Johnny Famechon, "Fammo" all-time great featherweight from Australia. Slick boxer and great defensive fighter with an iron chin.
JOHNNY FAMECHON - THE ARTFUL DODGER
Jean Pierre Famechon, or ‘Fammo,’ as he was known by most of the punching population of Australia, was born to French parents Antoinette and Andre on 28 March 1945, in Paris. At the age of five his family relocated to Australia, settling eventually in Melbourne.
The boxing gene was certainly in the Famechon bloodline. Johnny’s uncle, Emile held the French flyweight title, while his father became French lightweight champion and finished with a very respectable record of 60-20-9, over an eight year career. However, his uncle Ray was another level, losing only 14 in 117 fights, during which time he became French featherweight champion in his first six months as a pro, then went on to gain European honours, holding the strap for a number of years. Notable losses came against Sandy Sadler and a gallant effort against Willie Pep, unsuccessfully challenging for the world crown.
Young Johnny started training at Ambrose Palmer’s gym in West Melbourne, which was situated under the Festival Hall. The site would become a spiritual home of sorts for Famechon in the coming years. Palmer had clocked up 83 games as a professional Australian rules football player over an 11-year career, however, boxing was his true calling. In addition to coaching the Australian boxing team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Palmer went on to receive a number of plaudits over the years including an MBE for services to sport. Under Palmer’s guidance, Famechon was moulded into the great defensive fighter everyone remembers him for.
With no amateur experience, Fammo turned pro at only 16 years of age on 9 June 1961, at the Festival Hall, Melbourne. In fact, in a 69-fight career, 55 of his contests would be at the very same venue, which explained the incredible support he always received from his hometown.
Famechon made his debut at super flyweight and spent the next 12 months growing into his natural featherweight frame, albeit, his first six fights reflected results of an inexperienced boxer who was still learning on the job – which was technically very true of him. Winning three, losing two and drawing one, Fammo found his feet at the end of 1962 and won his next 19 outings, which included winning the Victoria State featherweight championship and swiftly after, the Australian featherweight strap.
By 1 April 1965, Famechon was 21-1-1 and showed he had earned the right to step up in competition. Unfortunately, his next seven fights contradicted this statement. Despite winning three fights, he lost three and drew won. By 29 October 1965, Famechon’s loss against Italian born Aussie, Gilberto Biondi, left him with a record of 24-4-2. Thankfully, he wouldn’t lose again until 1970.
On 24 November 1967, the Melbourne favourite took on the reigning Commonwealth featherweight champion, Glaswegian John O’Brien. In a pitch perfect performance from Famechon, the contest was stopped in the eleventh round due to injuries sustained to O’Brien’s eye.
The Parisian born 126lbs fighter went unbeaten in his next eight contests, before being handed the opportunity all fighters dream of. On 21 January 1969, Famechon took on WBC world featherweight champion, Cuban born Jose Legra. Despite having started his pro career 12 months prior to Famechon, the Spanish resident had already amassed 114 fights, having lost only five. In the previous 13 months Legra had won the European title, stopping Yves Desmarets in three rounds and a few months later stopped the WBC world featherweight champion Howard Winstone in five. This was without a doubt Famechon’s toughest test by a country mile.
Famechon wins the WBC featherweight title from Legra 1969.
Wearing a tailored pair of his father’s light blue boxing trunks, Fammo took on the man known by many as the ‘Mini Cassius Clay,’ at the Royal Albert Hall, London. All eyes were firmly fixed on the Aussie as he made his debut off home soil, with bookies betting against him to the power of 6-1.
Despite being shorter by almost three inches and the obvious underdog, Famechon was unphased by the confident champion and used his footwork, jab and combinations to frustrate Legra, who was hunting the challenger down. As Legra attacked, Fammo made him miss, then made him pay with some beautiful counter punching. It wasn’t a landslide victory for either fighter going into the final rounds and when the bell sounded for the start of the fifteenth, both Legra and Famechon knew that winning the final stanza could tip the decision their way.
While Cuban went for the knockout, the Aussie stayed calm, countering and delivering the cleaner, more eye catching shots for the referee to judge. After 45 minutes of action, Famechon won 74 ½ to 73 ¼. He was the new WBC featherweight champion of the world.
In the next four months, Famechon won three fights, however, his first real test since Legra was against legendary Japanese bantamweight champion, Fighting Harada on 28 July 1969. Fighting in front of a packed crowd at Sydney Stadium, with non-other than Willie Pep as referee, Famechon clinched a very tight points victory against the Tokyo resident.
Capping off 1969 with two fights in four weeks at the Albert Hall, on 6 January 1970, Fammo and Harada met once more, but this time at the Metropolitan Gym in Tokyo. Comfortably ahead on all three scorecards, Famechon stopped the future hall of famer in the fourteenth round.
Three months later, he travelled to Ellis Park, Johannesburg, beating Arnold Taylor on points, before losing a very close points decision and his world featherweight crown against Mexican Vicente Saldivar, at the Palazzetto Dello Sport in Rome. At only 25 years of age and still in great condition, many were surprised that he decided to retire soon after this fight. With money in the bank and health on his side, he never made a comeback.
Famechon invested in a number of businesses, took on a variety of working roles and was often seen around boxing circles in a refereeing capacity. Despite a decorated career against some heavy hitters, his biggest fight happened in 1991 while out for a jog by Sydney’s Warwick Farm racecourse, when he was hit by a car doing in excess of 60 mph. At the moment of impact, the former featherweight king was sent flying into the air and sustained brain injuries.
After a three week coma, he went through a battery of rehabilitation at a number of facilities in Melbourne and Sydney, before succumbing to a stroke. Unable to walk and talk at this point, the prognosis from the medical experts was that Famechon’s life would be severely compromised moving forward and his level of recovery would be hopeful at best.
In 1993, Fammo and his girlfriend Glenys, who he had only met the year before, were introduced to a gentleman by the name of Ragnar Purje. The future award winning neuroscientist was an Australian karate champion, practising a particular discipline called Goju Ryu, however, it was his radical ideas connected to physical movement to help improve Famechon’s brain function which proved to be a game changer.
In an interview with ABC News, Purje said, ‘I spent three hours with John and Glenys that first meeting and I could not believe how articulate John was, even though he had immense difficulty talking.’ After weeks of engaging with Fammo, putting him through a variety of physical exercises, the fighting featherweight went from struggling to whisper, to putting together words, then full sentences. Physically, he went from a wheelchair, to a crawl and then a walk. Purje’s work with Famechon lead him to write a thesis 20 years later, which focused on the success of his pioneering neurological acquired brain injury rehabilitation therapy, now referred to Complex Brain-Based Multi-Movement Therapy. Dr Purje was indeed a miracle worker.
Famechon was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997. The same year, four years after the accident, Famechon walked unassisted down the aisle and married his beloved Glenys. More recently, in 2022 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia, at the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for his service to boxing.
With his distinctive mutton-chop sideburns, Johnny Famechon fought from 1961 – 1970 and was never stopped in 69 contests. Of his five defeats, he avenged four, the only one he didn’t was against Saldivar, which many believed he could won in the rematch. After Jimmy Carruthers and Lionel Rose, Famechon was Australia’s third ever world champion.
Johnny Famechon passed away on 4 August 2022 in Melbourne. If you didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him in person, a 2.5 metre bronze statue is on display for you to see, at Ballam Park. The statue was unveiled on 21 January 2018, exactly 49 years to the day he beat Legra for the world title. Known as ‘Poetry in Motion,’ and ‘The Artful Dodger,’ in the square ring, Famechon’s spirit will live on for many years to come.
Billy Graham, beat Sugar Ray Robinson in the amateurs in NYC. In his first 58 fights he was 52-0-6, fought all of the top lightweights and welterweights of his era, has wins over Kid Gavilan, Carmen Basilio, Joey Giardello, beautiful technical boxer with one of the best chins in boxing history, in 126 career fights he was never knocked down, not once did he ever leave his feet. His last fight was in 1955 and he ended up at 102-15-9.
Billy Graham taking an uppercut from Kid Gavilan. Billy Graham had an iron chin, never off his feet in his entire career, you couldn't knock him down with a crow bar.
Just heard that Dwight Braxton who later changed his name to Dwight Muhammad Qawi after converting to Islam, "The Camden Buzzsaw" passed away a few days ago. I love watching him fight, a fearless warrior, a style a bit similar to Joe Frazier, always coming forward, bobbing and weaving, throwing those brutal combinations. RIP Champ.
This is my favorite photo of Dwight Muhammad Qawi, walking into Rahway State Prison in New Jersey in 1981 to fight convicted murderer James Scott. It's interesting because James Scott was a good fighter. It's a crazy story, James Scott was fighting pro boxers from prison and they would broadcast his fights live on TV from inside Rahway State Prison, Scott had wins over Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Yaqui Lopez, Scott was actually a top-ten ranked fighter in the world professional boxing rankings. But Dwight Muhammad Qawi was too much for him that day in 1981 and beat Scott by unanimous decision, his loss to Qawi pretty much ended his boxing career. It's also ironic because Qawi actually did five years in Rahway himself for armed robbery, but while incarcerated there he joined the prison's boxing program, turned his life around, and became a two-time world champion and a legend in the annals of boxing history.
Braxton /Qawi vs Holyfield I was a classic, Qawi was past his prime in this fight, but as the saying in boxing goes, "Every great fighter has one great fight left in them." It's a common expression in boxing, suggesting that even the most accomplished fighters, despite being past their best days, have one last moment of brilliance. Qawi lost the fight, but he gave the best cruiserweight in boxing history, a prime Holyfield, all he could handle that night.
This is certainly one of the greatest boxing photos ever taken. In 1981, Muhammad Ali showed his true greatness outside the ring. When a young man threatened to jump from a ledge near Ali's Los Angeles home, Ali rushed to the scene, talked him down with compassion, and drove him to a hospital for care. A champion in boxing and humanity.
Leon Spinks in the 1976 Munich Olympics. I always liked Leon Spinks, he had a lot of heart, good guy, proud US Marine. He accomplished a lot real fast, a Gold medal in the Olympics, winning the heavyweight championship in only his 8th pro fight, and he just couldn't handle the pressure of it all. Leon Spinks could have been great, but the drug, partying, and women ruined him, that's why they called him "Neon Leon", because of the non-stop partying. He had a hard life, drug addiction is never an easy thing to overcome, I have a family member who got addicted to drugs and it killed him, literally, he fought it for years but the drugs just had too powerful a grip on him and it's heartbreaking to see good people ruined by drugs, I hate drugs, damn them all. But Leon wasn't focused, and didn't live the boxing life, you have to live this chit, it's not a sport, it's a way of life. Still, I'd say he accomplished a lot, Olympic champion, World heavyweight champion, not too shabby.
When Leon Spinks was focused and trained properly, he was a damn good fighter, aggressive, good power, tremendous heart, he was a sensation and feared in the amateurs before drugs took over. Here is a photo of Leon Spinks as a US Marine, graduated 1973.
Leon after defeating Ali, the only man to take the belt from Ali in the ring, epic photo, a real Rocky Balboa moment. It was a great effort from Leon, you rarely see a fighter go full-throttle for 15 rounds like Spinks did in that fight, he was determined to seize the moment and make history. A lot of boxing fans I chat with on forums can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing that night.
Aurelio Herrera, late 1800s and early 1900s Mexican featherweight, his punching power is legendary, mythical, he was known as the "Mexican Skull-Crusher."
Like I said, Aurelio Herrera's power was legendary. Herrera was the prototype for the hard hitting Mexican fighter, noted in his day for having the heaviest punch of any fighter at or near his weight. Like heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries, Herrera fought out of a crouch but with his gloves open in order to parry and look for openings to land his devastating right. His violent knockouts were the stuff of legend and his stoppages of two fighters that had never been KO’d- Benny Yanger and Kid Broad- so awed sportswriters that two decades after his death he was still being spoken of by many as being the hardest puncher pound-for-pound who ever lived.
"Herrera has an awful wallop. I never felt anything like it in my ring experience.” - Benny Yanger, featherweight contender
"He could hit as hard as Jim Jeffries although he was only a lightweight. He landed one of his famous punches that almost tore the top of my head off. I have never been hit as hard before or since. I turned a complete somersault and fell flat on my back. I looked up and saw Herrera standing over me with murder in his eyes. That happened in the fifth round. Around the seventeenth round my head cleared…but I could not recall anything that happened in those 12 rounds. I really think Herrera was the greatest man I met." - Battling Nelson, lightweight champion
"The toughest man I ever fought was Aurelio Herrera. I don’t believe any lightweight ever lived who could hit as hard. He hit me on the head and I thought the building had caved in." - Kid Herman, lightweight contender
"That Mexican is a sure enough demon of a fighter. He hits like a horse kicking and is as quick as a big mountain cat. He can lick all the McGoverns and Corbetts that you can stick up in front of him. Yes and such fellas as Britt and Erne would be pie for him." - Kid Broad, featherweight contender
"In the fourth round he hit me two wallops on the neck, and up to the gong-tap I didn’t know whether I was on my feet or sitting down. Any other man who wants to challenge him can do it, but they can take a tip from me that Herrera can out a punch nearly as hard as Tom Sharkey. I think he could whip Joe Bernstein and Kid Broad easily.” - Terry McGovern, multi-divisional champion
"Herrera was the hardest hitting lightweight who ever lived. And I bar nobody right up to this day [June, 1956]. He hit me solidly only once in the 21 rounds we boxed together. I was pulling out of a clinch and he dropped a right cross to my chin. The punch landed about an eighth of an inch too high or it would have knocked me dead. As it was the left side of my body went numb. My left eye started to twitch and I couldn’t control it. Herrera had the uncanny knack of hitting. He didn’t learn the secret in the gym- it was born into him.” - Abe Attell, featherweight champion
"The greatest one-punch knockout artist I ever saw. And I’ve been watching fights for almost 60 years. Herrera and I became quite chummy when I took Sam Langford to California after the first of the century. To be perfectly honest about it, had I been offered a match for my Sam Langford against Herrera, even though Sam outweighed him by about fifteen pounds, I would have found some excuse to wiggle out of it. Sam in all probability would have beaten Herrera, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Not when a man could hit so damned hard as that little Mexican.” - Joe Woodman, manager of Sam Langford
James "Bonecrusher" Smith, 1980s heavyweight, he had one of the coolest nicknames in sports history. He earned that nickname because he was one of the hardest punchers of the 80s. This is one of the coolest boxing photos I've ever seen.
Ruslan Provodnikov, "The Siberian Rocky", he was a guy I would not want to get into the ring with, he was legit scary. As tough as it gets in this sport, about the best chance you have to knock him down would be to bring a 12-gauge shotgun into the ring with you. He hit like a truck, very hard puncher, just about every punch he threw was designed to take you out. If you did manage to beat him, you were going to take one hell of a beating in the process. His style was pretty straightforward, come right at you and brutalize you until you physically couldn't continue.
Ruslan Provodnikov vs Timothy Bradley was one of the greatest examples of heart you'll ever see in sports, Bradley fought the fight of his life that night, you had to fight that way to survive Provodnikov, he was just that brutal. Bradley ate some grenades that night, he was out on his feet a few times, but through sheer heart and determination managed to hold on and get the decision.
Provodnikov had a chin made of Titanium Alloy, he would just block punches with his face, it didn't even phase him. He would walk through any and everything you threw at him like it was nothing. He always reminded me of Chong Li , the brutal villain from the movie "Bloodsport."
Chris Algieri fought the fight of his life against Provodnikov as well, he managed to survive and win a split decision, but he paid a heavy price for it.
Both he and Timothy Bradley ended up in the hospital after their encounters with Provodnikov and both later stated that Provodnikov was the strongest and most powerful opponent they ever faced.
Johnny Dundee, "The Scotch Wop", one of the greatest fighters in the history of this sport. Johnny Dundee fought 335 fights in his career, fought from 1910-32, this was in a time when they didn't use mouthpieces and gloves were much thinner and smaller. He was a clever boxer, highly skilled at fighting off the ropes. He bested the great Benny Leonard and other greats Freddie Welsh, Jack Britton, Rocky Kansas, Eugene Criqui, Charley White, George (KO) Chaney, Willie Ritchie, and Lew Tendler, that's one heck of a resume.
It's a shame that this is the only footage of Johnny Dundee that we have, it's footage of his fight with Eugene Criqui in 1923, but you can see how slick Dundee was, he certainly knew his way around a ring, and he actually floors Criqui with a left hand, he throws the left hand while on the move with a jumping motion to the left which is impressive. Dundee would go on to win this fight by knockout.
Wilfred Benitez had one of the coolest nicknames, he was called "El Radar" or "The Radar" because his defensive abilities were so great it was almost as if he had a radar in his brain and could detect what you were going to do beforehand. To this day, he's still the youngest world champion in boxing history, winning a title at the age of only 17.
"It was though I was looking into the mirror. I’ve never been exposed to a fighter who could slide punches like this. No one. I mean no one can make me miss punches like that." - Sugar Ray Leonard (in A Fistful of Sugar)
Wilfred Benitez: The Under-Appreciated Champion
This under appreciated pugilist began his career at age 15. Two years later, at the age of 17, he shocked the boxing world by outboxing the legendary Colombian champion Antonio “Kid Pambele” Cervantes to become the youngest fighter ever to win a world championship (a distinction that he still holds) in 1976. A few years later, he decisioned the popular and rugged Carlos Palomino, he of beer commercial fame, to win the welterweight title. He later became the youngest fighter to win a world title in three different weight divisions when he knocked out Maurice Hope with a single right cross to win the junior middleweight crown. His elusive skills confounded boxing aficionados, causing many to proclaim he had radar in his brain. Opponents were universally awed by the defensive brilliance of this counter punching phenom. Harold Weston, Jr., a clever boxer himself, called him “the best defensive fighter I ever fought.” Palomino praised him as an “absolutely brilliant defensive fighter.” Sugar Ray Leonard remarked incredulously that no one ever made him miss so many punches. At times in his fights the self-proclaimed “Bible of Boxing” would engage in an unusual form of bravado reminiscent of Ali’s rope-a-dope. He would purposely lie on the ropes and showcase his sheer wizardry at slipping punch after punch without firing retaliatory shots. This defensive genius showed that boxing can occasionally live up to its often times oxymoronic moniker- “The Sweet Science.” Even Joyce Carol Oates could not capture the beauty of this legend’s elusiveness. You had to see it to believe it. After watching one of his finest displays, the Hall of Fame matchmaker Teddy Brenner called him “the best fighter in the world.” In arguably his greatest hour he outclassed Roberto Duran with a boxing lesson that would have turned Willie Pep green with envy and forced Pernell Whitaker to take notes. “Hands of Stone” was reduced to merely striking air. Even Duran, who never praised opponents, called him a “very good boxer” after being vanquished. In his prime he defeated everyone except for Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns. Who is he? Wilfred Benitez, the great Puerto Rican champion whose boxing brilliance was outmatched only by his poor training habits. Legend has it that he trained a grand total of one week before facing Leonard. Emanuel Steward, the longtime trainer of Tommy Hearns, once joked that he knew Hearns would beat Wilfred because Benitez had trained for Hearns. “It may mess him up. Training is a shock to his system”, said Steward. Unfortunately, neither Hearns nor Leonard ever gave him a rematch. Benitez repeatedly challenged Leonard, but Sugar Ray refused to face him again. Fittingly, the youngest fighter to win a world title became the youngest fighter ever inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame at the age of 37 in 1996. It was his first year of eligibility.
Benítez retained his super welterweight title in 1982 against Roberto Durán, in one of his greatest victories, Benitez fought the fight of his life that night, he was brilliant.
Koichi Wajima was an entertaining and popular three-time junior middleweight champion in the 1970s. While he wasn't highly skilled in the classical sense, Wajima was a nonstop punching machine known for his ability to absorb punches and seize victory from the jaws of defeat, in addition to his crouching "frog punch." Wajima went on to become a celebrity and television personality, but his style was said to have influenced a number of Japanese boxing comics and cartoons.
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The Basilio-Demarco fights gave us some of the best boxing photos ever.
Johnny Famechon, "Fammo" all-time great featherweight from Australia. Slick boxer and great defensive fighter with an iron chin.
JOHNNY FAMECHON - THE ARTFUL DODGER
Jean Pierre Famechon, or ‘Fammo,’ as he was known by most of the punching population of Australia, was born to French parents Antoinette and Andre on 28 March 1945, in Paris. At the age of five his family relocated to Australia, settling eventually in Melbourne.
The boxing gene was certainly in the Famechon bloodline. Johnny’s uncle, Emile held the French flyweight title, while his father became French lightweight champion and finished with a very respectable record of 60-20-9, over an eight year career. However, his uncle Ray was another level, losing only 14 in 117 fights, during which time he became French featherweight champion in his first six months as a pro, then went on to gain European honours, holding the strap for a number of years. Notable losses came against Sandy Sadler and a gallant effort against Willie Pep, unsuccessfully challenging for the world crown.
Young Johnny started training at Ambrose Palmer’s gym in West Melbourne, which was situated under the Festival Hall. The site would become a spiritual home of sorts for Famechon in the coming years. Palmer had clocked up 83 games as a professional Australian rules football player over an 11-year career, however, boxing was his true calling. In addition to coaching the Australian boxing team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Palmer went on to receive a number of plaudits over the years including an MBE for services to sport. Under Palmer’s guidance, Famechon was moulded into the great defensive fighter everyone remembers him for.
With no amateur experience, Fammo turned pro at only 16 years of age on 9 June 1961, at the Festival Hall, Melbourne. In fact, in a 69-fight career, 55 of his contests would be at the very same venue, which explained the incredible support he always received from his hometown.
Famechon made his debut at super flyweight and spent the next 12 months growing into his natural featherweight frame, albeit, his first six fights reflected results of an inexperienced boxer who was still learning on the job – which was technically very true of him. Winning three, losing two and drawing one, Fammo found his feet at the end of 1962 and won his next 19 outings, which included winning the Victoria State featherweight championship and swiftly after, the Australian featherweight strap.
By 1 April 1965, Famechon was 21-1-1 and showed he had earned the right to step up in competition. Unfortunately, his next seven fights contradicted this statement. Despite winning three fights, he lost three and drew won. By 29 October 1965, Famechon’s loss against Italian born Aussie, Gilberto Biondi, left him with a record of 24-4-2. Thankfully, he wouldn’t lose again until 1970.
On 24 November 1967, the Melbourne favourite took on the reigning Commonwealth featherweight champion, Glaswegian John O’Brien. In a pitch perfect performance from Famechon, the contest was stopped in the eleventh round due to injuries sustained to O’Brien’s eye.
The Parisian born 126lbs fighter went unbeaten in his next eight contests, before being handed the opportunity all fighters dream of. On 21 January 1969, Famechon took on WBC world featherweight champion, Cuban born Jose Legra. Despite having started his pro career 12 months prior to Famechon, the Spanish resident had already amassed 114 fights, having lost only five. In the previous 13 months Legra had won the European title, stopping Yves Desmarets in three rounds and a few months later stopped the WBC world featherweight champion Howard Winstone in five. This was without a doubt Famechon’s toughest test by a country mile.
Famechon wins the WBC featherweight title from Legra 1969.
Wearing a tailored pair of his father’s light blue boxing trunks, Fammo took on the man known by many as the ‘Mini Cassius Clay,’ at the Royal Albert Hall, London. All eyes were firmly fixed on the Aussie as he made his debut off home soil, with bookies betting against him to the power of 6-1.
Despite being shorter by almost three inches and the obvious underdog, Famechon was unphased by the confident champion and used his footwork, jab and combinations to frustrate Legra, who was hunting the challenger down. As Legra attacked, Fammo made him miss, then made him pay with some beautiful counter punching. It wasn’t a landslide victory for either fighter going into the final rounds and when the bell sounded for the start of the fifteenth, both Legra and Famechon knew that winning the final stanza could tip the decision their way.
While Cuban went for the knockout, the Aussie stayed calm, countering and delivering the cleaner, more eye catching shots for the referee to judge. After 45 minutes of action, Famechon won 74 ½ to 73 ¼. He was the new WBC featherweight champion of the world.
In the next four months, Famechon won three fights, however, his first real test since Legra was against legendary Japanese bantamweight champion, Fighting Harada on 28 July 1969. Fighting in front of a packed crowd at Sydney Stadium, with non-other than Willie Pep as referee, Famechon clinched a very tight points victory against the Tokyo resident.
Capping off 1969 with two fights in four weeks at the Albert Hall, on 6 January 1970, Fammo and Harada met once more, but this time at the Metropolitan Gym in Tokyo. Comfortably ahead on all three scorecards, Famechon stopped the future hall of famer in the fourteenth round.
Three months later, he travelled to Ellis Park, Johannesburg, beating Arnold Taylor on points, before losing a very close points decision and his world featherweight crown against Mexican Vicente Saldivar, at the Palazzetto Dello Sport in Rome. At only 25 years of age and still in great condition, many were surprised that he decided to retire soon after this fight. With money in the bank and health on his side, he never made a comeback.
Famechon invested in a number of businesses, took on a variety of working roles and was often seen around boxing circles in a refereeing capacity. Despite a decorated career against some heavy hitters, his biggest fight happened in 1991 while out for a jog by Sydney’s Warwick Farm racecourse, when he was hit by a car doing in excess of 60 mph. At the moment of impact, the former featherweight king was sent flying into the air and sustained brain injuries.
After a three week coma, he went through a battery of rehabilitation at a number of facilities in Melbourne and Sydney, before succumbing to a stroke. Unable to walk and talk at this point, the prognosis from the medical experts was that Famechon’s life would be severely compromised moving forward and his level of recovery would be hopeful at best.
In 1993, Fammo and his girlfriend Glenys, who he had only met the year before, were introduced to a gentleman by the name of Ragnar Purje. The future award winning neuroscientist was an Australian karate champion, practising a particular discipline called Goju Ryu, however, it was his radical ideas connected to physical movement to help improve Famechon’s brain function which proved to be a game changer.
In an interview with ABC News, Purje said, ‘I spent three hours with John and Glenys that first meeting and I could not believe how articulate John was, even though he had immense difficulty talking.’ After weeks of engaging with Fammo, putting him through a variety of physical exercises, the fighting featherweight went from struggling to whisper, to putting together words, then full sentences. Physically, he went from a wheelchair, to a crawl and then a walk. Purje’s work with Famechon lead him to write a thesis 20 years later, which focused on the success of his pioneering neurological acquired brain injury rehabilitation therapy, now referred to Complex Brain-Based Multi-Movement Therapy. Dr Purje was indeed a miracle worker.
Famechon was inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997. The same year, four years after the accident, Famechon walked unassisted down the aisle and married his beloved Glenys. More recently, in 2022 he was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia, at the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for his service to boxing.
With his distinctive mutton-chop sideburns, Johnny Famechon fought from 1961 – 1970 and was never stopped in 69 contests. Of his five defeats, he avenged four, the only one he didn’t was against Saldivar, which many believed he could won in the rematch. After Jimmy Carruthers and Lionel Rose, Famechon was Australia’s third ever world champion.
Johnny Famechon passed away on 4 August 2022 in Melbourne. If you didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him in person, a 2.5 metre bronze statue is on display for you to see, at Ballam Park. The statue was unveiled on 21 January 2018, exactly 49 years to the day he beat Legra for the world title. Known as ‘Poetry in Motion,’ and ‘The Artful Dodger,’ in the square ring, Famechon’s spirit will live on for many years to come.
Johnny Famechon hitting the speed bag, love the sTp shirt.
Famechon with his crown and scepter.
Billy Graham, beat Sugar Ray Robinson in the amateurs in NYC. In his first 58 fights he was 52-0-6, fought all of the top lightweights and welterweights of his era, has wins over Kid Gavilan, Carmen Basilio, Joey Giardello, beautiful technical boxer with one of the best chins in boxing history, in 126 career fights he was never knocked down, not once did he ever leave his feet. His last fight was in 1955 and he ended up at 102-15-9.
This is are awesome photos of boxer Billy Graham with the famous reverend Billy Graham, two Billy Graham's.
Billy Graham taking an uppercut from Kid Gavilan. Billy Graham had an iron chin, never off his feet in his entire career, you couldn't knock him down with a crow bar.
Billy Graham returns the favor to Kid Gavilan.
Billy Graham had beautiful textbook punching, just a beautiful fighter to watch on film.
Just heard that Dwight Braxton who later changed his name to Dwight Muhammad Qawi after converting to Islam, "The Camden Buzzsaw" passed away a few days ago. I love watching him fight, a fearless warrior, a style a bit similar to Joe Frazier, always coming forward, bobbing and weaving, throwing those brutal combinations. RIP Champ.
This is my favorite photo of Dwight Muhammad Qawi, walking into Rahway State Prison in New Jersey in 1981 to fight convicted murderer James Scott. It's interesting because James Scott was a good fighter. It's a crazy story, James Scott was fighting pro boxers from prison and they would broadcast his fights live on TV from inside Rahway State Prison, Scott had wins over Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Yaqui Lopez, Scott was actually a top-ten ranked fighter in the world professional boxing rankings. But Dwight Muhammad Qawi was too much for him that day in 1981 and beat Scott by unanimous decision, his loss to Qawi pretty much ended his boxing career. It's also ironic because Qawi actually did five years in Rahway himself for armed robbery, but while incarcerated there he joined the prison's boxing program, turned his life around, and became a two-time world champion and a legend in the annals of boxing history.
Some photos of Dwight Braxton/Qawi, duking it out with James Scott at Rahway State Prison in 1981.
Braxton /Qawi vs Holyfield I was a classic, Qawi was past his prime in this fight, but as the saying in boxing goes, "Every great fighter has one great fight left in them." It's a common expression in boxing, suggesting that even the most accomplished fighters, despite being past their best days, have one last moment of brilliance. Qawi lost the fight, but he gave the best cruiserweight in boxing history, a prime Holyfield, all he could handle that night.
Some great shots of Dwight Braxton/Qawi.
RIP Champ.
This is certainly one of the greatest boxing photos ever taken. In 1981, Muhammad Ali showed his true greatness outside the ring. When a young man threatened to jump from a ledge near Ali's Los Angeles home, Ali rushed to the scene, talked him down with compassion, and drove him to a hospital for care. A champion in boxing and humanity.
Leon Spinks in the 1976 Munich Olympics. I always liked Leon Spinks, he had a lot of heart, good guy, proud US Marine. He accomplished a lot real fast, a Gold medal in the Olympics, winning the heavyweight championship in only his 8th pro fight, and he just couldn't handle the pressure of it all. Leon Spinks could have been great, but the drug, partying, and women ruined him, that's why they called him "Neon Leon", because of the non-stop partying. He had a hard life, drug addiction is never an easy thing to overcome, I have a family member who got addicted to drugs and it killed him, literally, he fought it for years but the drugs just had too powerful a grip on him and it's heartbreaking to see good people ruined by drugs, I hate drugs, damn them all. But Leon wasn't focused, and didn't live the boxing life, you have to live this chit, it's not a sport, it's a way of life. Still, I'd say he accomplished a lot, Olympic champion, World heavyweight champion, not too shabby.
Leon Spinks with his Olympic Gold medal.
When Leon Spinks was focused and trained properly, he was a damn good fighter, aggressive, good power, tremendous heart, he was a sensation and feared in the amateurs before drugs took over. Here is a photo of Leon Spinks as a US Marine, graduated 1973.
This is my favorite photo of Leon Spinks, rocking the hat and fur coat.
Leon after defeating Ali, the only man to take the belt from Ali in the ring, epic photo, a real Rocky Balboa moment. It was a great effort from Leon, you rarely see a fighter go full-throttle for 15 rounds like Spinks did in that fight, he was determined to seize the moment and make history. A lot of boxing fans I chat with on forums can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing that night.
Aurelio Herrera, late 1800s and early 1900s Mexican featherweight, his punching power is legendary, mythical, he was known as the "Mexican Skull-Crusher."
Like I said, Aurelio Herrera's power was legendary. Herrera was the prototype for the hard hitting Mexican fighter, noted in his day for having the heaviest punch of any fighter at or near his weight. Like heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries, Herrera fought out of a crouch but with his gloves open in order to parry and look for openings to land his devastating right. His violent knockouts were the stuff of legend and his stoppages of two fighters that had never been KO’d- Benny Yanger and Kid Broad- so awed sportswriters that two decades after his death he was still being spoken of by many as being the hardest puncher pound-for-pound who ever lived.
"Herrera has an awful wallop. I never felt anything like it in my ring experience.” - Benny Yanger, featherweight contender
"He could hit as hard as Jim Jeffries although he was only a lightweight. He landed one of his famous punches that almost tore the top of my head off. I have never been hit as hard before or since. I turned a complete somersault and fell flat on my back. I looked up and saw Herrera standing over me with murder in his eyes. That happened in the fifth round. Around the seventeenth round my head cleared…but I could not recall anything that happened in those 12 rounds. I really think Herrera was the greatest man I met." - Battling Nelson, lightweight champion
"The toughest man I ever fought was Aurelio Herrera. I don’t believe any lightweight ever lived who could hit as hard. He hit me on the head and I thought the building had caved in." - Kid Herman, lightweight contender
"That Mexican is a sure enough demon of a fighter. He hits like a horse kicking and is as quick as a big mountain cat. He can lick all the McGoverns and Corbetts that you can stick up in front of him. Yes and such fellas as Britt and Erne would be pie for him." - Kid Broad, featherweight contender
"In the fourth round he hit me two wallops on the neck, and up to the gong-tap I didn’t know whether I was on my feet or sitting down. Any other man who wants to challenge him can do it, but they can take a tip from me that Herrera can out a punch nearly as hard as Tom Sharkey. I think he could whip Joe Bernstein and Kid Broad easily.” - Terry McGovern, multi-divisional champion
"Herrera was the hardest hitting lightweight who ever lived. And I bar nobody right up to this day [June, 1956]. He hit me solidly only once in the 21 rounds we boxed together. I was pulling out of a clinch and he dropped a right cross to my chin. The punch landed about an eighth of an inch too high or it would have knocked me dead. As it was the left side of my body went numb. My left eye started to twitch and I couldn’t control it. Herrera had the uncanny knack of hitting. He didn’t learn the secret in the gym- it was born into him.” - Abe Attell, featherweight champion
"The greatest one-punch knockout artist I ever saw. And I’ve been watching fights for almost 60 years. Herrera and I became quite chummy when I took Sam Langford to California after the first of the century. To be perfectly honest about it, had I been offered a match for my Sam Langford against Herrera, even though Sam outweighed him by about fifteen pounds, I would have found some excuse to wiggle out of it. Sam in all probability would have beaten Herrera, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Not when a man could hit so damned hard as that little Mexican.” - Joe Woodman, manager of Sam Langford
James "Bonecrusher" Smith, 1980s heavyweight, he had one of the coolest nicknames in sports history. He earned that nickname because he was one of the hardest punchers of the 80s. This is one of the coolest boxing photos I've ever seen.
Ruslan Provodnikov, "The Siberian Rocky", he was a guy I would not want to get into the ring with, he was legit scary. As tough as it gets in this sport, about the best chance you have to knock him down would be to bring a 12-gauge shotgun into the ring with you. He hit like a truck, very hard puncher, just about every punch he threw was designed to take you out. If you did manage to beat him, you were going to take one hell of a beating in the process. His style was pretty straightforward, come right at you and brutalize you until you physically couldn't continue.
Provodnikov was brutal, he would stalk you around the ring with relentless pressure, and just brutalize you with power shots.
Ruslan Provodnikov vs Timothy Bradley was one of the greatest examples of heart you'll ever see in sports, Bradley fought the fight of his life that night, you had to fight that way to survive Provodnikov, he was just that brutal. Bradley ate some grenades that night, he was out on his feet a few times, but through sheer heart and determination managed to hold on and get the decision.
Provodnikov had a chin made of Titanium Alloy, he would just block punches with his face, it didn't even phase him. He would walk through any and everything you threw at him like it was nothing. He always reminded me of Chong Li , the brutal villain from the movie "Bloodsport."
Chris Algieri fought the fight of his life against Provodnikov as well, he managed to survive and win a split decision, but he paid a heavy price for it.
Both he and Timothy Bradley ended up in the hospital after their encounters with Provodnikov and both later stated that Provodnikov was the strongest and most powerful opponent they ever faced.
The thing about Ruslan Provodnikov, he could be outboxed, but man you had to be extremely careful with him, he was a dangerous, dangerous fighter.
Johnny Dundee, "The Scotch Wop", one of the greatest fighters in the history of this sport. Johnny Dundee fought 335 fights in his career, fought from 1910-32, this was in a time when they didn't use mouthpieces and gloves were much thinner and smaller. He was a clever boxer, highly skilled at fighting off the ropes. He bested the great Benny Leonard and other greats Freddie Welsh, Jack Britton, Rocky Kansas, Eugene Criqui, Charley White, George (KO) Chaney, Willie Ritchie, and Lew Tendler, that's one heck of a resume.
Johnny Dundee on the right, facing off with Eugene Criqui.
Johnny Dundee with the cane posing for the camera.
Johnny Dundee on the left facing off with Tony Canzoneri, this would be Dundee's last career fight.
Good shot of Johnny Dundee in his prime.
Johnny Dundee in a fight pose.
It's a shame that this is the only footage of Johnny Dundee that we have, it's footage of his fight with Eugene Criqui in 1923, but you can see how slick Dundee was, he certainly knew his way around a ring, and he actually floors Criqui with a left hand, he throws the left hand while on the move with a jumping motion to the left which is impressive. Dundee would go on to win this fight by knockout.
Wilfred Benitez had one of the coolest nicknames, he was called "El Radar" or "The Radar" because his defensive abilities were so great it was almost as if he had a radar in his brain and could detect what you were going to do beforehand. To this day, he's still the youngest world champion in boxing history, winning a title at the age of only 17.
"It was though I was looking into the mirror. I’ve never been exposed to a fighter who could slide punches like this. No one. I mean no one can make me miss punches like that." - Sugar Ray Leonard (in A Fistful of Sugar)
Wilfred Benitez: The Under-Appreciated Champion
This under appreciated pugilist began his career at age 15. Two years later, at the age of 17, he shocked the boxing world by outboxing the legendary Colombian champion Antonio “Kid Pambele” Cervantes to become the youngest fighter ever to win a world championship (a distinction that he still holds) in 1976. A few years later, he decisioned the popular and rugged Carlos Palomino, he of beer commercial fame, to win the welterweight title. He later became the youngest fighter to win a world title in three different weight divisions when he knocked out Maurice Hope with a single right cross to win the junior middleweight crown. His elusive skills confounded boxing aficionados, causing many to proclaim he had radar in his brain. Opponents were universally awed by the defensive brilliance of this counter punching phenom. Harold Weston, Jr., a clever boxer himself, called him “the best defensive fighter I ever fought.” Palomino praised him as an “absolutely brilliant defensive fighter.” Sugar Ray Leonard remarked incredulously that no one ever made him miss so many punches. At times in his fights the self-proclaimed “Bible of Boxing” would engage in an unusual form of bravado reminiscent of Ali’s rope-a-dope. He would purposely lie on the ropes and showcase his sheer wizardry at slipping punch after punch without firing retaliatory shots. This defensive genius showed that boxing can occasionally live up to its often times oxymoronic moniker- “The Sweet Science.” Even Joyce Carol Oates could not capture the beauty of this legend’s elusiveness. You had to see it to believe it. After watching one of his finest displays, the Hall of Fame matchmaker Teddy Brenner called him “the best fighter in the world.” In arguably his greatest hour he outclassed Roberto Duran with a boxing lesson that would have turned Willie Pep green with envy and forced Pernell Whitaker to take notes. “Hands of Stone” was reduced to merely striking air. Even Duran, who never praised opponents, called him a “very good boxer” after being vanquished. In his prime he defeated everyone except for Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns. Who is he? Wilfred Benitez, the great Puerto Rican champion whose boxing brilliance was outmatched only by his poor training habits. Legend has it that he trained a grand total of one week before facing Leonard. Emanuel Steward, the longtime trainer of Tommy Hearns, once joked that he knew Hearns would beat Wilfred because Benitez had trained for Hearns. “It may mess him up. Training is a shock to his system”, said Steward. Unfortunately, neither Hearns nor Leonard ever gave him a rematch. Benitez repeatedly challenged Leonard, but Sugar Ray refused to face him again. Fittingly, the youngest fighter to win a world title became the youngest fighter ever inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame at the age of 37 in 1996. It was his first year of eligibility.
Wilfred Benítez sports his crown atop a crown, symbolizing having won world championships in two divisions at only 20-years-old.
Benítez retained his super welterweight title in 1982 against Roberto Durán, in one of his greatest victories, Benitez fought the fight of his life that night, he was brilliant.
This is why Wilfred Benitez was called "El Radar", the guy could slip punches like the Matrix.
Koichi Wajima was an entertaining and popular three-time junior middleweight champion in the 1970s. While he wasn't highly skilled in the classical sense, Wajima was a nonstop punching machine known for his ability to absorb punches and seize victory from the jaws of defeat, in addition to his crouching "frog punch." Wajima went on to become a celebrity and television personality, but his style was said to have influenced a number of Japanese boxing comics and cartoons.