John Conteh

(Continuation)

Conteh was on his way, Conteh turned back the challenge of Lonnie “Magic Man” Bennett, similar to his second Finnegan victory, first four rounds of cagey boxing, then on goes the sudden “Jungle Cat Ferocity” and Bennett’s eyebrow was ripped open, after he had been badly staggered, Conteh’s head seemed a contributory factor once more, Certainly according to trhe Bennett camp, But this fight did show what an intuitive thinker Conteh could be in the ring, in the first couple of rounds Conteh was actually being out jabbed by Bennetts heavy rakish Jab, Conteh’s remedy was to Jab short, this made Bennett think he was out of range, Bennett would step forward to close the believed gap..then.. Bam..Bam...Conteh’s second and third Jab would ram home leaving Lonnie looking somewhat bemused Conteh knew that he did not want a long range snipeing war with lanquid Lonnie ...Conteh was just biding his time until the 5th at which point the Magic Man met his Sorcerer.

An introductory state-side non-title win over tough Willie “the Bull” Taylor was a bitter=sweet affair , gaining good reviews for style and presentation, but also gaining a busted right hand Courtesy of Willie’s Tough Cranium, it would seem to haunt Conteh in future fights often seemingly making him overly shy to pull the trigger After a lengthy layoff a rusty, right hand rationing John still had enough versatility to outbox Alvaro Yaqui Lopez virtually one handed, considering the hell he gave two-handed Saad , Rossman Galindez, Scott and Spinks for awhile, not in retrospect a bad result for a Sub-Par Conteh Followed up with Conteh’s doing away with Len “Stinger” Hutchings who found Conteh’s home town of Liverpool the wrong Hive as he was ko’d in the third, However Conteh’s thunderous Third round left hook was preceded by a first round clash of heads, which the Hutchins camp protested about to no Avail, (It does seem that Conteh could perhaps of taught Holyfield a thing or two about er..Advantageous Head Placement ? )

And that’s where John should of gone on to Consolidate on the world stage an realize his true potential, sadly the disputes, Highlife and lowlife all conspired to erode his Talent, he walked out on the Cuello defence at the last minute, and was stripped of the Title, Flattened Leo Rogers tried to mend bridges and was “rewarded” with a world title shot against new Champ National Hero Mate Parlov...and the shot would be in... Belgrade ! was someone trying to do John a favour...or simply trying to get him removed from serious contention ? Well...after 15 rounds..many thought John deserved to have his hand raised, as i recall the Ref felt Conteh was a clear winner and had him substantially in front , But Parlov was announced as the winner, the scores were not announced from the ring, once his hand was raised Parlov was off into the Stadium been mobbed by his fanatical fans, and the officials did not hang around, Conteh was indeed being picked off to a degree early, however certainly in the last Five rounds Conteh was fully the aggressor, and sank vicious shots to Parlov’s body round after round, But it seems in the End some appreciated Parlov’s amateur Fiddle-Faddle to the more rounded Pro Skills of Conteh, The British Trade Paper Boxing News Headlined it’s review with one word “Robbery” ! But perhaps someone else had noted the effects of Contehs bodywork against Parlov, next up for Mate was Marvin Johnson, who proved no great Mate , he continued with the body attack and Parlov folded...

Conteh was now on the downside , depression over the deemed Belgrade heist perhaps ? a few fights highlighted that this precision fighter was losing his instinctual balance and timing and coheision, and that Vicious Rip-you-apart-in-a-classy-manner mentality, there followed a lucky draw with Jesse Burnett (who had also broken his right mitt on Willie “The Bull” Taylors head) Conteh was floored twice, luckily near the end of rounds, again floored in a decision win over Poison Ivy Brown, and Cut in a laboured points win over Joe Cokes, These hollow performances sent a definite message to the world’s Lt-Heavy Elite, Namely Here was a very good name for your record , a spectacular win going for the begging New Champ and powerhouse Matthew Saad Muhammed answered the call and was licking his lips in expectation of an easy Victory...

The Saad fight perhaps hints at what Conteh could Have been like with the discipline and focus his later career lacked, he tried to turn the clock back and it was a valiant effort, with a reticence in letting the right hand go as freely as earlier in his career still plaguing him and not having the old aggressive attitude to punish opponents, and on the evidence of his last few fights, little in the way of punch resistance..legs or timing.. the fear was that this was simply a welcome to the Throne Sacrificial Offering to new King Saad. However it did not quite turn out that way, Conteh obviously did not read the script, resurrecting his Boxing skills if not his aggression, Conteh Boxed and moved superbly, Jabbed Saad silly on many occasions, and had the heavy handed champion fanning the air on many occasions, with his cute moves Saad was cut in the 9th (Conteh’s careless head again, ) and his corner used banned Monzel(?) solution to plaster the gash, in most other locations Saad would of been stopped in a round or two more by the sharp shooting Conteh but the illegal pack held, Conteh was ahead after twelve rounds, But Saad was making his usual big finish, he floored a tiring John in the 14th but couldn’t quite line him up for the coup-de-grace, Conteh saw out the 15th with Saad stalking, Saad was probably given the last round as momentum aggressor from the 14th, but Conteh did counter a few times , perhaps if viewed in isolation its not the clear cut round it seems, However Saad won the close decision, the only one of his defences to go the full route, and a remarkable Lazarus job by the much faded Conteh.

The return match should never have taken place , but controversy over the Illegal substance used on Saad’s eye injury was as good a reason as any to argue for a rematch, But Conteh really was an empty husk by this point as soon as Saad started to apply pressure Conteh Folded, much like Honeyghan against Breland, there was no resistance left, physically or mentally it was over, the fire had gone out, Saad got a very easy four round win,,But this was not the real Conteh, he belonged in the past, Conteh apparently had something of a disturbing breakdown that night back at the Hotel, perhaps the sudden stark realisation that there was no more tomorrows...

Conteh, to exorcise these demons took a final fight at cruiser and dismissed James Dixon in five rounds and retired, and i am happy to say came through these turbulent times to be the respected and revered individual he is today.
So there we have it, Conteh could Box like a dream, was well co-ordinated could punch with either hand (until the right hand Troubles) was intelligent in the ring had a good chin and a mean attitude, excellent 15 rounds stamina, he was, one has to admit, careless with his head, some might say that’s putting it kindly, often the Headwork was not apparent until the Slow-Motion replays, revealed the head following in the punches, and thats because he was very fast in switching into attack mode

Could he have beaten Galindez...? Based on Victor’s extremely close run struggles with Lopez and the Cautious Kates and Gregory I think so, Neither employed John’s venom or Zest, John would have kept pace rationer Victor working. And i fear John may of inflicted some damage with his head against the sometimes cut Victor, so perhaps not altogether sportingly, but i think he could do it, Rossman, his straight line work off the Jab approach would not find a footing with Conteh’s mobility, and his Cobra-sque head movement slipping Rossmans Jab, ans when Conteh opens up...Rossmans upright stance will not be to his advantage, Marv Johnson ? Conteh beat him as an amateur, and did not have much of a problem with short aggressors because of his mobility and boxing ability, Conteh on points would be my pick, Gregory/Mustapha Muhammed ? could be the trickiest of the lot, two hard hitting cuties, Conteh certainly would not give Eddie the Menu of targets Marv Johnson Gave Eddie, perhaps home advantage could swing it Contehs way and maybe with Eddie coming up from middle, and John down from attempted Heavy the strength down the stretch would lie with John. And we saw how close a faded John pushed Saad himself

One can only speculate how good a prime John Conteh could of confirmed himself to be For me he is a Coulda Woulda Shoulda been great, If he could of kept it all together i think he would have confirmed it. However i suspect he will now be destined to remain rated simply “ a Pretty Good’un.”

 

He started off trying to be a Heavyweight but could not Beef up to to much more than the 13 stone mark >>>>> That should of been "14" Stone mark F****** Computer !

 

Thanks for that really enjoyed it. Brought back a lot of memories of my favourite British fighter. Great stuff.

 

John was a great fighter in a stacked era. Cheers to Stevie for starting the thread, and those that took the time out to respond!!!

 

Excellent historical perspective AREA!! Couple of points.
My late boxing bud and I looked at the Conteh-Bennett fight before hand as the battle of the head butters. :yep
As an Indy native, I followed Marvin's early career not knowing if he was ever going to 'make it'. But he continued moving up and in, I think spring of 75-76?, we had a headliner at the Convention Center here in Indy with Marvin the headliner against Eddie Davis?, not sure now. :?
The undercard featured Yaqui Lopez against Lonnie Bennett. IMO Bennett wasn't near Yaqui's talent. In the 1st or 2nd round a big right or left, sent Bennett to the canvas as he struggled to regain his feet before the bell. Next round, Bennett trowled out his typical 'head-first' attack opening a big gash over Yaqui's eye and, a round later, our Indy ref stopped the fight and awarded Bennett a TKO win (against all the rules which, I think, would have constituted a draw given the circumstances) We were near ringside and (self-medicated at the time ) and during the interview with Lonnie after the fight, were screaming at him calling him a cheating SOB! He didn't like it, tough tittie Lonny all things considered you were NEVER world-class contending material.
Galindez? You mention his tough fights AFTER the time frame I'd mentioned. The late 70's Galindez you're talking about is the same late 70's Conteh you're giving excuses for.
The undercard for the Ali-Bugner Kwala Lampur bout in the summer of 75 (a HUGE snoozefest) featured the Galindez-Ahumada scrap, a damn good one, thank God, but THAT should have been the LHW unification bout.
IMO, there are arguments that Conteh-Galindez could have gone either way. John could have used that head of his to bust Victor's eye open OR...gave a clean performance and copped a UD. On the other hand, if the slick Victor avoided the cuts and utilized those counter-punching skills (you can count on one finger a better counter puncher than Victor) he would have hurt Conteh on several occasions thruout the fight.
Again, an excellent post AREA and, as I said, my late friend and I were SO disappointed that they didn't meet in 1975. We, literally, spent hours debating the possible outcome.

 

Very good fighter in a thick light-heavyweight era

 

Great stuff Area 53. I grew up watching Conteh as well, the Ahumada fight probably being the first I remember, I think I was about 10. I see John from time to time and he's still looking fit and sharp. He did a great job as an auctioneer at a Golf day (The Henry Cooper Classic) I was at last week for the London ExBoxers Association.

 

Fantastic post, Area 53.

 

As kind of a side note, still in boxing at the time when John was I picked up more technique watching him then any other fighter besides Willy Pep and Louis. He was that good with his type of style.

 

Guy's thank you for the Kind Nod's, It's still rather frustrating recalling some of the wrong avenue's that was taken by John, but i am sure many of us are guilty of that on occassion (!?) two things alway's stick in my mind about John, one was the way he dispatched an early opponent (Ruben Figorea) two precision left hooks and as Ruben was on the way down John added a right hand, That Cohesion and poise seemed to stick in my mind, also when Ray Leonard took out Pete Ranzany with an amazing punch sequence comprising of five consecutive left hooks, one of the commontators stated that they could not recall anyone else landing a similar one-side combination
I yelled at the TV screen "John Conteh ...against Bill Drover..." John had unleashed that same Quintet Combo in his rough-house win over tough Bill ( Bill hadnt quite had all the ambition knocked out of him at that stage )

I'm so glad John is well and content these days, it was quite a roller-coaster for awhile.

 

-The John-Jorge scrap was a classic. It was John at his best but that one eye of John's was in, shall we say, less than perfect shape at the end. Ahaumada was a rough tough bad boy who would have been hell for anyone in any era.

 

How would Conteh vs Foster go down? I know a limited amount about both, and rate both highly. I think Foster outpoints him.

 

Ah yeah, Ronnie Corbett?