John McNally (boxer)

John McNally (born November 3, 1932 in Belfast , Northern Ireland) is an Irish boxer . He won at the 1952 Summer Olympics , a Helsinki silver medal in the bantamweight .

Career

Amateur career

John McNally began boxing as a youth in the Pund Loney neighborhood of West Belfast at the Immaculata Club . His coach at the time was Sammy Wallace. He was u. a. Junior champions of Ireland and Ulster (Northern Ireland) in light flyweight . In 1951 he was also junior flyweight champion of Ireland and Ulster .

In April 1952 he represented Ireland in an international match against the United States in Dublin . He won it in the bantamweight over Jack Corvino on points. In 1952 he was also Irish bantamweight champion and qualified with this success for participation in the 1952 Olympic boxing tournament in Helsinki. He entered there without much international experience, but defeated Alejandro Ortuoste, Philippines, Vincenzo Dall'Osso, Italy and Kann Joon-ho from South Korea each safely on points. He was in the final, where he met the Finnish local hero Pentti Hämäläinen . After three almost even rounds, the Finn was awarded the points win, which was not unanimous with 2: 1 judges' votes. The silver medal that John McNally won with it was the first medal won by an Irish boxer in the Olympics.

In May 1953, John McNally competed in the European Amateur Championship in Warsaw. Boxing again at bantamweight, he defeated Antoine Martin, France and John Smillie, Scotland, on points. In the semifinals he met multiple Soviet champion Boris Stepanov , who was known as a tough puncher. He lost this fight by knockout in the 2nd round and won a bronze medal.

In June 1953 John McNally was in a European selection that competed in Chicago and St. Louis for two comparative matches against the United States. He won both fights over Junior Trujillo and Andy Gasparovic on points.

He then ended his short but very successful amateur career and joined the professional boxer.

Profile career

John McNally played his first professional fight on April 7, 1954 in Glasgow and came in the featherweight to a technical knockout victory in the 2nd round over Johnny Kenny from Scotland.

In the course of his professional career, during which he fought exclusively on the British Isles or Ireland, he also fought two championship fights for the title of Northern Ireland. The first fight on March 26, 1955 in Belfast, where he lost in featherweight to Joe Quinn over 12 rounds on points and on November 23, 1957, where he lost again in Belfast in the lightweight against Peter Sharp by knockout in the 8th round.

The last fight of his professional career he played on March 6, 1961 in Middlesbrough. He came to a technical knockout victory in the 3rd round over Johnny Nolan from England.

Overall, John McNally played 25 professional fights, of which he won 14 (7 KO victories) and lost 9 (6 by KO). He boxed twice in a draw.

Honors

After his retirement as a professional boxer in 1961, the John McNally became very quiet and he was more or less forgotten. It was only when he published his memoirs that people in Ireland remembered John McNally's great contributions to Irish boxing. He was then honored on October 25, 2007 by the Sport Council of Northern Ireland for his services to Irish sport at a gala in Belfast.

On January 4, 2008, he was inducted into the Irish Boxing Hall of Fame in Dublin.

Explanations

• Flyweight, weight class up to 51 kg, bantam weight, up to 54 kg body weight (for amateurs)
• KO = "Knock Out"

literature

• Box Sport magazine

Web links

• John McNally in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Film report on John McNally