John Anthony Conteh, MBE (born 27 May 1951) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1971 to 1980. He held the WBC light-heavyweight title from 1974 to 1977, and regionally the European, British and Commonwealth titles between 1973 and 1974. As an amateur, he represented England and won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. In 2017, Conteh was awarded an MBE for services to boxing at the Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Professional career
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire (now Merseyside), to an Irish mother and Sierra Leonean father, Conteh began boxing at the age of 10 at a boxing club in Kirkby that was a training ground for fellow British amateurs Joey Singleton and Tucker Hetherington. At 19, he won the middleweight gold medal at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. He won the WBC light-heavyweight title in October 1974 by defeating Jorge Ahumada. He held the title until 1977 when he was stripped for not going through with a mandatory defence.
Conteh lost a 15-round split decision to the Yugoslavian fighter Mate Parlov when he attempted to regain the title. He failed twice in further efforts to win back the crown, in 1979 and then again seven months later in 1980, on both occasions fighting the American Matthew Saad Muhammad. Muhammad won both bouts but the first victory was controversial. […]
In 1973, John Conteh was one of the celebrities featured dressed in prison gear on the cover of the 1973 Wings album, “Band on the Run.”
Paul used to come round with his wife, Linda, to the fights and support me because I was a Liverpool lad, too. Next thing I’m getting an invite to go on the front cover of Band on the Run, which was fantastic. Amazing even. I read something where he said, ‘He’s a Liverpool lad, he’s doing well. Let’s get him on the album.’ Simple as that.
I was from Liverpool and Paul’s people got in touch with me and said, ‘Would you like to be on the front cover of the Band on the Run album?’ I said, ‘Yeah, fantastic!’
I went down to the recording studio in St John’s Wood and it was fantastic to be there with the biggest stars in the world, when only a couple of years before I was a hod carrier in Liverpool. Next thing, I’m on the front of a music cover alongside the likes of Christopher Lee, Michael Parkinson, Kenny Lynch and James Coburn!
In November 1974, after he won the WBC light-heavyweight title, John Conteh was tricked by Eamonn Andrews, presenter of the Thames/ITV TV program “This Is Your Life“, with the help of Paul and Linda.
Presenter Eamonn Andrews and producer Jack Crawshaw recall this edition of This Is Your Life in their book, Surprise Of Your Life…
Had he not been sitting at the piano with Paul, I swear I would have had the new world champion sagging at his knees. Was he surprised! The sharp left hand that had helped him to his hard-earned and well-deserved title was now raised in a gesture of bewilderment as he scratched the head that just 36 days before had been crowned in triumph.
That was October 1, the night we saw John Conteh, the son of a proud ex-merchant seaman from Sierra Leone and his wife who was born in Bootle in Lancashire, become Britain’s first light heavyweight champion of the world for more than a quarter of a century.
Being a confirmed fan of the noble art, I knew how John had progressed through the amateur ranks, winning forty six out of fifty fights including a gold medal at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. In 26 professional fights he had won the British Commonwealth and European titles.
So, as the referee raised his hand to confirm his world title win, we were making a decision of our own – to pick up John as our own number one in the series that was about to begin. And who better to help us than Paul and Linda McCartney.
They were among his fans at the ringside cheering him on with their own particular brand of the Mersey Sound. They were good friends and Paul had included a picture of John on the cover of his latest chart-topping album. Before the fight he sent John a good luck telegram saying: “You made me number one. Now you be number one.”
It was that telegram that gave us the idea to get Paul to lure the new champion to the studios in Abbey Road. So among the hundreds of post-fight invitations that naturally flowed in to his business manager was one for John to pose with his number one pal in front of the camera. Who would be taking the pictures? Who else but Paul’s very own professional photographer, his American born wife, Linda.
Even so, it was an exciting moment when Paul gave us the news that John had accepted. But with just 48 hours to go the excitement turned to near panic in the office famed throughout television for it’s stringent security measures – the This Is Your Life office where files are kept under lock and key opposite a wall that bears a poster stealing a message from more serious times and reminding all who work there that “CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES”.
Top security dossiers containing the latest detailed research notes had been sent by despatch rider to the homes of myself and key members of the team. But en route, through the dark and wet winter night, the rider skidded on a greasy road and crashed.
He was badly shaken, but valiantly brushed himself down, collected the scattered mail, remounted and continued his journey … totally unaware that one envelope still lay by the roadside.
The shock news did not break until the following day when Robert Reed, one of the programme directors, announced that the information he had been warned to expect had not arrived. When the despatch rider told us of the accident we feared the worst.
He returned to the scene of the mishap, but there was no sign of the missing envelope. Someone somewhere had confidential information that could kill the programme. Robert Reed’s address and phone number were typed on the front of the envelope, but there was nothing to stop the finder opening it and blowing the secret.
One call to John, or even someone on a newspaper who didn’t know that all the leading television writers would never ruin the programme by disclosing the key name in advance, could kill the surprise. It had happened once before a long time ago. As the search went on, my mind went back nearly 20 years to the time when I had first spotted This Is Your Life on television in America. When I reported back to London, the show’s creator, Ralph Edwards, was invited to present a pilot showing on BBC Television here. The subject we chose was the footballing genius, Blackpool and England star, Stanley Matthews. Just as now, all was geared up to go with the programme when the Daily Sketch broke the story and brought our plans crashing around us.
More recently we had lost another show when, again with only days to go, comedy actor Derek Nimmo received an anonymous note in his dressing room at the Adelphi Theatre telling him: “Beware Wednesday. This Is Your Life”. And true blue character that he is Derek told me about it. Even though we lost a wonderful story I couldn’t help but admire and respect him for it. I couldn’t bear the thought of it happening again and you can imagine my relief later that day when I heard that the envelope had been found and that the finder had sent it on to Bob’s home. Unopened.
But we still had to surprise John. Fortunately, the busy recording studios provided the cover we needed. We were able to hide the mobile outside broadcasting unit at the back of the building and feed the cables through a ventilating duct to cameras hidden in the studio.
Only minutes before John was due to arrive at the front, I was smuggled in through the rear tradesman’s entrance. And after a few snatched words and a joke with Paul and Linda I hid behind a carefully-placed acoustic screen close to the piano where John was to sit.
John Phillips, the director and man in charge of the technical side of the operation, had been controlling director for ITV’s massive coverage of three general elections, but I knew that as he sat in the control unit parked outside he would be just as nervous as I was.
For, like all his fellow directors who sit in the This Is Your Life hot seat, he could have no rehearsal and would have only one shot to capture what the viewers demand: the picture that shows the look on the guest’s face immediately the book is revealed and the words they first utter as the surprise hits home.
Happily, John – like Linda (and our own stills photographer, Stan Allen) – got the picture. And I got my man. Within a couple of minutes, John and I were dashing across North London by car to the studios for more surprises from a guest list that included actor Kenneth Haigh and his wife Myrna, Henry Cooper and eight British champions, all walking on to pay tribute to the hero of the hour.
Paul and Linda talked to us via a live link we kept open to the Abbey Road studios, but the final word went to John’s mum Rachel.
Surrounded by his nine brothers and sisters, she recalled once more the night her son won the world title.
“I won a title myself that night”, said Mrs Conteh, “the proudest Mum in the world”.
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