Fenech was born in
St Peters,
Sydney and is of
Maltese parentage. After playing junior
rugby league and getting into trouble with the police as a child, Fenech was turned onto boxing when he attended the Newtown Police Boys Club in Sydney where he met
Johnny Lewis. From there Fenech had a stellar amateur career, which led to him representing his country at the
1984 Summer Olympics in
Los Angeles where he was selected as the boxing team captain. At the Olympics, Fenech lost a controversial quarter-final bout to
Yugoslavian Redžep Redžepovski. Fenech was initially given the decision, but after intervention by the Olympic Boxing Committee and a total recount, the decision was reversed with Redžepovski being awarded the win. Many of the other boxers and those in the press felt that Fenech had been robbed of a chance to win an Olympic medal and most boxing writers noted how political amateur boxing was, especially at the
Olympic Games. It was that decision that led Fenech to turn professional later in 1984, and in his first professional fight he defeated Bobby Williams by a
knockout in round two. Fenech quickly gained a reputation as a fast starter: he won his first eleven bouts by knockout, and held his first fight abroad in only his fourth fight, when he beat Iliesa Manila by a knockout in two rounds in
Fiji. He beat fringe contenders Wayne Mulholland and Rolando Navarro, both by a knockout in the fifth round, to start 1985. After those two wins, he was placed number one among the world's bantamweights by the
International Boxing Federation. However, his early wins by KO had some of the press wondering if he could last the full 15 round distance.
Bantamweight champion Fenech took only six professional fights to become the number one contender. He became the eighth-fastest boxer to fight for a world title after beginning his career when he challenged
Satoshi Shingaki for the IBF Bantamweight title in only his seventh bout, displacing the second
Davey Moore, and trailing Shingaki himself,
Leon Spinks,
Saensak Muangsurin,
Pete Rademacher,
Joves De La Puz,
Joko Arter and
Rafael Lovera. Fenech was the third fastest boxer to become a world champion, behind Muangsuring and Spinks, when he knocked out Shingaki in nine rounds in front of a packed house at the Horden Pavilion in Sydney. After two non-title knockout wins, he gave Shingaki a rematch at the
State Sports Centre in Sydney and retained the crown with a knockout in three rounds. After one more non-title knockout win, Fenech had to go the distance for the first time, when he faced American
Jerome Coffee at the
Sydney Entertainment Centre, retaining the title by a 15-round unanimous decision. He retained that title twice before the year was over, knocking out
Tyrone Downes and Georgie "Go Go" Navarro, both in the fifth round. Fenech has accused Nelson's promoter
Don King of
fixing the fight: "Him being Azumah Nelson and being under the Don King banner helped him because I believe the referee (
Joe Cortez) didn’t let me do what I wanted to do, breaking up the fight, let Azumah hit me after the bell. People want to say I’m a dirty fighter but I only retaliate when someone does something to me. I’ve got no need to do something dirty at the start because I’m busy trying to cut the ring off and put pressure on. Like I said, although I won the fight, nobody tried to help me like that. The judging, the referring, everything was against me." On Monday 7 November 2022, a review of the fight by WBC Boxing retrospectively declared Fenech the winner, thus giving him a fourth world title. Fenech returned to Australia and after beating Miguel Francia, Nelson travelled to
Melbourne to offer Fenech a second title try. This time in front of over 30,000 fans at the
Princes Park football stadium, Fenech suffered his first loss, when he was knocked out in the eighth round for Nelson to retain the world title. Fenech's TKO loss was recognized as the
Ring Magazine Upset of the Year. After that fight, he fought sporadically. In 1993, he was beaten in seven rounds by knockout by
American former IBF featherweight champion
Calvin Grove at the
Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and in 1995, he beat Tialano Tovar, by a knockout in eight in
New Jersey.
Lightweight title challenge In 1996, in what was thought to have been his last fight (he fought Nelson a third time 12 years later), he lost to IBF
lightweight champion
Phillip Holiday of
South Africa by a knockout in the second round. He retired after the bout. Fenech retired with a record of 28 wins, 3 losses and 1 draw, with 21 wins by knockout. ==Post-retirement career==