Johnny Famechon Biography – Johnny Famechon Wiki
Johnny Famechon born Jean-Pierre Famechon was an Australian featherweight boxer. He was the 2003 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame Moderns category and was the third to be elevated to Legend status in 2012. Over his twenty-year career, Famechon developed a reputation for being a skilled boxer whose strength was his defense. His career record was 56 wins (20 by KO), 6 draws, and 5 losses.
His first major win was over Les Dunn to become Victorian Featherweight champion in 1964, then he was Commonwealth featherweight champion in 1967 after defeating the Scot John O’Brien. He became Lineal and WBC featherweight champion on January 21, 1969, after he defeated the Cuban José Legrá on points at the Albert Hall in London.
Famechon defended his WBC featherweight title against Fighting Harada of Japan and won in a controversial points decision. In the rematch for the world title, against Harada in Japan six months later, he decisively won by knocking out Harada in the fourteenth round. He defended his WBC title on May 9, 1970, in Rome against Mexican Vicente Saldivar, and after losing the fight in a close points decision, he retired soon afterward. He was trained by Ambrose Palmer throughout his professional career and never fought as an amateur.
Famechon received the Keys To The City in 1969 on his return to Australia after his World Title wins against Jose Legra in London. He was the first Melburnian to become King of Moomba in 1970 when appointed by the Moomba festival committee. In 1971, he and long-time friend Frank Quill, wrote his autobiography, Fammo. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 1997. He also was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003 and to the Frankston Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2013 the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame elevated him to Legend status.
In 1991 he was badly injured when hit by a car outside Sydney’s Warwick Farm racecourse, which resulted in horrific injuries and sustained an acquired brain injury and a stroke. In December 1993 Famechon commenced a new complex brain-based multi-movement therapy rehabilitation program that resulted in his return to a near normal life some 10–12 weeks after the therapy started. He now has a bronze statue in his hometown of Frankston and is only the third Australian boxer to be honored in this way after Les Darcy and Lionel Rose.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours for significant service to boxing at the elite level. Famechon went to Essendon Technical School.
Johnny Famechon Age
He was born on March 28, 1945, in Paris, France, and died on August 4, 2022, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. At the time of his death, he was 77 years.
Johnny Famechon Wife
He met his wife Elise (née Alves), and they married at St Brigid’s Church in Mordialloc in 1970. They moved to Frankston and had their first child Paul in 1972, and daughter Danielle in 1974.
Johnny Famechon Family
He was born in Paris, France. He and his mother, father, and younger brother moved from Paris to Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia a suburb of Melbourne, in 1950 when he was five. The family then moved to Middle Park another suburb of Melbourne. His mother Antoinette and younger brother Christian moved to Paris a couple of years later; John and his father Andre then moved to Richmond.
Johnny Famechon Death
The Australian boxing legend Johnny Famechon passed away in Melbourne after suffering from a lengthy illness. He was 77 years old at the time of his death. The sad news was announced by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame on August 4, 2022. Famechon was struck by a car while jogging in 1991 in Sydney. He was in a coma for 10 days.
Famechon suffered Acquired Brain Injury and a major stroke but two years after the accident started a special rehabilitation program that returned him to near full health. “It was a tough time but I am back on track,’’ he once told News Corp. “I have led a great life and I am thankful for all of it. You have to take the tough times as well. I have seen some incredible things in Australia and abroad.’’
Rhett Bartlett wrote on Twitter, “RIP Johnny Famechon, 77. Entered immortality on January 21, 1969, by defeating Jose Legra at the Albert Hall for the featherweight title. However his greatest fight – and victory – was overcoming the brain injury and stroke he suffered in 1991.”
Johnny Famechon Cause of Death
The former boxer passed on in Melbourne after suffering from a lengthy illness. He was 77 years old at the time of his death.
Johnny Famechon Height
He stood at a height of 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters) tall.
