Chris Clarke (boxer)

Chris Clarke (born October 24, 1956, in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a former professional boxer from Canada, who won the Canadian and Commonwealth Welterweight championship titles and also became the Canadian Middleweight champion. As an amateur boxer, Clarke won the gold medal in the men's lightweight division at the 1975 Pan American Games. A year later he represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics, where he was defeated in the second round.

Amateur boxing career
Chris Clarke began boxing as an amateur in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In February of 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.

1975 Pan American Games results
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.

1976 Summer Olympics results
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:


 * 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.

Professional boxing career
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. 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.

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".

In 2006, Chris Clarke was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Honors and awards

 * 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.
 * 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)