Maurice Hope

Maurice Hope was born on the Caribbean Island of Antigua but moved to England as a child and was raised in the inner-city London borough of Hackney. He was a national youth champion in 1968 and, although he never matched this achievement at senior level, represented England in international matches against Poland and East Germany. It was on account of these performances that Hope was chosen for the 1972 Games ahead of national champion Trevor Francis. Hope beat a Bahamian opponent and got a walkover against a Spaniard at the Olympics before losing to eventual silver medallist János Kajdi of Hungary.

Hope turned professional in the summer of 1973 and won 10 of his first 11 bouts before winning the British light-middleweight title in November 1974. A move up in weight to challenge Bunny Sterling for the national middleweight title resulted in a loss by knock-out and he returned to the lower weight class for a run of victories in 1976 in which he added British Commonwealth and European titles to his national title.

A shot at Germany’s Eckhard Dagge’s world title in Berlin resulted in a draw but two years later, in 1979, he knocked out Italian-Australian Rocky Mattioli to become the World Boxing Council light-middleweight champion. Hope defended his title on three occasions in London only to lose it on his first and only fight on American soil, against Puerto Rican legend Wilfredo Benitez. Hope only fought once more, a loss, before retirement.

After his career ended, Hope had health problems as he suffered from diabetes and conditions related to his time as a boxer. He eventually returned to Antigua where he was granted a gift of land by a government grateful to him for raising the island’s sporting profile. In his adopted district of Hackney he has a cycle route named in his honour.