A former world championship boxer will receive an MBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
John Stracey, who now lives in Wirral, was nominated for services to charitable fundraising. Since retiring at the age of 28 he has devoted time to causes such as Mind, Pathfinders, the NSPCC and Stick ’n’ Step.
The 71-year-old became Welterweight Champion of the World on December 6 1975 in Mexico City by defeating Jose Napoles. At the time Napoles was regarded as pound for pound the best boxer in the world.
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John was also the undefeated European Welterweight Champion and British Welterweight Champion in the 1970s. Before he became professional the Bethnal Green lad represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games.
He was 18 on the day he flew out and is still the youngest English boxer to go to the Olympics. John told the ECHO: “I am really, really happy about it [the MBE]. We had the letter for days and I thought it was a [commemorative] coin and then I opened it and it said I was nominated for an MBE.
“My life highlight was definitely winning the world championship in Mexico. Muhammed Ali defended the World Heavyweight title on October 1 1975 and I won the Welterweight title in the same city eight weeks later.
“It’s horrible when you retire young. I had won everything by 28 but I’ve still managed to keep myself busy. The automatic thing to do [when I retired] was to help amateur boxing clubs when I retired. They are the backbone of boxing.
“It will be nice to go back to Buckingham Palace as I went down to the Queen’s 40th anniversary in 1992. All sorts of sporting legends were there including Bobby Moore. It will be a great day and I can’t wait to go back."
John was one of 11 Merseyside heroes to have been nominated for an honour. Among those nominated were 11-year-old twins and a shop owner.
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