Famechon and his mother, father and younger brother moved from Paris, France, to Ferntree Gully, Australia, in 1950 at the age of five. The family then moved to Middle Park. His mother Antoinette and younger brother Christian moved back to Paris a couple of years later; John and his father Andre then moved to Richmond. Famechon went to Essendon Technical School, where he met lifelong friend John Johnson and became part of the family when he moved into their home in Aspendale. He met his wife Elise, and they married at St Brigid's Church in Mordiallic in 1970. They moved to Frankston and had their first child Paul in 1972, and then daughter Danielle in 1974. Over his twenty-year career he developed a reputation for being a beautifully skilled boxer whose strength was his defence. His career record of 56 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses. His first major win was over Les Dunn to become Victorian Featherweight champion in 1964, then he was Commonwealth featherweight champion in 1967 after defeating the Scot John O'Brien. He became Lineal and WBC featherweight champion on 21 January 1969 after he defeated the Cuban Jose Legra on points at the Albert Hall in London. He defended his WBC featherweight title against Fighting Harada of Japan and won in a controversial points decision. In the rematch for the world title, against Harada in Japan six months later, Famechon decisively won by knocking Harada out in the fourteenth round. He defended his WBC title on 9 May 1970 in Rome to Mexican Vicente Saldivar and after losing the fight in a close points decision, he retired soon afterwards. He was trained by Ambrose Palmer throughout his professional career and never fought as an amateur.
Later life
Famechon received the Keys To The City in 1969 on his return to Australia after his World Title win against Jose Legra in London. Famechon was the first Melburnian to become King of Moomba in 1970 when appointed by the Moomba festival committee. In 1971, he and long time friend Frank Quill, wrote his autobiography, Fammo. Famechon was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Los Angeles in 1997. In 1991 he was badly injured when hit by a car outside Sydney's Warwick Farm racecourse, which resulted in horrific injuries and sustained Acquired Brain Injury and a stroke. In December 1993 John commenced a new complex brain-based multi-movement therapy rehabilitation program that resulted in John returning to a near normal life some 10–12 weeks after the therapy began. John's recovery became the basis of a cognitive neuroscience PhD thesis at Central Queensland University titled: The phenomenon of the recovery of Johnny Famechon: A discourse of resilience and brain plasticity. Famechon now has a bronze statue in his home town of Frankston and is only the third Australian boxer to be honoured in this way after Les Darcy and then Lionel Rose.
