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Ranking the best Aussie fighters ever


BoztheMadman
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The smallest continent has given us some pretty good boxers. From Young Griffo in late 19th century and beginning of 20th century, to Lionel Rose in the 60's, to Jeff Fenech and Jeff Harding in the 80's, to Anthony Mundine and Danny Green in this century. Here is the list of best Australian...I mean OYSTRAYLIAN fighters ever! :haha:

 

1. Young Griffo

The first world champion from Australia, known as "Australian Will o' the Wisp", Young Griffo won the world featherweight championship in 1890 by stopping the reigning champ "Torpedo" Billy Murphy of New Zealand by corner retirement in 15 in Sydney. He defended that title four times, including a rematch with Murphy which he won by DQ22, before vacating the title to move to super featherweight. He won the unofficial world title there in 1892 on points against Jerry Marshall and defended it in a rematch by DQ4. It was rather easy to get disqualified back then, it seems. He lost a disputed decision to Jack McAuliffe in 1894, fighting in Brooklyn, NY. In 1896 he tried to win the lightweight world title as well, but his fight against Jack Everhardt ended in a draw. In 1900 he fought against the legendary Joe Gans and was stopped for the first time in his career by TKO8 after being down three times. He was by now past his prime and he got stopped twice more before quitting the game in 1904, at 35. His record is a matter of dispute: IBHOF has it at 63 wins with 32 ko's, 9 losses and 37 draws while boxrec has it at 68 wins with 33 ko's, 11 losses and 38 draws. Griffo was an original IBHOF inductee and the first Australian to be inducted. He was a clever fighter and was described as having "wonderful headwork, almost inpenetrable defense, dazzling feints and rapid two-handed methods of attack." He stood only 5'4 but had a reach of 68 inches, pretty big for his height. Albert Griffiths, aka Young Griffo, died 7 December 1927, aged 58.

 

2. Jeff Fenech

"How can he rate Fenech above Rose??", some of you may think. Well, simply: Fenech has achieved more than Rose. Rose tends to get overvalued sometimes just because he was the first Aboriginal champion and beat Fighting Harada. But, aside from that, he hasn't had a very long or successful career. Fenech was never bested while at his best and his defeat at the hands of Azumah Nelson was a question of him being on the slide. This lightning-fisted, 5'7 dynamo of a man seemingly had endless amounts of energy and always attempted to stop his opponents, for which he was loved by the crowds and boxing enthusiasts and journalists alike. Never a true puncher, Fenech overwhelmed his opponents by his sheer ferocity and volume of punches but hit hard enough to stop anyone who absorbed enough of his leather. He was born to Maltese parents in St. Peters, New South Wales, and grew up in nearby Marrickville. As amateur, he won the 1983 flyweight world cup in Rome and competed at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, losing in the quarterfinal to Redzep Redzepovski of Yugoslavia, 1-4 on points. Fenech became a pro in October that year and scored 6 knockouts before winning his first world title in his 7th fight, beating the IBF bantam champion Satoshi Shingaki by TKO9, 26 April '85 in Sydney. He defended the title first in a rematch with Shingaki, this time stopping him in only 4 rounds, by corner retirement. He then decisioned the 26-0 Jerome Coffee of USA in his second defense, before making the third and last one by stopping the 11-0-1 Steve McCrory (who won the gold in the same class at the LA Olympics) by TKO14, in 1986. He vacated the title and then became a super bantam, challenging the WBC champion Samart Payakaroon of Thailand, who had previously knocked out Lupe Pintor and Juan Meza and was a famous world Thaiboxing champion. It was 8 May '87 at Entertainment Centre in Sydney when Fenech made another impressive performance by wearing down the taller Payakaroon (who was 14-0) and stopping him late in round 4. He knocked out the smaller Greg Richardson in 5 in his first defense and then beat the legend Carlos Zarate by a technical decision in 4 before he once again vacated his title to move up to featherweight. He won the WBC feather title in 1988 by stopping Victor Callejas of Puerto Rico by TKO10. He made three defenses there and then once again stepped up to another weight class. However, he was denied in his attempt to become a four-division world champion as he was disgracefully robbed against the WBC champion Azumah Nelson, 28 June '91 in Vegas. Fenech dominated the fight and by many accounts (including my own) won by 3 or 4 points, but one judge even scored it against him by 116-112 while the other gave it to him by 115-113 and the third had it even at 114-114. The fight was otherwise competitive in the first half, but Fenech clearly dominated the second half. They had a rematch 1 March next year but in Melbourne. This time, it was a very different version of Fenech that showed up and he was dismantled by Nelson, despite the fight being competitive and two of the scorecards even when Fenech got stopped in round 8 by TKO, after having been down three times. He took a year off but his comeback fight against Calvin Grove also ended in disaster, as he was stopped by the rather light-punching Grove by TKO7, on 7 June '93 in Melbourne. Melbourne proved to be a bad luck place for him also in his second comeback; after winning two easier fights by TKO, he faced the reigning IBF lightweight champ Philip Holiday on 18 May '96 and got easily stopped by TKO2. He was nowhere near his old self. He retired after that but in 2008 he and Azumah Nelson had their rubbermatch, which Fenech won by MD10, again in Melbourne. His record is 29 wins with 21 ko's, 3 losses and 1 draw. He has since his retirement in 1996 been a successful trainer and has trained several world champions. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2002.

 

3. Lionel Rose

As mentioned, the first Aborigine boxing world champion ever, and aside from the 50% Aborigine Anthony Mundine, the only such champion ever, Rose was not a puncher but a tough guy who could box. Rose was born in Warragul, Victoria state, and lived in Melbourne. Rose turned pro in 1964, at the age of only 16. After losing two early fights on points, he remained unbeaten in 15 fights and on 27 February 1968, he beat the legendary world bantam champion Fighting Harada by a close UD15 in Tokyo. Harada had a record of 50-3 back then and was the only man to ever beat Eder Jofre (twice), whom he took the world title from. Rose then defended his WBC and WBA titles against another Japanese, 22-0 Takao Sakurai, again in Japan, and this time won by MD15. At the end of that same year, he defeated the world-class Mexican Chucho Castillo by SD at Inglewood in California, a decision which provoked a riot among the many Mexicans present. On 8 March next year, Rose made his last successful defense by another SD against Welsh-born Liverpudlian Alan Rudkin. He lost his belts to Ruben Olivares by KO5 22 August '69, again in Inglewood. Rose was down once in round 2 and twice in round 5 before it was over. Olivares helped his people to get him back to his corner. He also promised him a rematch if he wanted one, but that never happened. His skills quickly deteriorated following this devastating loss and he got stopped again soon, in December that year he was knocked out by the 26-12-1 Fernando Sotelo in 7 and next year he was again knocked out by a Mexican, Raul Cruz, in 4. He did managed to score a UD10 over Guts Ishimatsu, a future world lightweight champ, 10 October '70. On 30 May '71 he tried to win the WBC super feather title against Yoshiaki Numata, but dropped a close UD in Hiroshima, of all places. In 1976, he was stopped by TKO3 by Rafael Limon and then after losing one more fight to a nobody by KO2 , his career ended, after 12 years and at the age of 30. His record is 42 wins with 12 ko's and 11 losses, 5 by ko. After retirement, Rose slid into alcoholism and divorced and also ended in jail for a while, but he opened a bar and did well with his business, unlike many other former prizefighters. He died 8 May 2011, aged 62. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Lionel Edmund Rose was a fine fighter but lacked power and his time on top was short, but his win over Fighting Harada makes him a great boxing figure. He was a beloved guy who also used his stature to fight racism and before his fight with Olivares, he brought with him a victim of a racially charged attack, a young Aborigine boy, whom he displayed to the crowd in hopes of gaining support for his cause. Thus, Rose's importance is beyond just his boxing achievements. And that is why many people today overvalue him as a boxer.

 

4. Johnny Famechon

The French-born WBC feather champion, Johnny Famechon was one of the most clever and technically polished boxers Australian boxing gyms have produced. Famechon was born in Paris but emigrated to Melbourne at the age of 5. He was a muscular 5'6 guy who was trained and managed by Ambrose Palmer, once a fine boxer himself. Famechon turned pro in 1961, aged 16 and won the Australian feather title by UD15 over Ollie Taylor. After losing three fights on points, he started an unbeaten run from 1966 to 1970, which culminated in him beating Jose Legra for the WBC strap 21 January 1969 in London. He had also won the Commonwealth title by TKO11 against John O'Brien before that. He edged Legra out in a close fight to win by a razor-thin score of 74 1/2 to 73 1/4, given by the referee and sole judge. Legra had a record of 105-5-4 coming in and had upset Howard Winstone for the title. On 28 July that year in Sydney, Famechon faced Fighting Harada in an unforgettable bout where he was down three times and put Harada down once. The referee and sole judge Willie Pep had first scored it a draw, but was then frightened by the angry crowd and changed it into a 1-point win for Famechon. Because of the controversy, a rematch was mandated and it happened 6 January '70, but this time in Japan. This time however, Famechon left no doubts to who won when he put Harada thru the ropes with a big right hand in round 14 and Harada was unable to get back or beat the count. Famechon was ahead on scorecards at the time. He then beat the future WBA bantam champion Arnold Taylor of South Africa on points on 11 April, before making his third defense against Vicente Saldivar of Mexico, 9 May at Pallazzetto dello Sport in Rome. This time, things didn't go his way and he dropped a unanimous decision to the great Saldivar with the scores of 71-68, 72-68 and 73-70. Famechon was so disappointed that he chose to retire at only 25, leaving behind a record of 56 wins with 20 kos, 5 losses and 6 draws. He has never been stopped and was down only against Harada and Rene Roque, against whom he drew in 1968. In 1991, Famechon was jogging when he was hit by a car and became paralyzed after suffering a brain stroke while in coma. He has since made a recovery but still can't walk properly. He was a fine and very promising fighter whose career ended just as it had started to seem bound for true greatness. Which is a shame. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

 

5. Jeff Harding

The Real McCoy. The Warrior. The Hit Man. Harding was a hard-boiled fighter who preferred to slug it out rather than box. He was the first Australian to win a world light heavy title, which he did by stopping another hardended warrior, Dennis Andries, by TKO12 in 1989. Born and bred in Sydney, Harding was trained by IBHOF-member Johnny Lewis, who also trained Jeff Fenech and Kostya Tszyu. He turned pro in November 1986 and racked up a record of 14-0 with 11 ko's when he got to fight for the WBC title against Dennis Andries, who had previously recaptured it against Tony Willis and was making his first defense in second reign. The stage was Convention Center in Atlantic City and the date 24 June '89. Harding came from behind to drop Andries twice in round 12 and stop him on his feet to win his first world title, achieving glory. He was cut up badly before that but in true toughman fashion, prevailed by stoppage. He defended it twice by corner retirement 2 against hard-hitting Tom Collins and by TKO11 against Nestor Hippolito Giovannini before losing the title in a rematch with Andries, who knocked him out in 7 after another back and forth fight. It was 28 July '90 and Harding came back only three months after his first and devastating loss and scored 3 wins before fighting Andries again, this time in London, 11 September '91. The fight was close and hard once again, but in the end, Harding was the winner by MD12 and thus a two-time world champ. He knocked out the former WBA smw champion Christophe Tiozzo in 8 in his first defense and then decisioned the tough David Vedder in the second, before going to Bismarck, North Dakota, to fight Mike McCallum, a future hall of famer. McCallum proved to be just a little to clever and won by the scores of 115-114, 115-113 and 116-112, 23 July '94. It turned out to be Harding's final fight and he retired at 29 and with a record of 23 wins, 17 by ko, and 2 losses, 1 by ko. Harding slid into alcoholism following his retirement but became sober in 2009 and has since stayed on the straight and narrow. To this day, he remains the only world lhw champion from Australia. As far as I know, no other Australian has won a world title at such a high weight either.

 

6. Anthony Mundine

Son of a solid but underachieving Tony Mundine, Anthony achieved the success that eluded his father, thanks to his weak chin. He was and is a clever fighter who could pretty much do it all, box and punch and had the chin his father always lacked. After a promising rugby career in his early 20's, Anthony took up boxing and became a pro as a super middleweight in 2000. In 2001 he won the PABA title by KO3 against Timo Masua. That same year he also won the IBF Pan Pacific title by SD12 against tough and cagey Sam Soliman. The two would meet again. After knocking out the world class contender Guy Waters in 2, he faced the IBF champion Sven Ottke at Arena Westfalenhalle in Dortmund on 1 December same year. He outboxed Ottke for much of the fight and put him down once, but in round 10 he got unlucky and was hit on the temple and knocked out. Next year he knocked out the South African Soon Botes in 3 to win the WBA Pan African title. On 3 September 2003, he faced the dangerous and hard-hitting Antwun Echols for the vacant WBA title at Entertainment Centre in Sydney and beat him by UD with the scores of 115-114 and 117-112 twice. On 19 January next year, he made his first defense against Yoshinori Nishizawa and came off the deck in round 2 to put Nishizawa down twice before winning by TKO5. However, in his second defense, he was upset against Manny Siaca, who put him down in round 2 and came off with a split decision in Sydney, 5 May 2004. He attempted to reclaim the title against the new champion Mikkel Kessler, fighting him 8 June '05 in Sydney, but lost in a competitive fight by the scores which were somewhat too wide, especially the 120-107 from one judge. Kessler would remain undefeated until fighting Joe Calzaghe. Mundine finally recaptured his old title, after Kessler got promoted to Super Champion, by knocking out Sam Soliman in 9 at the Entertainment Centre on 7 March 2007. Soliman was down three times in round 9 for the stoppage. This time Mundine made four successful defenses, the last one where he decisioned Soliman by UD in their third fight in 2008. He vacated the title right after this fight which was on 28 May. He wanted to compete at middleweight, as he said he always felt he was somewhat too small physically for a super middleweight, despite standing 5'11. In 2009, he beat Daniel Geale by SD to win the IBO mw title. Geale was 21-0 at the time but would defeat him in a rematch in 2013. But before that, Mundine experienced a shock loss to unheralded Garth Wood, who knocked him out in 5 with a vicious left hook to the chin, 8 December 2010. He beat Wood in the rematch by UD. He then went further down in weight and became a junior middleweight and in 2011 he won the interim WBA title here against Rigoberto Alvarez by UD. He also stopped Bronco McKart by TKO7 and after losing to Geale, became the first and only man to stop Shane Mosley by TKO7, after Mosley had to pull out due to a back injury. Mundine has since experienced several devastating losses and was last destroyed by Jeff Horn in 1 round, 30 November last year. He has a fight coming up on the same date.

 

7. Jimmy Carruthers

Only the second world champion from Australia, Carruthers was a whirlwind-style action fighter who won the world bantam title in spectacular fashion in 1952, stopping the great Vic Toweel in one round! James William Carruthers was born in Paddington, Sydney, 5 July 1929 and competed at the 1948 Olympics in London. He beat his first two opponents, but sustained an eye injury in the second match and had to withdraw before the quarterfinal. He became a pro in 1950 and won the Australian bantam title by UD15 against Ellie Bennett the following year. He was 14-0 with 9 ko's when he faced Vic Toweel in a fight for both the world and Commonwealth titles, 15 November 1952 at Rand Stadium in Johannesburg. Carruthers came out like a fireball and threw 110 punches before stopping Toweel at 2:19 of round 1. Toweel was undefeated at 26-0-1 at the time, so it was a huge upset. They had a rematch on 21 March and this time Carruthers had to work harder, but he again stopped Toweel by KO10, again at the Rand Stadium. He then made his second defense at home in Sydney and beat Pappy Gault, 57-7-1 American, by UD15 on 13 November at Sydney Sports Ground. His third defense was unusual, as he went to Thailand to fight Chamroen Songkirat, who was 6-1-2 coming in. There was a monsoon during the fight that night on 2 May '54 and the ring was flooded, making both fighters fight barefoot, which was the first and only time in a world title match. Carruthers won after 15 rounds with the score of 7-5 given by the referee and sole judge. For unknown reasons, Carruthers retired 2 weeks after the fight and vacated his title. He came back 7 years later, but was not the same guy anymore. He now fought as a lightweight and lost his first comeback fight on points to Aldo Pravisaniof Italy, 11 September '61 in Sydney. He also lost his next fight on points to Wally Taylor and then got stopped for the first time in his career against Don Johnson, 15 December in Melbourne. Exhausted by Johnson's heavy body punching, Carruthers could not come out after round 5. He then scored two second-round stoppages against easier opponents before getting disqualified in 8 against Jimmy Cassidy, 18 June '62 in Wellington, New Zealand and retiring. Carruthers left behind a record of 21 wins, 13 by ko, and 4 losses, 1 by ko. He was a formidable offensive fighter who was tough but he retired while at his peak and attempted to come back too late, when he was far past his peak. Carruthers later developed Parkinson's disease and died of lung cancer 15 August 1990, aged 61. He was also inducted into the WBHOF. His two wins over Vic Toweel speak in volumes, as noone else stopped Toweel and only one other guy defeated him, at the end of his career. Here's to Jimmy Carruthers!

 

8. Danny Green

A hard hitter and a warrior, nicknamed "Green Machine", Danny Green was the second best Aussie fighter between 2003 and 2011, after Mundine. Though not as clever or technically sound as Mundine, his sheer aggression and power often made him overcome his lack of boxing finesse. However, before winning a full world title, he experienced two losses to Markus Beyer, which can be called unfair. In their first fight in 2003, which was for the WBC smw title, Green had Beyer down twice in the first two rounds but was unjustly taken a point for a headbutt which was accidental and then when Beyer was unable to continue because he got cut, Green got disqualified. They had a rematch in 2005 and despite having Beyer down again, Green lost by a questionable majority decision to the smaller and craftier German. In 2006 he had a great domestic showdown against Anthony Mundine and lost by a clear UD, after being outboxed by Mundine. Before that, his first true success was when he stopped Eric Lucas by TKO6 and won the interim WBC smw title. In 2007, he faced Stipe Drews for the WBA light heavy title and won in a strange fight, where Drews didn't make an effort, by a wide UD naturally. Only 3 months later, Green surprised everyone when he announced his retirement, but that didn't prove to last and he was back in 2009. He was now a cruiserweight and he first stopped Julio Cesar Dominguez by TKO5 to win the vacant IBO title, before knocking out Roy Jones jr in 1 round in his first defense, 2 December that year. He stopped Manny Siaca by TKO3 and knocked out Paul Briggs in 1 round also, to make two more defenses. After decisioning the unbeaten BJ Flores in his fourth defense, he lost the title 20 July 2011 against the former world lhw champion Antonio Tarver, after the fight was stopped following the 9th round. He tried to win the WBC title against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk but after a good showing he was stopped in the 11th round after being down once and pummeled before that. He again won the IBO belt against Shane Cameron, a former heavyweight and in his last fight on 3 February 2017, he avenged the loss to Mundine by a MD10. His record is 36 wins, 28 by ko, and 5 losses, 2 by ko. He is the best fighter to come out of Perth and Western Australia.

 

9. Daniel Geale

A very skilled and strong guy, Tasmanian-born Daniel Geale is one of the most successful Aussie boxers of this era. Known as "Real Deal", he really was that. Not a very hard hitter but a good technician and a tough, strong guy, Geale came to prominence after losing a very close fight to Anthony Mundine in 2009. In 2010, he stopped Roman Karmazin, who had been one of the best fighters of the middle divisions in the 2000's, but was by then not the same man, by TKO12. He then won the IBF middle title in Germany, which was never easy, by SD against Sebastian Sylvester, then one of Germany's best middleweights. He defended it twice before fighting Felix Sturm, the WBA champion, in a unification fight on 1 September 2012, and finally ending Sturm's 5-year and 12-defence reign in a SD victory. With that, he became only the 4th Australian in history to become a unified champion. He vacated the WBA title thereafter however, and made one more successful defense by avenging the loss to Mundine by UD, 30 January 2013. He lost his IBF belt to Darren Barker of Britain when he was down once for a 9-count and lost by a split decision in Atlantic City, 17 August '13. After stopping the puncher Garth Wood by corner retirement in 6 in his next fight, he took a fight against Gennady Golovkin on 26 July '14 and for the second time fought in USA at Madison Square Garden. GGG made short work of him and stopped him in 3 rounds after putting him down with a right and a left. Geale would win one more fight on points against Jarrod Fletcher before being stopped by TKO4 against Miguel Cotto in a fight for the WBC middle title, 6 June '15 in Brooklyn. His last fight was at super mw and he was easily stopped by unheralded Renold Quinlan by KO2. It was 14 October 2016 and Geale ended his career with 31 wins, 16 by ko, and 5 losses, 3 by ko.

 

10. Robbie Peden

Actually, this guy has Aborigine blood too. ;-) That's what I heard anyway. Robert Lloyd Peden, known as Bomber, actually was more of a boxer than a puncher, but he is known for knocking out Nate Campbell twice. For a long time, he was the only man to have stopped the tough Campbell. A native of Brisbane, Peden competed in the 1992 Olympics where he lost in the quarter-final on points to Chol-Su Choi of South Korea. He also competed in the 1996 Olympics where he was eliminated in the second round on points to Serafim Todorov, who also beat Floyd Mayweather. Peden turned pro at the tail end of 1996, trained by Kevin Barry, and went 16-0 before losing to John Brown, a crafty fighter, by UD12 in Elgin Illinois on 25 June 2000. Before that, he had won the NABF super feather title by SD12 over Carlos Rios. He decided to move down to featherweight after the first loss and won the NABF belt there as well by UD12 agaisnt Edgar Barcenas. He defended it twice before facing Juan Manuel Marquez in an IBF-eliminator, with his title at stake, as well as the vacant USBA one. It was 9 March 2002 and after 10 furious rounds, Peden had to retire on his stool due to excessive bleeding. Lederman's scorecard was 87-84 for Marquez at the time. He decided to return to 130 and then won the vacant USBA title by stopping the solid Lamont Pearson by RTD7, after Pearson injured his hand. This victory gave him a fight against Nate Campbell in an IBF eliminator. It was 14 March 2004 when Peden made a rather big upset by knocking out Campbell, who had lowered his guard on purpose and just stood in front of him, with a big left hook in the fifth round. He then faced Campbell again, this time for the IBF title, 23 February 2005 at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne. Despite Campbell being more careful this time, Peden managed to stop him again, this time by punishing him along the ropes until it was stopped in round 8. Peden became the third Aussie to hold this very title, after Lester Ellis and Barry Michael. His next fight was even bigger, as he took on Marco Antonio Barrera, then the WBC champion, in a title unification fight. 17 September at MGM Grand. This time, Barrera proved too much to overcome for Peden and he lost by a wide UD to the Mexican legend. He then had a 16-month layoff before coming back on 9 March 2007 and getting knocked out by Filipino Ranee Ganoy in 8, after being down several times before that. That was his last fight and he retired with a record of 25 wins, 14 by ko, and 4 losses, 2 by ko. Robbie Peden was a good defensive fighter with good head movement but he also liked coming forward and mixing it up.

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