dont know a lot about his career but i lived in bethnal green for 7 yrs up until 2001 and he had a sport shop there on bethnal green rd 'charlie magri sports' which he worked in sometimes, i think its still there, i think his lonsdale belt was on show there in a frame
Champagne Charlie is an OK read if you really want to know about him. A few things: Magri was not a Charlie nor a Cockney. Jim Batten, (a former British 154lbs champ), got him into the sport. Under trainer Jimmy Graham, he quickly moved up the amateur ranks and fought in the 76 Olympics, losing surprisingly to one Ian Clyde. Debuted in a 10 rounder and won the British title in his third fight, was so good that he was given his Lonsdale as no suitable challengers could be found for him to fight. So that meant Magri fighting at European and World level very early on, and despite a surprise defeat in his rise, Magri did eventually win his world title. But perhaps as the Olympic fight first showed, Magri found a way to lose it, when he seemed on the verge of being something special, and thus Magri duly lost in the first defence of his crown. A fight with a prime Sot Chitalada did not go well, and Magri lost in a classic changing of the guard fight with the then undefeated top prospect Duke McKenzie and called it a day as a fighter. I think Magri opened a pub in East London and was a licenced BBB of C Manager for a while.
i bought a pair of black and yellow everlast boxing shorts and my dad said Magri wore them and right enough he always wore balck and yellow shorts
He used to have a boxing requisites shop on Bethnal Green Road back when I lived out that way. He's before my time though.
I remember watching the Sot Chitalada fight on Sportsnight as a kid...... I think the pub that Magri still has is called The Dundee Arms just round the corner from York Hall..... :think
