Johnny Famechon

Jean-Pierre Famechon (28 March 1945 – 4 August 2022) was an Australian featherweight boxer.

Famechon 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.

Early life and boxing career

Famechon 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.

Famechon attended Salesian College (Rupertswood) and later Essendon Technical School. He met his wife Elise (née Alves), and they married at St Brigid's Church in Mordialloc in 1970. They moved to Aspendale and later Frankston and had their first child Paul in 1972, and daughter Danielle in 1974.

Famechon came from a boxing family. His father Andre won the French lightweight championship.

Famechon never fought as an amateur and turned professional at age 16. Over his twenty-year career Famechon developed a reputation for being a skilled boxer whose strength was his defence. 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. His defense is often compared to that of Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Famechon's style, like Mayweather's Crab style, consisted of a low lead hand and a high rear hand. The key difference being that Famechon held his rear hand in a cross guard position with the glove open to catch punches.

Famechon's offensive relied heavily on the use of the lead left hand.

Later life

Famechon received the Keys To The City in 1969 on his return to Australia after his World Title win against Jose Legra in London.

Famechon was the first Melburnian to become King of Moomba in 1970 when appointed by the Moomba Festival festival committee.

In 1971, he and long time friend Frank Quill, wrote his autobiography, Fammo.

Famechon was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 1997. and is only the third Australian boxer to be honoured 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 died in Melbourne on 4 August 2022 at the age of 77.

Professional boxing record

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!Result

!Record

!Opponent

!Type

!Round, time

!Date

!Location

!Notes

|67

|Loss

|style="text-align:left;"|Vicente Saldívar

|UD

|15

|9 May 1970

|style="text-align:left;"|

|66

|Win

|56–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Arnold Taylor

|PTS

|10

|11 Apr 1970

|style="text-align:left;"|

|65

|Win

|55–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Fighting Harada

|KO

|14 (15),

|6 Jan 1970

|style="text-align:left;"|

|64

|Win

|54–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Pete Gonzalez

|KO

|3 (10)

|9 Dec 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|63

|Win

|53–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Miguel Herrera

|PTS

|10

|11 Nov 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|62

|Win

|52–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Fighting Harada

|PTS

|15

|28 Jul 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|61

|Win

|51–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Jimmy Anderson

|PTS

|10

|20 May 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|60

|Win

|50–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Giovanni Girgenti

|PTS

|10

|21 Apr 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|59

|Win

|49–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|José Jiménez

|PTS

|10

|21 Mar 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|58

|Win

|48–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|José Legrá

|PTS

|15

|21 Jan 1969

|style="text-align:left;"|

|57

|Win

|47–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Nevio Carbi

|PTS

|10

|18 Oct 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|56

|Win

|46–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Billy McGrandle

|TKO

|12 (15)

|13 Sep 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|55

|Win

|45–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Vincenzo Pitardi

|PTS

|10

|26 Jul 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|54

|Win

|44–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Freddie Rengifo

|TKO

|10 (10),

|1 Jul 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|53

|Win

|43–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Bobby Valdez

|DQ

|13 (15),

|20 May 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|52

|Win

|42–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|Antonio Herrera

|PTS

|10

|5 Apr 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|51

|Draw

|41–4–6

|style="text-align:left;"|René Roque

|PTS

|10

|11 Mar 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|50

|Win

|41–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Isao Ichihara

|PTS

|10

|16 Feb 1968

|style="text-align:left;"|

|49

|Win

|40–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|John O'Brien

|TKO

|11 (15)

|24 Nov 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|48

|Win

|39–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Michel Houdeau

|TKO

|6 (10)

|20 Oct 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|47

|Win

|38–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Don Johnson

|PTS

|10

|22 Sep 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|46

|Win

|37–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Gilberto Biondi

|PTS

|10

|21 Jul 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|45

|Win

|36–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|James Skelton

|PTS

|10

|7 Jul 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|44

|Win

|35–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Lothar Abend

|PTS

|10

|26 May 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|43

|Win

|34–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Roberto Wong

|PTS

|10

|14 Apr 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|42

|Win

|33–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Andrea Silanos

|KO

|2 (10)

|3 Mar 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|41

|Win

|32–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Giovanni Girgenti

|PTS

|10

|20 Jan 1967

|style="text-align:left;"|

|40

|Draw

|31–4–5

|style="text-align:left;"|Giovanni Girgenti

|PTS

|10

|9 Dec 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|39

|Win

|31–4–4

|style="text-align:left;"|José Caetano dos Santos

|PTS

|10

|7 Oct 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|38

|Draw

|30–4–4

|style="text-align:left;"|Domenico Chiloiro

|PTS

|12

|10 Jun 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|37

|Win

|30–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Noel Kunde

|TKO

|4 (12),

|4 May 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|36

|Win

|29–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Domenico Chiloiro

|PTS

|15

|1 Apr 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|35

|Win

|28–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Noel Kunde

|TKO

|8 (12)

|11 Mar 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|34

|Win

|27–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Carmelo Coscia

|PTS

|12

|25 Feb 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|33

|Win

|26–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Mario Sitri

|PTS

|12

|11 Feb 1966

|style="text-align:left;"|

|32

|Loss

|25–4–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Gilberto Biondi

|PTS

|12

|29 Oct 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|31

|Win

|25–3–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Harold Hopkins

|TKO

|4 (12)

|15 Oct 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|30

|Win

|24–3–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Max Murphy

|KO

|7 (15)

|24 Sep 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|29

|Loss

|23–3–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Max Murphy

|PTS

|12

|19 Jun 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|28

|Win

|23–2–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Singtong Por Tor

|PTS

|12

|11 Jun 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|27

|Draw

|22–2–3

|style="text-align:left;"|Domenico Chiloiro

|PTS

|12

|4 Jun 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|26

|Loss

|22–2–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Dion Murphy

|PTS

|10

|1 Apr 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|25

|Win

|22–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Domenico Chiloiro

|PTS

|15

|19 Mar 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|24

|Win

|21–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Billy Males

|TKO

|6 (12)

|8 Feb 1965

|style="text-align:left;"|

|23

|Win

|20–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Pat Gonzales

|PTS

|12

|6 Nov 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|22

|Win

|19–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Ollie Taylor

|PTS

|15

|18 Sep 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|21

|Win

|18–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Max Murphy

|PTS

|12

|28 Aug 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|20

|Win

|17–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Arthur Clarke

|TKO

|9 (12)

|7 Aug 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|19

|Win

|16–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Les Dunn

|TKO

|10 (15)

|22 May 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|18

|Win

|15–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Jake Gulino

|PTS

|12

|20 Mar 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|17

|Win

|14–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Johnny Evans

|TKO

|7 (12)

|21 Feb 1964

|style="text-align:left;"|

|16

|Win

|13–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Jake Gulino

|PTS

|12

|29 Nov 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|15

|Win

|12–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Osei Renner

|PTS

|10

|25 Oct 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|14

|Win

|11–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Jimmy Smith

|PTS

|10

|4 Oct 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|13

|Win

|10–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Roy Spackman

|PTS

|6 Sep 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|12

|Win

|9–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Bobby Daldy

|PTS

|23 Aug 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|11

|Win

|8–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Kevin Bell

|PTS

|19 Jul 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|10

|Win

|7–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Bobby Daldy

|PTS

|19 Apr 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|6–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Ken Eswards

|KO

|6 (6)

|8 Mar 1963

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|5–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Roy Spackman

|PTS

|16 Nov 1962

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|4–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Nicky Wells

|TKO

|3 (4)

|5 Oct 1962

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Loss

|3–1–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Roy Spackman

|PTS

|22 Jun 1962

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|3–0–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Gordon Crooks

|TKO

|2 (6)

|1 Jun 1962

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Draw

|2–0–2

|style="text-align:left;"|Brian Levier

|PTS

|6 Apr 1962

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|2–0–1

|style="text-align:left;"|Peter Barnes

|KO

|4 (4)

|15 Sep 1961

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Win

|1–0–1

|style="text-align:left;"|Salvatore Casabene

|TKO

|2 (4)

|4 Aug 1961

|style="text-align:left;"|

|Draw

|0–0–1

|style="text-align:left;"|Sammy Lang

|PTS

|9 Jun 1961

|style="text-align:left;"|

References

External links

"Johnny Famechon: A boxer's story" from All in the Mind (ABC Radio)
Talk to Johnny Famechon / Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame

Early life and boxing career

Later life

Professional boxing record

See also

References

External links