John McCluskey

At a time when British boxing was at low ebb in the lower weight divisions, the Scottish town of Hamilton produced the only two flyweights who could campaign at an international level with even moderate success. Following in the footsteps of future World professional champion Walter McGowan, fellow Hamiltonian John McCluskey won Scottish and British Amateur championships in 1964 and was chosen to box for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics. After defeating a Thai opponent in his first Olympic bout he was conclusively defeated by Stanislav Sorokin in the round of sixteen.

He opted to stay as an amateur for one more year and, having retained his Scottish and British titles, ended his career in the unpaid ranks by winning a bronze medal at the 1965 European Championships. By the end of the year he had made his debut as a professional and fifteen months later defeated the much more experienced Tony Barlow to win the British Flyweight title in only his 8th professional fight. Thereafter his career followed a recurring pattern as he dominated domestic opposition and held the national title for 8 years but, despite three attempts at the European title, he never broke through to compete at the highest level. He fought Fernando Atzori, the Olympic champion at flyweight in Tokyo, on three occasions but lost all three fights. The highlight of his career came in 1970 when he outpointed previously undefeated Australian Harry Hayes for the Commonwealth flyweight title although his reign ended with a defeat in his first defence.

After he suffered a first round knockout at the hands of Wayne Evans, McCluskey retired at the end of 1975 with a career record of 23 wins and 15 defeats from his 38 fights. McCluskey coached boxing and swimming in his native Hamilton for many years afterwards.