John Conteh

My favorite is the Yaqui Lopez fight. I believe he hurt his hand and put on a clinic with the left hand.

 

The Finnegan bouts are a must to watch. The Hutchins and Bogs bouts showcase his talent too.

 

Hutchins, Saad I (especially considering he's way past his best and who he's in there with, also, one of my personal favourites and a bout of some class) and Schmidtke.

Finnegan I as well. Ahumada and Lopez are obvious choices as they're right at his peak at 'world' level, though I think the guys he'd been fighting beforehand were class as well.

 

John was actually out for 14 Months and coming back from the bad hand break, so hesitant to throw it, when he outscored Yaqui Lopez, and despite that, he had an Easier time with Alvaro than did Saad (x2) Galindez (x2) and Rossman (obviously) , (even spinks and Superman Scott later had their problems with a much shop-soiled Lopez,) so John relied on his boxing ability in this one

There was often complaints about Johns "Careless" Headwork Ala Drover (early at Heavy) Finnegan (2nd) and Hutchins, I quite like Johns first defence against Lonnie Bennett, Lonnie had some early success with his lazy but heavy Jab, Lonnie seemed to be timing Johns Cobraésque head movement quite well, a difficult night seemed probable, when John turned Tiger in the 5th, it Showed how quick John could turn from boxer mode - to classy Bloody Lunatic ! A beautiful left Started Lonnie on his way...Then the Combo's rained in...
(Subsequent Slo-Mo Replays showed Johns Head sneaking in as a Culprit once again) Lonnie was stopped with a frightful cut, but he was done for the evening. It showed John with two good hands..and that ruthless streak.

I hope one day that i can reacquaint myself with Johns "Fly in the Ointment" fight against Willie "Bull" Taylor in the US, John Broke his hand on Willies tough head (as did Jesse Burnett) and went from probable stoppage winner, to clear points winner, John got good marks for style and star quality...but that broken right hand was the first pebble in the Conteh landslde to Troublesville.

 

Very nice post, thanks.

His one-handed performance against Lopez is indeed impressive. As for Conteh's head movement, like Marquez is as an aggressive counter puncher Conteh could be hit, but the way he got his shots off in an exchange was usually far superior to the man in front of him. He had such a quality jab as well.

Crazy to think that before his heroic performance against Saad he'd looked abysmal against Burnett the fight before. His legs were gone even then, and in the 2nd Saad fight grazing shots were pulling the rug out under him, making him look as pished as he was getting outside the ring. I think I had Conteh on 0 or minus points by the end of the 10 rounds against Burnett, with the knockdowns. Horrendous decision, a classic hometown hero 'draw'. Conteh looked done, another reason he gets big kudos for me the way he handled himself against Saad...who was brilliant.

 

Flea,, Never mind Jesse,, When i watched John against poison Ivy Brown and Joe Cokes, you knew he had lost something, like a dropped precision watch...Some Tick..but missing a Tock...No wonder the Saad camp were licking their lips at this Name Win going Begging, They nearly got a nasty Shock from Johns near Lazerus display, in fact if it wasnt for Saad being coated in that Banned Substance (Monzell Solution ?) - but perhaps a justifiable counter to Johns Careless head once again, I do feel John at his best would of beaten Saad at his best.

 

One of my favourite all time fighters,a classic boxer fighter. By the time John got to the 1st Saad fight he was heavily into cocaine and well on the slide.It was an heroic performance, at times he was boxing Saad's head off,but the tough guy that Saad was caught up with John in the end.

 

I know he was well past his prime but damn did he put up a great show against Saad. Outstanding fight.

 

Pity about the rematch ! John was one of the best to have come out of Britain,and I was a big fan of his. He could have been even better though.

 

The Schmidtke and Lopez fights are on YouTube in their entirety on my channel if anyone fancies watching 'em...actually there might be a bit of the Lopez fight missing, but for anyone interested in physical prime Conteh and one handed Conteh these two fights are the best showcases for both stages of his career IMO.

 

Great post, and yes I think Conteh would've beaten Saad at his best, no slight on Miracle Matthew, probably my favourite fighter ever, but injuries and out of ring excess aside Conteh would've been the best of an incredible bunch, the most talented of the post-Foster era in my opinion (Galindez included)

 

Think Johns best fight was against Ahumada.At the time he was looking for a shot at Bob Foster,but Ahumada got there first.Was it a draw?Anyway,I believe John at that stage would have beaten Foster as he was really at his peak then.
Another great fight was the one with Mate Parlov,very underrated boxer.IMO that one was a robbery,John being by far the better man.
Dont think hed have had the same trouble with people like Burnett,albeit a class guy,before his decline,and agree that he put on a great show with Saad,who I think he could have beat in his prime.
Remember seeing him before he won a pro title beating Les Stevens at the
Albert Hall.Stevens a good heavy but well beaten by a smaller man.
Agree that he could have done better,but a hell of a world champion all the same.

 

I don't think Parlov was all that great a fight but I definitely think Conteh deserved the decision but was never going to win it over there.

Ahumada was clearly robbed against Foster and yes, at that stage Conteh would've had his way with Foster.

 

Agreed. Great fighter Conteh. How he could compete against the level of fighters that he did when he was drinking,snorting and riding, morning noon and night, is a ****in mystery.

Apparently his brother looked very like him and claimed to be him when it came to top notch poon in nightclubs