BoxRec

I am like a lot of people on here I suppose, I love boxing. Ever since I was a kid in the late 60s I was glued to TV ringside, I read ‘fighter’ from cover to cover. I remember being at festival hall to watch Paul Fererri, and lately I have become a fan of Susie Q, If you are like me you probably go over the best fights and fighters you have seen and when you are walking to the station in the morning mulling over scenarios in your mind. Well if you are still reading I am going to list my Aussie Top Ten that I have seen. I won’t go back before the mid-sixties and offer my apologies to the tough guys during the war and recession years and also Jimmy Caruthers no Jimmy is ‘IN’
In no order and only from memory, agree or shoot me down.
Jimmy Curruthers. Universally recognised and travelled to SA to win the title. Also was in a war with Pappy Gault in the rain, Trouble was he cut too easily. Retired undefeated and of course came back. Good claims to be number 1.
Lionel Rose, Once again universally recognised, fought a great on his own turf. Beat a future champion in Castillo and lost to a Great. The first guy to take on the Mexicans. Someone said if they could just sew up his mouth…….. At Bantamweight very hard to consider anyone better. Could write lots about him because I saw him a few times.
Fammo, I don’t think he was universally recognised but could be wrong, He beat Jose Legra who became a two time Champion, in London. I remember listening to this fight on the radio it was so exciting, Not sure if it was WBC or WBA but the ref was the only decision maker. He lost to Saldivar who was also a great or hall of famer. Just shaded by Rose for mine, but I could have been swayed by my idolising of Rose.
Hector Thompson, Legitamate high top 5 lightwelght and came up against a guy called Roberto Duran in Panama City. Remember that fight too, Toe to Toe.
Tony Mundine, Great great fighter, all over the world, Dominated the Aussie scene from middle to heavy, Beat and older Emile Griffith among others in France Bunny Sterling was number one in the Ring ratings And Tony had a couple of wars genuine top contender to the universally recognised champ and all time great Monzon. Worth two or three titles in todays scene I reckon. Pretty close to Rose and Fammo and curruthers.
Jeff Fenech. Australia’s only hall of famer? Triple world champion but am I right in thinking he was never universally recognised?. I always thought that as a featherweight he could have unified the decision but for some reason which I don’t understand went chasing titles. I wish he had of stayed at feather, the truth is I guess his hands were fragile and he wanted to make hay while the sun shone Was best at feather they were exciting times. I still think that he never dominated a division as he could have.
Paul Fererri Terrific fighter fought some classics and his longevity was amazing , high top five in the bantamweight division and ended up losing to prime Zarate. Once again world title holder of some sort in today’s scene
Kostya Great fighter went overseas to fight and fought some classy names, some were getting near the end but never took easy fights. I recall that he was a universally recognised champion and he had the smarts to stay in his division. Gotta be considered with the best. Australia loved him.
Jeff Harding Our best performing heavier fighter was a huge underdog when he won his version of the title. Always be regarded as a great aussie fighter. Two time Champion never really got the credit he deserved.
Anthony Mundine, kept boxing alive for a while. Probably a top ten Middle and super Middle went after the easier titles, I am not sure he ever beat a title holder, could be wrong their Certainly not a player on the world scene, Avoiding Kessler as a mandatory will forever follow his reputation around. He could have been a real player had he fought Kessler
I am setting myself up here I know!
Vic Darchinyan Can I count him? If I can he must be up there with the best. Loved watching him, he was vicious and he lived or died by the sword. Probably getting to the end now. Some classic fights.
Daniel Geale Genuine top three middle. One fight away from being universally recognised if that happens he would become a dead set Legend. And by the end of his career could be our greatest. A big ask though
Lester Ellis held the third string title but genuine top five jnr lightweight Barry Michael, hard not to list Lester and Barry together genuine top flight fighters but neither were universally recognised in their division.

Billy Dib/ top ten fighter
Will Tomlinson not top ten yet

Not really setting yourself up there mate, however i'm astonished you've forgot 2 or 3 fighters, and defiantly got Anthony's story wrong. A bit more accurate information for your synopsis.

1, Kostya Tzsyu is a hall of famer
2, Fenech was universally recoginized as 1 of the ten best ever featherweights, as was Vic.

3 fighters listed in no order

Danny Green; for starters Mundine didn't keep boxing alive on his own, and Danny Green was defiantly a major role in if not half of Boxings following in the past 13 years in Australia, today it's a no brainer who pulls the crowds. No Green, half the revenue stream of boxing in Australia was never there.

Danny Green, Supermiddle, WBC, Lt Heavy WBA and although a watered down version of the cruiserweight title his performances in the last 5 years have in my eye's surpassed Mundines merits quite comfortably. He is responsible for bringing the biggest names to these shores and has set unprecendanted standards in Australian boxing that made half the rip jobs stretch thier dollar and provide us with sub par cards by importing real fighters and left a gaping hole in the Argentine boxing revenue. Jones jnr,Flores, Wlodarchkz??,Tarver,Cameron and it keeps going on and on.....in my opinion hard to deny his stance in the sport, regardless of how much you hate the man.

Katsidis, wow, the Tony Mundine of today and the truest warrior to come out of these shores period, ok he won interim titles and challenged only the best on there home turf and probably could of had a better trainer before shop worn. In saying that how many of the fights that the world came to love would have been those fights had another trainer tweaked his style and turned Rocky into a boxer, has been in the ring with some incredible names and although an L sits besides his name, you can't not unlike him to Tony snr, the world will never forget Katsidis, and how close he really became to being great .

Sam Soliman, well if we including Will Tomlinson, how could the most ugliest fighter with the best stamina, punch ouput and heart not be included in that list, Arguably the first man to beat Mundine, has wins against Bika, Sturm, Joval twice if we include the robbery the man travelled he fought way above his weight at times, gave Winky all he could handle, and as much as any kept some sort of reputation in Australian boxing throughout his long career and a bleak period, on any given day, he would give all middleweights past and present nightmares, how do you fight against his style, and look good, half of loss's weren't loss's, he was just ugly in winning and the home town fighter got the nod.

Apart from that, i agree

Thanks mate I feel like a goose for leaving those guys out buy it was late that's my excuse .

I still wonder how a fight between Tony Mundine and Charkey Ramon would have gone if Tony had been prepared to fight Charkey. Ern McQuillan refused to let his boxers fight boxers trained by Bernie Hall, who trained and managed Ramon.

Charkey's only loss was a points loss against the bigger Fred Etuati and there was no rematch. Charkey won and defended the Commonwealth Junior Middleweight title only to have his career shortened by injury. Charkey had a punch that would have stopped a mule (he once knocked Australian Light Heavyweight champion Greg McNamara out through the ropes in a sparring session) and Tony had a suspect jaw.

By the way, Johnny Famechon held the WBC version of the featherweight title. The WBA version was held by Raul Rojas, but Johnny took the tougher route to the top.

The WBC version of most titles was held in higher esteem in those days anyway.

The WBA was older, but many organisations, including the BBBC, refused to deal with the WBA because of claims of criminal association of WBA members.

Here's a list I done a little while back on BOTP

http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=160604

Good list, more complete than mine, you sound a bit like me in that the order is constantly changing depending about how you feel. Remember Lionel was my boyhood idol so i am probably blinded a bit by him. Great fun to do though.


Regards

Vic Darchinyan once said he idolized an Australian fighter from the past also named Vic who was a champion? Can some one shine some light on it because he was apparently one of the best. Maybe not to add to a great list there from Grant but just some notice.

This would have been Vic Patrick - a legendary fighter and top class referee!

thunderfromdownunder wrote:Here's a list I done a little while back on BOTP

http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=160604

I don't see how you thought Jose Legra beat Famechon (unless you were one of the English writers who bet on Legra).

Well, legra was robbed on a few legit kds, and I just thought he done better throughout

I remember the commentator being pretty surprised as well.

convict wrote:Vic Darchinyan once said he idolized an Australian fighter from the past also named Vic who was a champion? Can some one shine some light on it because he was apparently one of the best. Maybe not to add to a great list there from Grant but just some notice.

For more information about Vic Patrick's life and times, here is Vic's biography:

http://www.sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame/me ... pe=legends

Beltane wrote:

convict wrote:Vic Darchinyan once said he idolized an Australian fighter from the past also named Vic who was a champion? Can some one shine some light on it because he was apparently one of the best. Maybe not to add to a great list there from Grant but just some notice.

For more information about Vic Patrick's life and times, here is Vic's biography:

http://www.sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame/me ... pe=legends

Thanks for that .

Grant wrote:Thanks mate I feel like a goose for leaving those guys out buy it was late that's my excuse .

I can relate about being late and and being forgetful, i've done it a thousand times. however great list and great thread