Chris Clarke (boxer)

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Chris Clarke (born October 24, 1956 in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a retired boxer from Canada, who 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.

Clarke, a self-taught boxer with natural abilities, lays claim to an twenty-year boxing career. He began his boxing career in 1967. By 1975 Clarke became known on the national level, winning the Canadian Amateur Championship and a gold medal at the Pan American Games. Defeating Aaron Pryor, an American fighter who went on to be the World Lightweight Champion, Clarke went down in history as the first Canadian boxer to ever win gold at the Pan American Games.

In 1979 Clarke was involved in one of the most memorable boxing matches ever held in Halifax. Fighting Clyde Gray, who was ranked among the best fighters in the world, Clarke won the British Commonwealth Welterweight Title in front of more than 10.000 fans at the Halifax Metro Centre. Ranked 10th in the world in the welterweight class by Ring Magazine, he also won the Canadian Welterweight Title that year. Clarke was ranked 16th in the world in the Junior Middleweight class by Ring Magazine in 1980 and 1981, winning the Canadian Middleweight Title in 1981.