# John Conteh

John Anthony Conteh, MBE (born 27 May 1951) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980. He held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1974 to 1977, and regionally the European, British and Commonwealth titles between 1973 and 1974. As an amateur, he represented England and won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. In 2017, Conteh was awarded an MBE for services to boxing at the Queen's Birthday Honours.

## Professional career

Born in Liverpool, Lancashire (now Merseyside) to an Irish mother and Sierra Leonean father, Conteh began boxing at the age of 10 at a boxing club in Kirkby that was a training ground for fellow British amateurs Joey Singleton and Tucker Hetherington. At 19, he won the middleweight gold medal at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. He won the WBC light-heavyweight title in October 1974 by defeating Jorge Ahumada. He held the title until 1977 when he was stripped for not going through with a mandatory defence.
Conteh lost a 15-round split decision to the Yugoslavian fighter Mate Parlov when he attempted to regain the title. He failed twice in further efforts to win back the crown, in 1979 and then again seven months later in 1980, on both occasions fighting the American Matthew Saad Muhammad. Muhammad won both bouts but the first victory was controversial.

## Appearances outside boxing

Conteh was one of the celebrities featured dressed in prison gear on the cover of the 1973 Wings album, Band on the Run. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1974.
Conteh was the British Superstars competition champion in 1974, the second year of the televised sporting event. Conteh is now an after-dinner speaker.
Conteh appeared on the BBC television programme Sporting Legends which was presented by Eamonn Holmes. There he spoke at length at how he started out in boxing and how Ali persuaded him to fight at light-heavyweight instead of heavyweight. Ali believed that Conteh was too small to be a heavyweight. Conteh also spoke of how his lifestyle led to alcoholism and a charge of assault, he stated that at the time he appeared on Sporting Legends he had been dry for nine years.
Conteh also appeared in films such as Man at the Top (1973), The Stud (1978) and Tank Malling (1989), and made a starring appearance in the television show Boon in 1989, as a washed-up boxer. He appeared on a boxing special of The Weakest Link in 2009, where he finished in third place. His most recent TV acting appearance was in the crime drama Justice, in which he again played an ex-boxer.
Conteh was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to boxing.
Conteh also appeared in a celebrity episode of The Chase in 2024.

## Professional boxing record

| 39 fights | 34 wins | 4 losses |
| By knockout | 24 | 1 |
| By decision | 10 | 3 |
| Draws | 1 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 39 | Win | 34–4–1 | James Dixon | TKO | 5 (10), 2:49 | 31 May 1980 | Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, England | |
| 38 | Loss | 33–4–1 | Matthew Saad Muhammad | TKO | 4 (15), 2:27 | 29 Mar 1980 | Steel Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | For WBC and The Ring light-heavyweight titles |
| 37 | Loss | 33–3–1 | Matthew Saad Muhammad | UD | 15 | 18 Aug 1979 | Steel Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US | For WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 36 | Win | 33–2–1 | Ivy Brown | PTS | 10 | 4 Jun 1979 | Liverpool, England | |
| 35 | Draw | 32–2–1 | Jesse Burnett | PTS | 10 | 19 Apr 1979 | Hilton on Park Lane, London, England | |
| 34 | Win | 32–2 | Leonardo Rodgers | KO | 7 (10), 1:15 | 26 Sep 1978 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 33 | Loss | 31–2 | Mate Parlov | SD | 15 | 17 Jun 1978 | Red Star Stadium, Belgrade, Yugoslavia | For WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 32 | Win | 31–1 | Joe Cokes | PTS | 10 | 7 Feb 1978 | Michael Sobell Sports Centre, London, England | |
| 31 | Win | 30–1 | Len Hutchins | TKO | 3 (15), 1:05 | 5 Mar 1977 | Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, England | Retained WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 30 | Win | 29–1 | Yaqui López | UD | 15 | 9 Oct 1976 | Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark | Retained WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 29 | Win | 28–1 | Willie Taylor | UD | 10 | 16 Aug 1975 | Catholic Youth Center, Scranton, Pennsylvania, US | |
| 28 | Win | 27–1 | Lonnie Bennett | TKO | 5 (15), 1:10 | 11 Mar 1975 | Empire Pool, London, England | Retained WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 27 | Win | 26–1 | Jorge Ahumada | PTS | 15 | 1 Oct 1974 | Empire Pool, London, England | Won vacant WBC light-heavyweight title |
| 26 | Win | 25–1 | Chris Finnegan | TKO | 6 (15) | 21 May 1974 | Empire Pool, London, England | Retained European, British, and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles |
| 25 | Win | 24–1 | Tom Bogs | RTD | 6 (15) | 12 Mar 1974 | Empire Pool, London, England | Retained European light-heavyweight title |
| 24 | Win | 23–1 | Les Stevens | PTS | 10 | 12 Feb 1974 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 23 | Win | 22–1 | Fred Lewis | TKO | 3 (10) | 14 Dec 1973 | Liverpool Stadium, Liverpool, England | |
| 22 | Win | 21–1 | Baby Boy Rolle | PTS | 15 | 23 Oct 1973 | National Ice Centre, Nottingham, England | Retained Commonwealth light-heavyweight title |
| 21 | Win | 20–1 | Vicente Rondón | TKO | 9 (10) | 10 Sep 1973 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 20 | Win | 19–1 | Chris Finnegan | PTS | 15 | 22 May 1973 | Empire Pool, London, England | Retained European light-heavyweight title; Won British and Commonwealth light-heavyweight titles |
| 19 | Win | 18–1 | Rüdiger Schmidtke | TKO | 12 (15), 2:28 | 13 Mar 1973 | Empire Pool, London, England | Won European light-heavyweight title |
| 18 | Win | 17–1 | Terry Daniels | TKO | 7 (10) | 14 Feb 1973 | Las Vegas Convention Center, Winchester, Nevada, US | |
| 17 | Win | 16–1 | Dave Matthews | PTS | 10 | 15 Jan 1973 | Ice Stadium, Nottingham, England | |
| 16 | Win | 15–1 | Sam McGill | TKO | 9 (10) | 5 Dec 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 15 | Win | 14–1 | John Hudgins | KO | 3 (10), 1:30 | 14 Nov 1972 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 14 | Win | 13–1 | Bill Drover | KO | 7 (10), 2:24 | 31 Oct 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 13 | Win | 12–1 | Ferenc Kristofcsak | TKO | 1 (8) | 10 Oct 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 12 | Loss | 11–1 | Eddie Duncan | PTS | 10 | 26 Sep 1972 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Johnny Mac | TKO | 2 (8) | 19 Jul 1972 | Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Billy Aird | TKO | 8 (8) | 6 Jun 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Joe Gholston | TKO | 5 (8) | 25 Apr 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Ruben Figueroa | KO | 2 (8) | 28 Mar 1972 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Larry Sykes | KO | 1 (8) | 15 Feb 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Wilhelm Janco | TKO | 1 (8) | 25 Jan 1972 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Emilio Okee | TKO | 5 (8) | 7 Dec 1971 | Royal Albert Hall, London, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Tony Burwell | PTS | 8 | 24 Nov 1971 | National Ice Centre, Nottingham, England | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Frank Bullard | TKO | 2 (10) | 16 Nov 1971 | Empire Pool, London, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Pierre Minier | TKO | 5 (8) | 8 Nov 1971 | Grosvenor House Hotel, London, England | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Okacha Boubekeur | KO | 1 (8) | 18 Oct 1971 | Hotel Café Royal, London, England | |