John H. Stracey

In his first attempt at winning an ABA title, John H. Stracey was beaten in the lightweight semi-final by the eventual champion Jim Watt in 1968. Because Watt turned professional, he pulled out of the Olympic team and his place was taken by Stracey. At Mexico, Stracey reached the third round before losing on points to the eventual gold medallist, Ronnie Harris of the USA. Stracey beat Jimmy Banks in 1969 to win his only ABA title (light-welterweight) before he also turned professional after a brief amateur career that ended with a 12-2-0 record.

As a professional, Stracey won British and European titles, but the highlight of his career, and one of British boxing’s great moments, was in 1975 when he won the WBC welterweight title from the legendary Cuban-born Mexican José Napolés by stopping the reigning champion in the sixth round. Stacey successfully defended his title against the American Hedgemon Lewis before losing his title after being stopped in the 12th round by Carlos Palomino (Mexico) in June 1976. After losing to fellow Briton Dave “Boy” Green with a badly cut eye in a final eliminator for the WBC title in 1977, Stracey had one more fight against Georges Warusel (France) in 1978 and, despite winning, made the decision to retire. He ended with a career record of 45-5-1, with 37 of his 45 wins coming with a KO.

After his boxing career, Stracey ran pubs and a hotel. He also appeared in movies and, ironically, one of them was the 1990 film “The Krays” about the notorious gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray. The twins used to train at the Repton Boxing Club where Stracey started his boxing career, and in their younger days Stracey and Gary Kray (Ron and Reg´s nephew) were great friends.

Despite being born in the same Barking hospital as the former England rugby international Jason Leonard, John H. Stracey was brought up in the East End of London in Bethnal Green. As a teenager he had ambitions to be a singer (like many teenage boys at that time) but, after being taken to the Repton Club by his father, he fell in love with boxing and the rest became history as the saying goes. Stracey was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2022 for his charity work.