John McNally (3 November 1932 – 4 April 2022) was an Irish

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who won a silver medal at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

in the

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...

division. In the final McNally lost a split decision to

Pentti Hämäläinen Pentti Olavi Hämäläinen (19 December 1929 – 11 December 1984) was a Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Fin ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Early life

McNally was born and raised in the

Pound Loney The Falls Road () is the main road through West Belfast, Northern Ireland, running from Divis Street in Belfast City Centre to Andersonstown in the suburbs. The name has been synonymous for at least a century and a half with the Catholic comm ...

area of west

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. He was the first person from Belfast and the first Irish boxer to win an Olympic medal. In 1953, McNally won a bronze medal at the European championships and a gold in the Golden Gloves Championships representing Europe against the US in Chicago. McNally, within the space of a year, beat three American Golden Gloves champions and was awarded an honorary pair of Golden Gloves in recognition of this achievement. In 1953, he was made the official bantamweight champion of Germany in recognition of his feat of having defeated that country's three former bantamweight champions in the space of a year.

1952 Olympic results

Bantamweight * Last 32: bye * Last 16: defeated Alejandro Ortuose (Philippines) by unanimous decision (3-0) * Quarter-final: defeated Vincenzo Dall'osso (Italy) by unanimous decision (3-0) * Semi-final: defeated Kang Joon-Ho (South Korea) by unanimous decision (3-0) * Final: lost to Pentti Hamalainen (Finland) by majority decision (1-2)

Pro career

In 1954 McNally turned professional but his pro career did not reach the heights of his amateur days. He fought only 25 times and finished with a record of 14 wins, 9 defeats and 2 draws.

Honours and later life

On 25 October 2007 John McNally was recognised by the Sports Council of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

for his contribution to Irish sport at a gala event held at Stormont in Belfast. On 4 January 2008 John McNally was inducted into the Irish Boxing Hall of Fame by RTÉ's Jimmy Magee at an awards night held in the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. A biography of McNally's life and career has been published by Appletree Press. McNally died in Belfast on 4 April 2022, aged 89.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McNally, John 1932 births 2022 deaths Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Ireland Olympic silver medalists for Ireland Male boxers from Northern Ireland Boxers from Belfast Olympic medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Irish male boxers Bantamweight boxers