Maurice Hope

Maurice Hope
Data
Birth Name	Maurice Hope
Weight class	Light middleweight
nationality	British
birthday	December 6, 1951
place of birth	Saint John's
style	Southpaw
size	1.74 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	35
Victories	30th
Knockout victories	24
Defeats	4th
draw	1

Maurice Hope (born December 6, 1951 in Saint John’s , Antigua and Barbuda ) is a former British professional boxer and WBC world light middleweight champion.

Career

Hope came to England from Antigua with his parents and five siblings when he was nine and began boxing. As an amateur, he boxed in the British national team and was used in international matches. In 1968 he won the English School Championship and in July 1972 the British Olympic qualification. He then took part in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich , where he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the welterweight division against János Kajdi .

In 1973 he began his professional career with a points win against Scottish champion John Smith. After three more wins, he was finally defeated in November 1973 on points against Mickey Flynn. After five consecutive wins, including against Welsh champion Dave Davies, he boxed for the British light middleweight championship in November 1974 and won by knockout against the undefeated Larry Paul. After three knockout victories, including against the German champion Jürgen Voss, he tried to secure the British middleweight championship in June 1975, but lost to the later European champion Bunny Sterling.

His following six fights he won all by knockout, whereby he was again British champion in September 1975 against Larry Paul and in April 1976 against Tony Poole also Commonwealth champion. Another win was against Mimoun Mohatar, African champion and later WBC challenger to world champion Carlos Palomino.

In October 1976 he won the European light middleweight championship by a tKo victory in the 15th round against Vito Antuofermo . In March 1977 he boxed in Berlin for the WBC World Championship against Eckhard Dagge ; the fight ended after 15 rounds of a draw whereby Dagge remained the title holder. In May 1977 he again won the European Championship title over 15 rounds against Frank Wissenbach in Hamburg . After a win against Tony Lopes, he defended the European title by knockout against the Frenchman Joel Bonnetaz.

This was followed by three more build-up wins before he fought again for the WBC title in Italy in March 1979, winning prematurely against Rocky Mattioli . He was able to defend the title until the end of 1980 against Mike Baker, in the rematch against Rocky Mattioli and against Carlos Herrera, before he lost the title in May 1981 through premature defeat to Wilfred Benitez .

In March 1982 he played his last fight. He lost it in London just on points against European champion Luigi Minchillo.

predecessor	Office	successor
Rocky Mattioli	World Light Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) March 4, 1979 - May 23, 1981	Wilfred Benitez

Web links

• BoxRec profile
• Maurice Hope in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )