Former Olympic champion Finnegan passes away

BRITISH boxer Chris Finnegan, who won middleweight gold at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, has died aged 64.

Finnegan, a bricklayer by profession, narrowly beat the Soviet Union's Aleksey Kiselyov on points to win gold.

He was the last British boxer to win an Olympic title until Audley Harrison won the super heavyweight gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Finnegan - whose younger brother Kevin won the British middleweight title and passed away last year - turned professional soon after returning from Mexico.

Moving to light heavyweight, he quickly added the British, Commonwealth and European titles to his resume.

He fought American Bob Foster for the world title in 1972 but was stopped in the 14th round - in a contest that was named Fight of the Year by the influential Ring Magazine.

When he retired in 1975 he'd won 29 of his 37 contests, lost seven and drawn one.

He described his life since then as spent 'ducking and diving', while he maintained a close friendship with Terry Spinks, the British flyweight gold medallist from the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.