John Henry Stracey MBE (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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

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

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and European welterweight titles between 1973 and 1975, and is ranked by

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as the eighth 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 (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. 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 a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

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

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, 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 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, where he fought Danny McAloon on the undercard of the first Ali vs. Bugner fight, at the

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, 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 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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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

José Nápoles José Ángel Nápoles (April 13, 1940 – August 16, 2019) was a Cuban-born Mexican professional boxer. He was a two-time undisputed welterweight champion, having held the WBA, WBC, and ''The Ring'' welterweight titles between 1969 and 1975. ...

, in Nápoles' home-town of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, 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 Feathe ...

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

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

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

-based Mexican Carlos Palomino. In his next fight, he lost to future world title challenger Dave Boy Green, with a badly damaged eye in round ten. Stracey retired as a winner when he knocked out George Warusfel in nine rounds in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

on 23 May 1978.

Outside the ring

Stracey bought the Three Horseshoes pub in

Briston Briston is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the England, English county of Norfolk. Briston is located south-west of Holt, Norfolk, Holt and north-west of Norwich. History Bris ...

, 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 hotel in Bournemouth with a public bar called The Ringside.when he was married to Michele, they also had a daughter called Laura. He is now a supporter and patron of the Devon based Kings Boxing Academy. https://www.kingsboxingacademy.co.uk/patrons/

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stracey, John H. 1950 births Living people English male boxers People from Bethnal Green Boxers 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 Members of the Order of the British Empire