with cash, he was always warmly flush with praise and that was returned in spades. We loved Chris Finnegan, not because he happened to be a world champion but because he happened to be an honest pro doing and honest job with a heart pinned to his sleeve and a carnation always in his lapel.

The new crop of young boxers making their mark would do well to cast an eye not just at the careers of those who claim to be the best but learn from the careers of those who fought the best. as a good boxer once wrote after a defeat – there are no losses, only lessons. Finnegan is a very pure study to prove that point.

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