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Boxing had long been a small sport in Australia compared to football and cricket, but in the last 15 or 20 years, thanks in large part to Anthony Mundine, boxing in this country is now mainstream with its fair share of great champions.
Being a boxing enthusiast as well as a former boxer I’ve decided to give some thought to my favourite Australian boxers. Rather than call this a list – too many lists are getting a bit long in the tooth – I will call this a countdown of the best boxers to have called Australia home.
Dual champions, undisputed champions, multiple division champions, absolute ring warriors – this countdown has it all. This will apply to retired or well-established boxers only, so Jeff Horn will not qualify as he is very much still fighting and is yet to defend his World Boxing Organisation (WBO) title against a mandatory challenger.
I would also like to note that fighters who have only won or fought for the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) title will not feature on this list as it is not a recognised governing body. I’ll only be focusing on the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), WBO, ring and Lineal title holders. The IBO champions can have a list of their own.
10. Tony Mundine
Like his son Anthony, Tony had a long career. Mundine Snr won the Commonwealth middleweight and light-heavyweight titles and even held the Australian light-heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight titles at the one time, but he only challenged for a world title once, losing to the great Carlos Monzon. Mundine is arguably the greatest Australian boxer to never win a world title.
Mundine Snr finished with a record of 80 wins (64 knockouts), 15 losses and one draw.
9. Michael ‘The Great’ Katsidis
Anyone who has seen Katsidis fight would understand he is the embodiment of the word ‘warrior’. The Great fought at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and made a habit of fighting champions in their backyards.
Katsidis held the interim WBO lightweight title twice, but major titles eluded him, losing all four times he challenged for them. Regardless, Katsidis’s all-or-nothing style gets him onto my list. Anyone who wants to see Katsidis in his element, please watch his first fight against Englishman Graham Earl from 2007.
Katsidis has a current record of 33 wins (24 knockouts) and eight losses.
8. Jeff ‘Hit Man’ Harding
It was only a short eight-year, 25-fight career for Harding, but he managed to make an everlasting impact on the sport. Debuting in 1986, he would have an undefeated career, earning the New South Wales cruiserweight title along with OFBF light-heavyweight title.
In 1989 he would make Australian boxing history by challenging Dennis Andries for the WBC light-heavyweight title. In the last round Harding would win the bout via technical knockout and be the first man from Australia to win a world title in the light-heavyweight division and the first Aussie to win a world title in the USA.
Harding would lose the rematch with Andries a year later, but he earnt the title back, ending the trilogy of fights in 1991. Harding would go on to defend the title twice more, and in his final ever match he lost his title to Jamaican fighter Mike McCallum.
Harding would pave the way for many Aussie fighters including Danny Green (WBA light-heavyweight) and Trent Broadhurst. He was a tremendous fighter whose personal demons would get the best of him, but there is no doubt that this man deserves his spot.
Harding’s fight record 23 wins (17 knockouts) and two losses.
7. Johnny Femechon
Like Kostya Tszyu, Femechon wasn’t born in Australia; rather, he moved here as a child. Turning professional at the tender age of 16, Femechon had a reasonably short career compared to today’s standards, yet he wasn’t short of action, amassing a record 56 wins, five losses and six draws, including winning the Commonwealth and WBC featherweight titles. With the way my first boxing trainer spoke of Femechon, I often wish I was around to bask in his greatness.
Femechon finished with a record of 56 wins (20 knockouts), five losses and six draws.
6. Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine
Though certainly the most polarising athlete in Australian sporting history, there is little doubt Mundine is one of the finest boxers our country has seen.
Mundina came from an almost non-existent amateur career to challenge for five world titles, two of which he won and one of which was his first loss, against undefeated IBF champion Sven Ottke in Germany, after just 17 months and ten professional fights. It was an indication of just how good Mundine could have been.
Mundine never reached the heights he could have, but with his world titles and a rumoured $30 million in the bank from his 17-year career so far, he makes the cut.
Mundine currently holds a record of 48 wins (28 knockouts) and eight losses.
(AAP Image/Joe Castro)
5. Les ‘The Maitland Wonder’ Darcy
Darcy is more a case of what could have been rather than a case of what was. At just the tender age of 21 Darcy amassed a record of 46 wins and four losses, winning the Australian version of the world middleweight title, and defending it ten times before his untimely death of pneumonia. He also picked up the Commonwealth middleweight title and Australian heavyweight title, defending it four times.
Before his untimely death Darcy had a record of 46 wins (29 knockouts) and four losses.
4. Daniel ‘Real Deal’ Geale
Daniel Geale will never be remembered as a boxer with great speed, awesome power or great charisma. What he will be remembered for, though, is his non-stop engine.
Geale sits in the very small class of fighters who got stronger and gave more as a fight went on, often throwing more punches in the second half of a fight compared to the first.
Along with winning a gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games as an amateur, Geale held and defended the IBO middleweight title before losing it via split decision to Anthony Mundine. He then went and did what many thought almost impossible and won the IBF middleweight title over German Sebastian Sylvester in Germany.
He went on to defend this title four times, picking up the WBA super world middleweight title along the way, once again beating a German in Germany, this time Felix Sturm.
With his only losses being to Anthony Mundine, Darren Barker, Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto and Renold Quinlan, Geale has had quite the career.
Geales current record is 31 wins (16 knockouts) and five losses.
3. Lionel Rose
Lionel Rose became the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title when he beat Masahiko ‘Fighting’ Harada for the WBA and WBC bantamweight titles on 27 February 1968.
Rose became a beacon of light not just for his people but for all those who have come from hardship to get to the top of the heap in boxing as well. Some 100,000 people greeted Rose at the Melbourne Town Hall when he arrived home, a number befitting the man.
Rose defended these titles three times and also picked up the Commonwealth bantamweight title along the way before losing them to Ruben Olivares one and a half years later.
After losing his titles Rose took up a singing career, for which he won acclaim. Many people believe that due to his time singing Rose found it difficult to train full-time, thus losing four of his next ten fights, some to relative no-names.
Rose retired in 1971 before making a comeback in 1975, albeit in the lightweight division. Like most comebacks, Rose’s came up short. He lost four of his six fights before permanently retiring in 1976.
Rose finished with a record of 42 wins (12 knockouts) and 11 losses.
2. Kostya ‘Thunder from Down Under’ Tszyu
With hands like concrete and a punch that could almost knockout an elephant, it’s hard to forget Russian-born Australian boxer Kostya Tszyu. The ‘Thunder from Down Under’ didn’t start boxing until 14, yet in eight years as an amateur he amassed a record of 279 wins and 11 losses, including a gold medal at the 1991 world championships, before turning professional in 1992.
Tszyu’s only losses in the professional ranks came to Vince Phillips in 1997 and future hall of famer Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton in 2005. He also became the first boxer in 34 years to unify the light-welterweight division in 2001, and he picked up the knockout of the year award in the same year after knocking American Zab Judah senseless.
Tszyu finished with a tidy record of 31 wins (25 knockouts), 2 losses and 1 draw.
(Zotov Alexey/Kommersant via Getty Images)
1. Jeff ‘Marrickville Mauler’ Fenech
Jeff Fenech is without a doubt, the best boxer Australia has ever produced. Fenech’s conditioning was second to none – almost non-human – and he often won fights through his sheer intensity.
Fenech won and defended world titles in three different divisions, and had it not be for what I consider the most corrupt decision in professional boxing history, he would’ve been a four-division world champion. When I try and tutor younger fighters or boxing enthusiasts about the art of in-fighting, I always reference Fenech versus Azumah Nelson.
Fenech’s career probably could’ve been longer had it not been for him having fragile hands, but I would be surprised if he wasn’t in every Australian boxing fan’s top ten.
Fenech finished his career with a record of 29 wins (21 knockouts), 3 losses and 1 win.
Honourable mentions
Danny Green, Sakio Bika, Barry Michael, Lester Ellis and Billy Dib.
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