Former WBC Featherweight Champion Johnny Famechon Dies at 77, Beat Fighting Harada Twice
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Melbourne, Australia (August 5th, 2022)– Australian Boxing Hall of Fame Featherweight Johnny Famachon, who won the World Boxing Council Featherweight title and defeated Fighting Harada of Japan twice, has passed away after a long illness at age 77.
Born in Paris, France, Famechon later moved with his family to Melbourne, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Trained by Ambrose Palmer, Famechon never fought as an amateur. A Victorian regional and British Commonwealth Featherweight champion, Famechon won the lineal and World Boxing Council Featherweight championships by defeating the then world champion, Cuba’s Jose Legra, over 15 rounds on points, on January 21, 1969, in Albert Hall, United Kingdom.
In 1991, at age 45, Famechon was badly injured in a car accident outside Sydney’s Warwick Farm Racecourse, causing a brain injury, stroke, and other significant injuries. In December 1993, Famechon began a new brain multi movement rehabilitation program, and miraculously recovered and returned to a normal life several months after the therapy began. Famechon, Les Darcy and Lionel Rose are the only three boxers to have memorials in Australia. Famechon was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia at the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honors for his services to boxing in Australia.
COMMENTS
English