‘I'd waited my whole sodding career for this moment. I'd been waiting and waiting and waiting for that title shot, and it had felt like it would never come, but, in the end, I got there - and whatever anyone had to say about me, all the knockers and the newspaper men - I was WBC World Champion! Charlie Magri (https://www.bigredbook.info)
Born 20 July 1956, Carmel Magri, better known as Charlie in boxing circles, had a cosmopolitan background to say the least. Born to Tunisian parents, who were themselves of Maltese descent, Magri moved from his birthplace of Tunis to East London, at the ripe age of two years of age, alongside his six siblings.
From a young age, Magri was a naturally talented sportsman, playing for the Millwall FC youth team, which was incidentally captained by future British light middleweight champion, Jimmy Batten. Then, at the age of 10 he joined Arbour Youth Boxing Club in Stepney Green, where he was trained by Jimmy Graham, who was responsible for his name change from Carmel to Charlie, at the age of 11, for his amateur boxing registration.
During his 150 amateur contests, Magri shone brightly, becoming ABA (Class A) Youth Champion in 1972, then in 1973 he became ABA (Class B) champion. The next four years he became a feared man between 48-51KG, winning the ABA senior light flyweight title in 1974, then winning the ABA Flyweight title three years on the bounce from 1975-77.
Internationally, Magri certainly made his presence felt winning the bronze medal at the 1975 European championships, and despite not boxed winning any silverware at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, he progressed to the third round.
Magri was an extremely entertaining fighter who fought with his heart and both hands in any given contest. A crowd pleaser who would have no doubt been popular and competitive in any generation, his current financial return would have been substantial, but at the time he was taking on jobs to make ends meet, including working as a tailor’s cutter whilst training for his first professional outing.
Five months after winning his last ABA flyweight championship in May 1977, on 25 October Magri had his professional debut against Neil McLaughlin, stopping the Derry born fighter in the second round at the Royal Albert Hall. His gross salary for the night was £500 (about £4,000 in current day money, 2026). Three weeks later he won his second contest, also by early stoppage, before doing the unthinkable in less than two months of turning professional.
On 6 December 1977, Magri fought undefeated Dave Smith for the vacant British title, at the Royal Albert Hall, stopping his fellow Londoner in the seventh of 15 scheduled rounds, which rightly earned him the Best Young Boxer award from the British Boxer’s Writers’ Club in 1977.
The fighter based out of the Royal Oak Gym, East London won his next eight fights comfortably, with only one contest lasting the distance, before taking on the former WBC flyweight world champion and long reigning European flyweight champ, Franco Udella at the Empire Pool, Wembley. The Italian had held the title since 1974 and when the pair met on 1 May 1979, Udella had no intention of resigning the strap without putting up a fight. After 12 hard fought rounds, one judge from Switzerland edged the result by one round to Udella, whilst the German and Belgian judges comfortably gave the nod to Magri. Champagne Charlie (a moniker given by commentator Harry Carpenter), was now European champion, a title he would hold for over six years and defend five times.
The European strap acted as the springboard to greater honours –, albeit, those honours and opportunities should have been presented far sooner. By 1983, Magri had fought 29 times, suffering two knockout losses against Mexican Juan Diaz and American Jose Torres, although he did avenge the Torres loss six month later in 1982. On 15 March 1983 at the Wembley Arena, Magri took on the reigning WBC and Ring flyweight champion, Eleoncio Mercedes who hailed from the Dominican Republic and resided in Mexico. Going into round seven, Magri was slightly ahead on two scorecards, but took away any doubt in the judges’ eyes by stopping Mercedes, as a result of Margri’s onslaught, which caused a nasty cut on the Caribbean born pugilist’s left eyelid.
Charlie Magri v Eleoncio Mercedes 1983
Despite the 1983 highs of becoming world champion and also featuring on Eamonn Andrews, ‘This is Your Life,’ sadly, after a five-and-a-half-year campaign to land a world title shot, the Terry Lawless managed fighter lost his world WBC and Ring flyweight titles six months later on 27 September 1983, against Filipino Frank Cedeno. Despite being ahead on the scorecards, Magri was knocked down three times in the sixth round at the Wembley Arena, and at two minutes and 23 seconds of said round, the contest was called off.
After an 11-month gap, Magri returned in blistering form, to defend his European title. On 24 August 1984, Magri flew to Cagliari, Italy to take on Italian flyweight champion, Franco Cherchi. Despite having the backyard advantage, the contest was stopped in the opening round after two sickening cuts were opened over the Italian’s left eyebrow, due to a clash of heads.
With his stock back in place, Magri once more challenged for world the WBC flyweight title. Since the Cedeno loss, the WBC strap had exchanged hands three times in 13 months and the new king was Thai boxer, Sot Chitalada. On 20 February 1985, the former kickboxer walked to the ring at Alexandra Palace, London brandishing ceremonial swords and meant business from the get-go. In round four, with Charlie behind on the scorecards, the contest was brought to a halt as the Londoner unable to continue due to a nasty cut by his left eye.
Eight months later Magri was back in Italy against Franco Cherchi, but this time at the Palazzetto dello Sport, Alessandria. Once again, Charlie made quick work of the Italian, knocking him out in the second round.
On 20 May 1986, Magri took on future three weight world champion, Duke McKenzie, for the British and European flyweight titles. Sadly, Magri was retired by Terry Lawless in the fifth round, which also signified his swansong out of the ring. Magri retired at the age of 29 after reportedly falling out with Lawless, finishing his pro career with a total of 30 wins (23 KO’s) and five losses.
Magri, as with many fighters of many generations, turned professional with ambitions of benefitting from the possible trappings of wealth. Unfortunately for Charlie, as with so many fighters, especially in bygone eras, he left the sport with a lack of commercial value. Fighting around 150 amateur bouts as an amateur, representing his country and going down in the record books as a multiple ABA winner, unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills. Not to mention, these amateur contests were without headguards at the time. Add into the mix 35 pro outings and Charlie, in his sixties had unfortunately been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which he attributes to boxing. In a recent interview with The Sun, he said, ‘But there should be something there for ex-boxers who have fallen on hard times. We are just left to get on with it.’
After hanging up the gloves, Lawless gave Charlie some sage advice. ‘What you’ve got to do now, son, is get off your arse and work for a living.’ Hardly a motivational speech. Magri tried his hand in a variety of roles, inducing road sweeping and caretaking in Tower Hamlets Council and then opening a pub in East London and also a pet shop in Romford.
Charlie Magri is one of the best flyweights to fight on British soil. He excelled as an amateur, won the British title after six weeks, and became a long reigning European champion, before sealing his legacy with world honours. Not bad for the 5ft 3 inch athlete who started life as Carmel and finished as Champagne Charlie, wearing his heart on his sleeve.
Paul Zanon, has had 11 books published, with almost all of them reaching the No1 Bestselling spot in their respective categories on Amazon. He has co-hosted boxing shows on Talk Sport, been a pundit on London Live, Boxnation and has contributed to a number of boxing publications, including, Boxing Monthly, The Ring, Daily Sport, Boxing News, Boxing Social, amongst other publications.
