KEVIN FINNEGAN ... British and European middleweight boxing champion and talented painter.
KEVIN FINNEGAN ... British and European middleweight boxing champion and talented painter...
A real diamond geezer! Rest In Peace.
(Photo courtesy The Uxbridge Gazette)
(Photo courtesy The Uxbridge Gazette)
http://www.uxbridgegazette.co.uk/west-london-videos-pics/west-london-picture-galleries/2008/11/04/funeral-of-boxer-kevin-finnegan-113046-22179988/
Kevin helps carry brother Chris shoulder high through Uxbridge on Chris's return after winning a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics.
A young Kevin Finnegan
Kevin Finnegan (right) versus Tony Sibson
Kevin Finnegan with one of his paintings at the Grand Union Canal ... photo courtesy the Uxbridge Gazette
Kevin Finnegan ... retired from boxing and a full time artist. Kevin Finnegan had the most amazing handwriting. It looked perfect calligraphy.
One of Kevin Finnegan's paintings
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Kevin Finnegan - By artist Roger Esty
Kevin Finnegan Dies
The following was written by Bennie, a fight reviewer and a contributor to Boxrec's West Coast Boxing Forum. The photo is also courtesy of Bennie.
A young Kevin Finnegan
Former British and European middleweight champ Kevin Finnegan has been found dead in his flat in West London at the relatively young age of 60.
In the context of today's boxing scene, with 'world' titles seemingly given away, it is incredible to think this man never got a sniff at a world title shot. The younger brother of the better-known Chris licked the likes of Bunny Sterling, Tony Sibson, Gratien Tonna, Jean Claude Bouttier, Frankie Lucas, gave "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler a real war in the first of two fantastic efforts in the States in 1978 (both stopped on cuts, just two months apart) and looked desperately unlucky in the second of three 15-round classics with Alan Minter, who staggered home to a debatable decision in 1976.
Quite simply, Kevin Finnegan was gifted.
After his five wars with Minter and Hagler, both of whom went on to win the undisputed world middleweight title, Finnegan enjoyed a glorious, totally unexpected twilight to his career. In 1979 he outboxed Sibson over 15 rounds for the British title - just after "Sibbo" had destroyed "The Animal" Lucas - and then avenged a defeat to the ferocious Gratien Tonna with another magnificent boxing display in 1980 in France to lift the European title (his points loss to Tonna in the mid-1970s possibly cost him a shot at Carlos Monzon) and picked up a couple of nice paydays abroad in defence of the European belt. Finnegan fought well in his very last fight with Matteo Salvemini in Italy in September 1980, flooring the local man with a beautiful counter right, but Salvemeni proved a bit too energetic and took the points.
Marvin Hagler always said Finnegan gave him his hardest fight. What a boxer, what a character, what an epitah.
His daughter Lele has said recently: "After he retired from boxing he explored the paint canvas, colour, light form, medium. He also loved to walk, he loved to paint. He loved nature and as an artist he loved watching the seasons change, the colour of the trees the migration of the birds.....
But he was loved and involved with his family, watching his grandchildren grow, laughing and playing and being the crazy granddad he was."
Marvin Hagler always said Finnegan gave him his hardest fight. What a boxer, what a character, what an epitah.
His daughter Lele has said recently: "After he retired from boxing he explored the paint canvas, colour, light form, medium. He also loved to walk, he loved to paint. He loved nature and as an artist he loved watching the seasons change, the colour of the trees the migration of the birds.....
But he was loved and involved with his family, watching his grandchildren grow, laughing and playing and being the crazy granddad he was."
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