OZ boxers of the past - Discussion

[Beltane]

Grant wrote:

I would pay to see the Hector Thompson and Hillary Connolly fights on Disk if Channel 7 still had them

Years ago when Channel 7 had their Pay-TV Sports Channel: C7, shown via Optus, they had access to the old TV Ringside tapes and they showed the classic nights from that great era. So they exist, the trick is getting Channel 7 to provide access and there is the possibility they might resurface on the digital channels that Seven has set up.

[Brute]

I wonder if anybody has film of Lionel Rose beating Japanese lightweight Guts Ishimatsu?

In his next fight Rose lost a challenge to Jeff White's Australian Lightweight title. Ishimatsu went on to win the WBC Lightweight title from Rodolfo Gonzales and defended it five times before losing it to Esteban de Jesus, who had the distinction of being the only man to beat Roberto Duran at lightweight. After moving up from bantamweight Lionel had trouble keeping discipline, but still had the odd good win.

[Tinnie]

Footage of Carruthers taking apart Toweel on both occasions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIgbNSpp ... re=related

Carruthers had some beautiful footwork.

Thank you to The Great A.

[Beltane]

One of the biggest duals in and outside the boxing ring was between old time trainers: Ern McQuillan and Bill McConnell. McQuillan always had favoured treatment from Stadiums Ltd and McConnell resented the rails run that Ern always received. So one day they decided to have it out on the footpath outside the Old Barn, proving that not all the best fights happened in the ring.

Putting their dentures into their pockets, they ripped into it and Ern (a much heavier opponent) was half killing Bill, when Stadium Manager: Harry Miller, ended it by putting a sleeper hold on Ern. The much smaller Bill gasped "You've always been on McQuillan's side".

[Brute]

Bobby Lee was a so-so featherweight/lightweight of the late thirties and early forties. He lost his last fight in 1941.

Sometime between then and 1951 he did something to annoy Sydney gunman John "Chow" Hayes. On 29 May 1951 Lee was sitting in a restaurant in Newtown when Hayes walked in and shot him six times with a .45 calibre pistol. Lee died the next day.

Sometimes you are better off not going out.

[patron]

Bobby Lee was a so-so featherweight/lightweight of the late thirties and early forties. He lost his last fight in 1941.

Sometime between then and 1951 he did something to annoy Sydney gunman John "Chow" Hayes. On 29 May 1951 Lee was sitting in a restaurant in Newtown when Hayes walked in and shot him six times with a .45 calibre pistol. Lee died the next day.

Sometimes you are better off not going out.

chow was a nice piece of work, he used a glass on a bloke in a club in missiden road, newtown in the 60,s, cuthalf his jaw out, the chap was a friendof his, the fellow he shot must have been in the bad books, all the best

[Brute]

From memory Hayes believed Lee had killed a relative of Hayes. Hayes claimed that Ray Kelly "fitted him up" for the murder, but it evened up for a lot of murders he was not caught for.

[Tinnie]

Ambrose Palmer Boxing drills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlHjnp19yS0

[Brute]

They were regular calisthenics at that time.

What about that Young Stribling? 254 fights, starting out as a 16 year old featherweight and finishing up a light heavy fighting heavyweights, killed in am motorcycle accident before reaching his 29th birthday.

[dubs]

Billy Johnston! Ronald Doo! Brisbane Festival Hall days.......

[bollox]

Brian Janssen fought a few at Brisbane Festival Hall . Younger brother Mark could also have had himself a good career yet he seemed to disappear off the radar for years

[dubs]

I saw Brian Jansen fight Ian Looker at Festival hall, on an old VHS tape, was a cracker of a fight, that Jansen was tough, if only Ozzy boxing was as mainstrem as it was in the festival hall days.

[Beltane]

Another fighter, although not a local, who gave TV Ringside watchers much value back in 1971 was South African: Tony Morodi. He lost 2 very close bouts with Scot: John O'Brien and defeated Manny Santos and Michael Vitale plus Toro George (in Perth).

Tony was a compact, small, speedy and durable lightweight and once trained and sparred in South Africa behind closed doors due to apartheid with Johnny Famechon (before his Arnold Taylor fight).

[Tinnie]

They were regular calisthenics at that time.

What about that Young Stribling? 254 fights, starting out as a 16 year old featherweight and finishing up a light heavy fighting heavyweights, killed in am motorcycle accident before reaching his 29th birthday.

Now you're just being picky Brute, im sure there was a punching bag somewhere in there

Ambrose looked in great shape for his age

The only person i know to surpass Stribling's 128 KO's is Archie Moore, the difference though is that Moore got his 129th KO in his mid 40's at the end of his career. It would have been interesting to see how far Young Stribling would have gone had he not died so young. In his last fight he beat Rosenbloom. Palmer did well to go ten rounds with him.

As for Ambrose Palmer again, four of the seven losses in his career came via disqualification. Anyone know what the go with that is?

[Brute]

A lot of fights ended in disqualification at that time.

Dad used to talk about the Ron Richards/Fred Henneberry fights. Fred's brother was a bookmaker who took bets on fights.

If a fight ended in a foul, the money was given back to the punter. "Foul-no bet." If Fred got behind in the fight he would headbutt and get himself disqualified.

Richards hated him for it. Two of Ambrose Palmer's disqualifications were for low blows. This would have been before the "no foul" rule came in.
Oddly enough, one of his disqualifications was against Henneberry.

[Beltane]

A prime example of fighters being exploited to draw large crowds was the torrid ten-bout feud between Ron Richards and Fred Henneberry between 1931 and 1941 with Richards winning 6-3-1.

These developed into foul-ridden 'brawls' as Brute attests. Richards' discontent with boxing management was evident as the outcomes of his fights became more unpredictable. Sometimes he outboxed opponents when promoters expected a knockout. Yet Richards fought hard, although his managers often accepted fights against boxers a stone or more heavier.

But gambling damaged his reputation: one example was the well-publicized 'ring-in' known as the 'bowser boy affair' in 1936. By 1939 the "Referee" publication perceived Richards as a 'temperamental' boxer who sometimes experienced 'unaccountable lapses' in form.

[Beltane]

A bit more light on the sham known as the "Bowser Boy Affair", which was the equivalent of the Fine-Cotton ring-in of 1936.

Ron Richards was booked to fight an "experienced US fighter import named Al Norwood". The fictitious Norwood was built up as having a mighty record and as posed a major hurdle for the local hero Richards.

The fight happened at Brisbane on December 5th 1936, and Richards scored an impressive 3rd round stoppage over the so-called visitor.

Sometime later, "Mr Norwood" was unmasked as a Sydney based preliminary fighter named Lance May, with supposedly 6 fights under his belt.

Surprisingly a search of Boxrec records does not show any record for Lance May but shows that "Al Norwood" registering a one fight career. Looks like May has been lanced from history and went back to pumping petrol.

[Brute]

That is not quite in the class of the Rafael Lovera debacle.

By 1975 you would think the WBC would have known what was going on, but they proved otherwise. They stripped their light flyweight champion Franco Udella of his title because he would not fight their no 1 contender, Rafael Lovera of Paraguay. They then pitched Lovera in with tough little veteran Luis Estaba of Venezuela. Estaba smacked Lovera around for four rounds before the referee called a halt.

The WBC then found Lovera had never boxed professionally before this. Estaba went on to successfully defend his title 11 times in less than three years, including a third round KO of Udella before losing his title to Freddy Castillo. The WBC did not smell as good.

[kylamy]

Another fighter, although not a local, who gave TV Ringside watchers much value back in 1971 was South African: Tony Morodi. He lost 2 very close bouts with Scot: John O'Brien and defeated Manny Santos and Michael Vitale plus Toro George (in Perth).

Tony was a compact, small, speedy and durable lightweight and once trained and sparred in South Africa behind closed doors due to apartheid with Johnny Famechon (before his Arnold Taylor fight).

Beltane, You certainly have a great memory, I was around in those days and it brings back terrific memories, I trained at Palmer's with Terry and Glen Grinstead who, If were fighting today would be Australian and regional Champs without doubt.

Regarding Anthony Morodi, I sparred with him many times while he was here, I went to the city a few times and we went for dinner and i showed him around Melbourne, I was 15 yo, never had a car, but got my Girlfriend who was older to borrow her dad's car and drive us around.

I have a signed photo Anthony gave me, it is with him and Cassius Clay, not sure where it was taken, I think in Sth Africa, but I still have that photo, I knew he had sparred Fammo in Sth Africa, because he also gave me a photo of them sparring each other.

I also sparred with Johnny O'Brien, Gentleman Don Johnson, Manny Santos, Toro George, Hector and numerous others including former Oz heavyweight Champ, Foster Bibron, even tho i was just a feather, Ambrose threw us all in for speed,

Three years ago, I met Foster in Adelaide when was asked to do a sportsman's night with him and Tony Mundine who took Fosters heavyweight title, it was a fabulous night to catch-up with Foster, AS we recalled it must've been 35 odd years since we both seen each other,

Beltane, These are great memories you have bought back to me of these days. Were you in Melbourne then?

Perhaps we know each other, I am now in Qld, but get to Melb plenty of times with my work in the boxing.

Cheers and thanks for helping me revisit some of these terrific days in our sport,

Thanks for the memories anyway,
Much appreciated

[Beltane]

Hi Kylamy, great to hear about your halycyon days in the sport, in an era which was the best of times, fighters and characters. I'm from Sydney, but the highlight of my boxing week was always Monday night to catch Melbourne's TV Ringside, which was the superior show, in all ways to the others on TV at the time. I did attend a number of Sydney venues in the late 60s and early 70s but gave it away for a good while after attending the "Rocky Arvo" shambles.

Tony Morodi sounds like a great guy and encountering gentlemen like Tony always remain priceless memories. In Bev Will's "Fighter Lady" book there is a very brief mention of Tony's photo with Cassius Clay. According to the book, the photo was taken in New York, when Tony was sparring at Bobby Gleason's gym and met up with Fighter Magazine's USA correspondent: Eddie Cool who referred Tony to visit the Melbourne office of Fighter Magazine when downunder. Tony did visit the office and the book mentions:

'I met Cassius Clay there' beamed Tony, 'and had a photo taken of us together'

It's great to read that Tony gave you that photo as a memento of his visit to Melbourne, all those years ago, and it is a treasure.

All the best,
Beltane

[myrontheinvincable]

Kylamy, on what you have disclosed so far, I would reckon............ you might have been that bloke that wore his own red leather boxing gloves...........?

[kylamy]

Kylamy, on what you have disclosed so far, I would reckon............ you might have been that bloke that wore his own red leather boxing gloves...........?

Myron, How are you mate? Gees is nothing sacred in here, I got found out first try..........Ha-ha.

Yes, its me ok, when i saw what Beltrane had written, i just had to reply, cos as you would know, they were just the best times ever for our sport, nothing like the pretenders and the offenders we have today, then there's all the experts, most of hwo have never ever laced on a glove, but they have been in the sport for a few months, then they know it all, T, Boy, it would be great to get to chat with you in next few days, I have just moved house and am not yet on line properly with the Internet until Wednesday, i am just using someone else's mobile broadband.

I did call you for chat, but you were in China, so perhaps one night this week, i would call you again, that's if your not in China again, Hey, I have a very busy month, I'm in Melb on 1st Oct, Perth 8th, Japan 11th, Beinjing 20th til 25th, then 29th Sydney adn 30th Adelaide, all for boxing mate, so i must be able to catch you somewhere in between there,

Hope you and the family are well, Wish Glenn all my best as well,

you know who? Reyes/Casanova 8 Oz.......oh...Red

[myrontheinvincable]

They were the best times mate. If I had a wish, to go back to a time just once and relive that time, it would be one of the nights on TV Ringside; Id probably pick a night that I won...hahaha.....now my wife, if she reads this, will hit me, cause I would probably have been required to have said, "I would go back to the time I frist met you darling"...

We were very young, but highly trained; and we were sparring almost all of the cream in the bottle(at Palmers); we had fights lined up all the time; sometimes we'd front up to the doctor at Festival Hall, still not knowing who the bloody hell we were going to fight, until last minute, many times. We had no videos to watch our opponent, just some Fighter magazine results if you were lucky enough to have a name of the opponent you were going to fight and he had fought on a card mentioned in the magazine.

If I ever did get that wish, I think I would say hello to a few more people than I did when I was back there, I was such a shy character back then.....hahaha

You sound busy mate, I hope all is going well for you; I might be off again overseas soon, in the next few weeks also, meeting a bloke tomorrow about a teaching job in Vietnam, Bruni, Fiji or China (take my pick, I hope)

It is very hot in Beijiang at the moment, you probably wont need a jumper.


Here is a little character showing my greatest respect for you...
cheers mate....

[myrontheinvincable]

I have some personal favourites that fought on TV Ringside, but I think there was no one better than Rocky Mattioli that progressed onward. (who by chance I see, is turning 57 years old today) I remember The Rock telling me when we were both 17 years old that he would win a word title......it was never, "I would like to try and win the world title" it was always, "I will win the world title"....The Rock was always exciting to watch, his killer instinct, his incredible rapid hand speed, his ability to command the ring, and to deliver extremely hard punches in either an offensive attack or defensive counter, and always behind a fort knox defence.

[Grant]

I have some personal favourites that fought on TV Ringside, but I think there was no one better than Rocky Mattioli that progressed onward. (who by chance I see, is turning 57 years old today) I remember The Rock telling me when we were both 17 years old that he would win a word title......it was never, "I would like to try and win the world title" it was always, "I will win the world title"....The Rock was always exciting to watch, his killer instinct, his incredible rapid hand speed, his ability to command the ring, and to deliver extremely hard punches in either an offensive attack or defensive counter, and always behind a fort knox defence.

I wonder what Ricky Day is doing now