Mick McKeon

Mick McKeon was Ireland’s best middleweight boxer in the early years after World War II. He beat Christy Forde on points to win his first national title in 1945 and between then and 1951 won the title six times, just one behind Jack Chase’s record seven middleweight titles between 1926-32. McKeon made the first of many Irish international appearances against Wales at Dublin in 1946 and the following year competed in the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Dublin before going to the 1948 Olympics.

At the London Games, McKeon reached the middleweight semi-final but lost to Britain’s ABA champion Johnny Wright. Unfortunately, due to a broken nose, McKeon was advised to pull out of the bronze medal bout against Italy’s Ivano Fontana on medical advice. McKeon went to his second European Championships in 1949 and that year was also called in as a replacement for Olympic gold medallist László Papp to fight the American Joe Leudanski in the 12th International Golden Gloves Tournament between boxers from the USA and Europe at Chicago. McKeon won in a fight billed as “the amateur middleweight championship of the world”.

After his final fight during the international match against Germany in 1951, McKeon retired from the ring and took up coaching, and was also manager of the Dublin boxing squad. McKeon never turned professional and concentrated on a successful business career instead. McKeon’s younger brother Eamonn was coached by Mick as a youngster at the Crumlin Boxing Club, and he too became an Olympian, at Roma in 1960.