Colin Bell
Name: Colin Bell
Alias: The Moree Mountain
Hometown: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Birthplace: Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia
Died: 1947-02-03 (Age:63)
Height: 177cm
Reach: 180cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Trainer: Larry Foley
Manager: Harry Ivory
Photo 2
Colin Bell ('The Moree Mountain') was born in Narrabri, Australia on the 6th October 1883. The same place of birth as the three times World heavyweight title challenger Bill Squires. According to noted sports writer W.F.Corbett, Bell stood 5'9 1/2" tall with a reach of 71inches and usually weighed in around 190lb. Bell would have to be one of the most underrated of all Australian heavyweights.
After some tent fighting, Bell had his first official professional bout on May 6th 1909, beating Sam Hillings over 10 rounds. His first big wins over "name" opponents came in 1912, when he beat both Ern Waddy and Pat Doran.
In 1913, Bell made the step up to fighting truly World class fighters. He lost twice to Sam McVey that year (L KO 16 & L KO 2), and drew with the all time great Canadian Sam Langford over 15 rounds, which was possibly the best performance of his career. 1914 saw him lose a hotly disputed decision to Joe Jeannette over 20 rounds, lose to Langford by KO, and lose to Briton Bombardier Billy Wells (Bell fought this bout in a very sick condition).
North America was Bell's next port of call. It was there that he beat Dan (Porky) Flynn and the great Ed (Gunboat) Smith. He also drew with Battling Levinsky while there. Bell then returned home to Australia, where he lost to the clever boxing Dave Smith.
His next big win came against Les O'Donnell in 8 rounds. In 1917 he fought against Albert Lloyd in an elimination contest to provide a challenger for Dave Smith the Australian heavyweight champion and was knocked out in 2 rounds. Bell was now 35 years old, but somehow managed to find a new lease in life. He beat George Cook twice on points, and then finally won the Australian heavyweight title by knocking out Gordon Coghill in four rounds. He then proceeded to beat PO Curran, Max Gornick and Tom Heeney twice. He then lost his title to Jim Dwyer in what was to be Bell's last fight.
After finishing his boxing career, he took up a job as a bouncer at the Leichhardt Stadium. Bell passed away in Manly, in 1948.
The 1910-1912 bouts, as well as some 1913-14 bouts, come from T. S. Andrews's WORLD'S ANNUAL SPORTING RECORDS (1915), pp. 214-215.
External links
- Portrait of Colin Bell, 'The Moree Mountain' / Nada Studios
- West End Bitter Beer advertisement featuring boxing identities, South Australia - includes Colin Bell, seated to right