Chris Clarke (boxer)

Chris Clarke began boxing as an amateur in Halifax, Nova Scotia.{{cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/event/839481/2723723|title=Heinz Sanktjohannser vs Chris Clarke|website=boxrec.com|access-date=2024-05-05}}

In February 1975, he won a gold medal in the 125-pound division at the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge, Alberta. He soon became a two-time Canadian National Champion, winning the amateur national boxing championships of June 1975 in Montreal and May 1976 in Sudbury.

Chris Clarke represented Team Canada in the men's lightweight division at the 1975 Pan American Games. His defeat of Aaron Pryor in the finals made him the first Canadian boxer to ever win a gold medal at the Pan American Games.{{cite web|url=https://nsshf.com/inductee/chris-clarke/|title=Inductee Chris Clarke|website=nsshf.com|access-date=2024-05-05}}

Below are the results of Chris Clarke, a light welterweight (139) boxer on Canada's Olympic

boxing team who competed at the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics:{{cite web|url=https://olympics.com/en/athletes/christopher-clarke|title=Christopher Clarke Biography|website=olympics.com|access-date=2024-05-05}}

• Round of 64: bye.
• Round of 32: defeated Lasse Friman (Finland) on points, 5-0.
• Round of 16: lost to Jozsef Nagy (Hungary) referee stopped the contest in the third round.

Clarke's professional boxing career began in 1976.

He'd eventually capture both the Canadian and Commonwealth Welterweight titles with an 11th-round TKO of Clyde Gray in 1979.{{cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/event/120837/39974|title=Clyde Gray vs Chris Clarke|website=boxrec.com|access-date=2024-05-05}} He lost in the rematch to Gray a few months later.:

In 1980, he became the Canadian Middleweight champion by defeating Ralph Hollett in a title fight held at the Halifax Metro Centre.{{cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Ralph_Hollett_vs._Chris_Clarke_(1st_meeting)|title=Ralph Hollett vs. Chris Clarke (1st meeting)|website=boxrec.com|access-date=2024-05-05}}

The Halifax native retired in 1987 after a loss to Shawn O'Sullivan of Toronto in a non-title bout dubbed the "Brawl for it all".{{cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/event/849/202300|title=Shawn O'Sullivan vs Chris Clarke|website=boxrec.com|access-date=2024-05-05}}

In 2006, Chris Clarke was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.{{cite web | url=https://nsshf.com/inductee/chris-clarke/ | title=Chris Clarke }}

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• 1975 Canada Winter Games Gold Medalist. (1975)
• Canadian National Amateur Boxing Champion. (1975)
• 1975 Pan American Games Gold Medalist. (1975)
• Two-time Canadian National Amateur Boxing Champion. (1976)
• 1976 Summer Olympics Team Canada member.{{cite web|url=https://olympic.ca/team-canada/chris-clarke/|title=Chris Clarke|website=boxrec.com|date=18 September 2011 |access-date=2024-05-05}}
• Commonwealth Boxing Council Welterweight Champion. (1979)
• Canadian Welterweight Champion. (1979)
• Canadian Middleweight Champion. (1980)
• Inductee of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame.
• Inductee of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. (2006)

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:Canadian people of British descent

Category:Boxers at the 1976 Summer Olympics

Category:Olympic boxers for Canada

Category:Boxers at the 1975 Pan American Games

Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada

Category:Pan American Games boxers for Canada

Category:Sportspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia

Category:Canadian male boxers

Category:Pan American Games gold medalists in boxing

Category:Lightweight boxers

Category:Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games

Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen

Category:Boxing people from Nova Scotia

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