John Henry Stracey

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(born 22 September 1950) is a British former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1969 to 1978. He is a former

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

world champion, having held the WBC and lineal welterweight titles between 1975 and 1976. At regional level, he held the

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and

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welterweight titles between 1973 and 1975, and is ranked by BoxRec as the 8th best British welterweight of all time.

Amateur career

Stracey competed for Great Britain as a

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. He was defeated in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

by eventual gold medallist Ronnie Harris. Stracey won the 1969 ABA light-welterweight championship.

Professional career

Early career

Stracey began his professional career on 17 September 1969, knocking out Santos Martins in two rounds. Stracey won his first twelve fights, eleven by knockout, but against obscure opposition. Fight number thirteen was against Teddy Cooper, on 19 January 1971. Cooper was not a big name in boxing either, but this fight ended in controversy when Stracey won by a fifth round disqualification. On 5 October 1971 Stracey drew (tied) in ten rounds against Frankie Lewis. Stracey produced five more wins before being matched with Marshall Butler, on 25 May 1972, at the Royal Albert Hall, suffering his first defeat after being outpointed by Butler over eight rounds. He then put a string of four more wins together, before facing

Bobby Arthur Bobby Arthur (25 July 1947 – 27 July 2023) was a British boxer who was national welterweight champion between 1972 and 1973. Career From Coventry, Bobby Arthur had a successful amateur career, including representing England and winning a si ...

for the British welterweight title, on 31 October, at the Royal Albert Hall. He lost the fight with another controversial ending: This time, Stracey found himself disqualified in round seven. Stracey then won five more bouts in a row. In February 1973, Stracey traveled to the United States, were he fought Danny McAloon on the undercard of the first Ali vs. Bugner fight, at the

Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center (commonly referred to as LVCC) is a convention center in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As one of the largest convention centers in the world, it h ...

, on 14 February. Stracey won the bout via unanimous decision. He then met Bobby Arthur in a rematch on 5 June, this time winning the British title with a fourth-round knockout.Golesworthy, Maurice (1988) ''Encyclopaedia of Boxing'', 8th edition, Robert Hale Limited, , p. 229

Stracey vs. Menetrey

On 27 May 1974, Stracey got his chance at the European welterweight title, fighting

Roger Menetrey Roger Menetrey (born 16 June 1945) is a retired French professional welterweight boxer. On 4 June 1971 he won the European Boxing Union (EBU) title and defended it five times. On 23 June 1973 he unsuccessfully contested the WBC title against ...

at the Stade de Roland Garros, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France. Stracey won via eighth-round knockout. On 29 April 1975, he defended his European title against Max Hebeisen, at the Royal Albert Hall, winning via RTD in the sixth round.

Stracey vs. Nápoles

During the 1970s, it was a common practice to give world title shots to boxers that held continental titles. For example, the OPBF (Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation) champion would be given priority over other challengers for world title fights. Stracey was not the exception, and, after winning five more fights in a row (including a win over

Ernie Lopez Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez (September 24, 1945 – October 3, 2009) was an American professional boxer. He twice fought for the world welterweight boxing title, losing title bouts to José Nápoles in 1970 and 1973. He was a missing person from 199 ...

), he received his first world title shot: challenging WBC welterweight champion

José Nápoles José Ángel Nápoles, nicknamed ''Mantequilla'' ("Butter", referring to his smooth boxing style), (April 13, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was a Cuban-born Mexican professional boxer and a World Welterweight Champion. He is frequently ranked as one ...

, in Nápoles' home-town of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, Mexico, on 6 December 1975. Stracey was sent down in round one, but he recuperated to close Nápoles' eye and have referee

Octavio Meyran Octavio Meyran Sanchez is a Mexican former boxing referee. During his career Meyran officiated at over twenty-seven world title fights including the No Más fight between Roberto Durán and Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980, Wilfredo Gómez's WBC Feath ...

stop the fight in the sixth round, Stracey winning the world championship by a technical knockout. The new champion declared, "He ápolescould have knocked me down in every round but I'd have won it anyway". It was Nápoles' last fight.

1976

On 20 March 1976 he retained the title against perennial world title challenger

Hedgemon Lewis Hedgemon Lewis (February 25, 1946 – March 31, 2020) was an American professional boxer and trainer. He held the NYSAC welterweight world title in 1972 and challenged for welterweight world championships on three occasions; the unified WBA, an ...

by a knockout in round ten, but on 22 June, at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, he lost the world title, being knocked out in twelve rounds by

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-based Mexican Carlos Palomino. In his next fight, he lost to future world title challenger

Dave Boy Green David Robert Green (born 2 June 1953), better known as Dave Boy Green, is a former British professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1981. He challenged twice for the WBC welterweight title; first in 1977 against Carlos Palomino and again i ...

, with a badly damaged eye in round ten. Stracey retired as a winner when he knocked out George Warusfel in nine rounds in Islington on 23 May 1978.

Outside the ring

Stracey bought the Three Horseshoes pub in Briston, Norfolk, in 1975 and renamed it the John H Stracey. In 2011 the pub reverted to its original name. He also had, at one point, a boxing school in London. John also had a bar in Bournemouth called The Ring Side.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stracey, John H. 1950 births Living people English male boxers Boxers from Greater London People from Bethnal Green Sportspeople from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People from North Norfolk (district) Sportspeople from Norfolk Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics England Boxing champions British Boxing Board of Control champions European Boxing Union champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions Welterweight boxers World welterweight boxing champions