This article is a collection of individual biographies of Australian heavyweight champions who weren’t included in the original release of Title Bout Championship Boxing. I have tried to include boxers from different eras, including Australia’s pioneering heavyweight’s Bill Farnan, Bill Doherty and Peter Felix. Also included are the Pre World War 2 heavyweight champions Colin Bell, Harold Hardwick, Albert Lloyd, George Cook and Ambrose Palmer. Of the modern era, I have included Dave Russell and Vince Cervi.

BILL FARNAN

Bill Farnan was born on September 23rd 1851, at the McIvor Diggings, Victoria, Australia. When he was still a baby his family moved to South Melbourne. Farnan took to working in a foundry after he left school.

His work in the foundry helped him to develop a strong, muscular and powerful body. He continued to work in the foundry during his boxing career, though he would stop working a week before his fights.

Standing at 5’8” tall and weighing around 170 pounds, Farnan was an extremely tough man, who just loved to fight for the sake of fighting, but he was also surprisingly a teetotaller. He developed a reputation for having a murderous punch in each hand. His style was that of a pure slugger, who relied on brute force, immense strength and ferocious power to smash his opponents into oblivion, however his one drawback was that he was slow in the ring. It has been said that three quarters of his TOTAL bouts ended in knockout wins for him.

Farnan’s greatest moment of glory happened on July 26th 1884, when aged 32 years old, he took on the immortal Peter Jackson at the Victoria Hall in Bourke street, in Farnan’s home city of Melbourne. At stake was the inaugural heavyweight title of Australia, under Queensberry rules and a side wager of 100 pounds each. In the first round Farnan was knocked down quickly by the Sydney based boxer. He copped plenty of punishment for the first two rounds from the brilliant Jackson who was 23 years old. In the third round however, Farnan’s body punches started to trouble Jackson. Near the end of the third round Farnan hit Jackson with a thunderous right hand into his ribs. Jackson was in dire straits when the bell rang to end the round. Jackson was dragged to his corner, and when he couldn’t come out for the fourth, Farnan was adjudged the winner by knockout.

Farnan and Jackson had a rematch on September 4th at the Haymarket in Sydney. Farnan again hit Jackson with vicious punches and had him in deep trouble until the 6th round when Jackson’s supporters saved their hero from another knockout by rioting, which caused the police to stop the fight. The official result being a draw. Bill Farnan lost his title in 1885 to his fellow Victorian Tom Lees, who was an ex-policeman. They fought in the outer northern suburb of Heidelberg, Victoria. Lees won by knockout in the ninth after hitting Farnan with a controversial blow. They had a rematch at the Williamstown racecourse, which attracted a massive crowd. After fighting for some time the police stopped the fight. The next day, the fight was moved to the Melbourne suburb of Essendon. They fought for fifteen more minutes before Lees again knocked out Farnan. Farnan had his last bout against the great Frank Slavin, who later lost to Jackson. Slavin demolished Bill Farnan within two rounds.

Farnan’s health was deteriorating rapidly, and he passed away in the Melbourne suburb of Kew on March 14th 1891, aged 39 years old. He is buried in the Melbourne general cemetery. Also buried in that cemetery are some other notable pugilists, such as Dan Creedon, Starlight Rollins, Bill Lang, Walter McGowan, Tut Ryan and Archie Kemp. Even the great American wrestler of the late 1800’s Clarence Whistler is buried there.

Bill Farnan has a unique and very special place in the history of boxing by being the first ever, Australian Heavyweight Champion under Marquees of Queensberry rules.

BILL DOHERTY

Bill Doherty was born in Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on February 3rd 1868. He started his pugilistic career in 1885. His early record is sketchy, but he did win a Middleweight tournament in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray in the 1880’s. His first major victory was when he defeated Bill Jennings in Melbourne, for the Australian Middleweight title in 1895.

In 1896 he travelled to South Africa for a series of four bouts. While there he defeated George Cooper (WKO 1), Bill Hefferenan (WKO 18) and Tom Duggan (WKO 5). In the fourth fight he lost to the American Kid McCoy by 9th round knockout.

After one abortive attempt to win the Australian Heavyweight title (LKO 7 to Mick Dooley) in 1898, he finally won it by 6th round knockout over Dooley in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on 5th February 1899. Over the next four years Doherty, Dooley, Tut Ryan and Peter Felix swapped the heavyweight title between them. He fought Dooley 7 times for 5 wins (5 KO) and 2 losses, Ryan 4 times for 3 wins (2 KO) and 1 loss and Felix 6 times for 3 wins (1 KO), 2 draws and 1 loss. Other big names he fought were Dan Creedon (LKO 5), Jim Scanlon (L15) and Billy McColl (LKO 4). Doherty retired after losing twice to the English and South African Heavyweight Champion Mike Williams (KO by 3 and KO by 4) in 1904.

After he retired, Doherty wrote the book ”In The Days Of The Giants” which was about the fight game in his era and also about his own career. Bill Doherty passed away in Fremantle, Western Australia July 22nd 1952 aged 84 years old.

Incomplete record: 53 fights, 35 wins (28 KO), 14 Losses (8 KO by), 4 Draws.

PETER FELIX

Peter Felix was born on the 17th July 1866 on the West Indian Island of St.Croix, the same birthplace as the immortal Peter Jackson, who he claimed to be his first cousin (Jackson was actually in Felix’s corner for some of his fights). Felix was tall for his time, standing at 6’ 3” tall, and weighing in around 180 pounds. He was said to be a flashy dresser, extravagant and a bit of an extrovert, quite the opposite of the quiet, gentlemanly Jackson. He started his pugilistic career in Australia in 1894, with a 12th round knock out win over Dan Keeley in Melbourne. The year of 1895, proved to be one of the most fruitful of his career, with three very impressive points victories over the wild man Joe Goddard, and a points victory over the superbly skilled but light punching Mick Dooley. 1896 saw him defeat Starlight Rollins, beat Mick Dooley in two out of three fights, and beat Dan Keeley for the Victorian Heavyweight title with a 5th round knock out win. The next two years saw him draw with Mick Dooley, Tut Ryan and Bill Doherty. It must also be noted that during the depression years of the 1890’s that Peter Felix also fought in unofficial bouts in travelling boxing troupe’s, which toured the agricultural shows of Australia, putting on their fights in tents.

Next up, he scored a draw with an old and sick Peter Jackson over 25 rounds in Melbourne, then he captured the coveted Australian Heavyweight title with a 7th round knock out win over Bill Doherty in Kalgoorlie. Racist attitudes had raised their ugly heads prior to this bout, when Doherty had beaten Dooley to win the Australian crown. Dooley has been quoted as saying “You’re too good for me Bill, but I would sooner lose to you than Felix. Keep” - his voice broke and died to almost a whisper – “Keep the championship white”. Doherty failed to do this. Felix defended his title successfully with a 20 round draw with Doherty, but then lost it to the ubiquitous Doherty via a 20 round points loss. Felix never won the Australian title again, though he challenged for it three times, once against Doherty for a points loss in 1902, and twice against world title challenger Bill Lang for two knock out losses in 1907 and 1908 (Felix was 41 years old when he faced Lang).

In Felix’s next notable bouts he beat the giant woodchopper Bill Heckenberg with a 2nd round knock out, drew with Arthur Cripps and beat the Maori, George Renaulf on points. Age was starting to catch up with the old warhorse, though he was still fighting in main events. The years of 1904 and 1905 saw him lose inside the distance against world title challengers “Boshter” Bill Squires (3 times) and “Gunner” James Moir. In 1907, Felix challenged the legendary Jack Johnson for World Coloured Heavyweight Championship. Felix was knocked out in 1 round.

Felix kept fighting until 1915 (aged 48 years old), though his last real “big time” fight was in 1908 in the very first main event ever held at the Sydney Stadium, in Rushcutters Bay (the stadium where Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns). In this fight he lost on points over 20 rounds to Sid Russell.

Peter Felix retired to Sydney where he passed away on the 10th November 1926 of a heart attack aged sixty. He fought a large number of world class fighters, and held his own against most of them. He was perhaps a bit unfortunate that his career started at the advanced age of 28 years old.

Record – Total Bouts: 50, Wins 24 (9 KO), Losses 19 (12 KO by), Draws 7.

COLIN BELL

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. Standing at 5’10” tall and weighing 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 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 for the Australian heavyweight title and lost in 12 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.

ALBERT LLOYD

Albert Lloyd was born in Melbourne, Australia, on the 25th March 1892. He stood at 5’10” tall, weighed around 175 pounds, and fought from an orthodox stance. His career started in the bush when he was a teenager. He first got noticed when he won a heavyweight tournament in 1912. Lloyd fought all over Australia in search of bouts, including unofficial fights in Snowy Flynn’s travelling boxing troupe. He first won the Australian heavyweight title with a second round KO over Colin Bell in 1917, who has a draw against Sam Langford on his record. He lost the title three weeks later against Les Darcy’s former tutor Dave Smith. He then had wins against Americans Eddie McGoorty (W 20), and Fritz Holland (W KO 8).

After two unsuccessful challenges against Jimmy Clabby (D 20 & L 20), Lloyd eventually won the title back on the third try, with a points win over Clabby (W 20), on the 1st January 1918. He held the title for over two years with defences against George Cook three times, Ern Waddy three times and Clabby once. Lloyd was then stripped of his title when he travelled to New Zealand for a series of bouts against Waddy, Cook and Clabby. Eventually in 1921, Lloyd went to fight in Great Britain and Europe with fellow Aussies George Cook and Middleweight Frankie Burns. He stayed there for two years, participating in 32 bouts, for 17 wins, 13 losses and 2 draws.

His wins while in Great Britain and Europe, included Horace (Soldier) Jones (WF 10), Phil Suffling (W KO 3) and Phil Scott (W KO 3), while his losses included (Bombardier) Billy Wells (L KO 10), Jack Bloomfield ( L KO 6) and Gypsy Daniels ( L 20). He then returned to Australia fighting anywhere and everywhere, even unsuccessfully challenging Waddy for the Australian title twice. After he retiring from boxing, he became a Barman at the famous Melbourne hotel, Young & Jackson’s on Swanston Street. He passed away on the 6th September 1959. His ashes are kept at the Springvale Crematorium in Melbourne.

Record: 125 fights, 83 Wins (47 KO), 33 Losses, 8 Draws.

HAROLD HARDWICK

Harold Hardwick was born in Sydney on 17th March 1889. He stood at 6’0” tall and weighed around 170-180lb. He was also one of Australia’s best ever all-round sportsmen, playing first grade Rugby, winning a Gold Medal at the 1912 Olympic Games for Swimming, and also being a more than handy pugilist.

As an amateur boxer he won the Gold medal at the Festival Of The Empire Games in 1911 in London (this was the forerunner to the Commonwealth games). His bouts in that tournament were against English favourite William Hazell and Canadian Julius Thompson. He won both bouts with first round knockouts. He returned home to win the New South Wales and Australian amateur heavyweight titles. He turned professional in 1914, and amazingly fought for the vacant Australian Heavyweight title against Les O’Donnell in his first fight (Dave Smith had vacated the title to train Les Darcy). Even more amazing is the fact that Hardwick completely dominated his more experienced foe to take out a comfortable 20 round point’s decision. In winning this fight, Hardwick became the only man (even to this day), to win an Australian title in his first bout. His next fight was against the former Australian Version World Middleweight titleholder Mick King. In an excellent performance Hardwick again dominated to win by a 20 round point’s decision. Unlike a lot of modern day fighters, Hardwick was not the subject of a carefully orchestrated career, but instead he was thrown to wolves.

His next opponent was American Jeff Smith (who had also claimed the World middleweight title). Hardwick did well to survive the full 20 rounds, losing by decision. Eddie McGoorty (yet another World Middleweight title claimant), from the USA was up against Hardwick next. McGoorty used all his experience (and his good left hook) to knockout the game Australian in 7 rounds. Hardwick then got his career back on track with a 20 round point’s win over Canadian Joe Bonds in Sydney.

Hardwick then travelled to New Zealand to knockout their heavyweight champion Albert Pooley, in 7 rounds. He then returned to Sydney to lose to Harry Reeve by 20 round point’s decision. Harold’s next bout was perhaps his most famous, against the Maitland boy Les Darcy, who was belting the living suitcase out of everyone he faced. With the Australian heavyweight title at stake, Darcy proceeded to pummel Hardwick and knock him out in 7 rounds, but not before Hardwick had knocked two of Darcy’s teeth out in the 5th round. It was supposedly the infection from having these teeth riveted back into his gum that killed Les Darcy in 1917. Hardwick retired after this fight, however he came back for one fight in 1919, losing to Arthur Townley by 12th round TKO in London. Hardwick then retired for good. He lived out his life in Sydney, and passed away there in 1959.

Total Bouts: 9, Wins 4 (1), Losses 5 (3).

GEORGE COOK

George Cook was born in Cobraha, Australia, on 23rd January 1898. He stood at only 5’ 9” tall, had a reach of 73 ½”, and weighed around 190 pounds. Due to his lack of height, Cook tended to prefer infighting. His career started in 1916 with a 15 round points loss to Jim Tracey.

During a globe trotting career which lasted until 1938, he fought in all corners of the world including Australia, France, England, Germany, Argentina, South Africa, Sweden, U.S.A, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Wales, and that was before the aeroplane shrunk the globe. He fought some very good fighters throughout his career, including Georges Carpentier (L KO4), Tom Heeney (W 15), Jack Sharkey (L 10), Primo Carnera (L KO2 & L KO4), Johnny Risko (WF 5), Paolino Uzcudun (W 15 & W 10), Young Stribling (L10, L10, L KO8 & ND 10) and Walter Neusel (L 12). He also unsuccessfully challenged for the British Empire title 4 times against Joe Beckett (LF 6), Phil Scott (LF 17), Larry Gains (L 15) and Jack Petersen (L 15).

He did however win the Australian heavyweight title in 1926 with a 20 round points win over American Jack (Tiger) Payne who had only held the title for a record 8 days. Cook relinquished the title when he sailed overseas again. He eventually retired in 1938 after a loss to Jack London (L KO2). George Cook certainly had one of the most interesting careers of all Australian boxers.

Cook passed away in England in 1943 aged 45 years old. Record: TB 116, W 49 (13), L 51 (15), D 12, ND 4

AMBROSE PALMER

Ambrose Palmer was the pride of Melbourne’s western suburbs, in particular the suburb of Footscray in the years preceding World War II. He was born in Melbourne on the 19th September 1911, his father Bill Palmer was a former Lightweight champion of the State of Victoria.

In his prime, Palmer stood at 5’10 ½” tall, weighed between 160 and 171 pounds, and had a 72 ½” reach. At 15 years of age, young Palmer won the Victorian amateur Welterweight title. He turned pro at the age of 18 years old. Before long, Palmer had built a reputation as a skilful boxer with a masterful defence, however he was vulnerable to suffering cuts quite easily. At the age of 19 Palmer defeated the talented Australian Middleweight Champion Jack Haines in a non-title fight. In a return contest, this time with the title at stake, the result was a draw. In their third and final fight, also for the title, Palmer knocked Haines out in the 12th round, Haines suffered a cerebral haemorrhage during the fight, but luckily survived. On February 6th 1932, Palmer challenged Jack O’Malley for the Australian Light-Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles, Palmer won via a points decision. In his next fight, the 20 year old Middleweight Palmer, fought the 27 year old American Heavyweight, Young Stribling, who had recently lost to Max Schmeling for the World Heavyweight title. Stribling outweighed Palmer by 2 stone in weight, and had a lot more experience. After showing the utmost bravery, Palmer was eventually stopped in round 8. Hugh D. McIntosh, the promoter of the Tommy Burns vs Jack Johnson fight, promoted this fight/mismatch.

Palmer beat some other worthy opponents in his career such as Fred Henneberry, Ron Richards (4 times), Canadian Eddie Wenstob, and American’s Deacon Leo Kelly and Johnny Miller (amateur conqueror of Joe Louis). He also lost a hotly disputed decision to Gus Lesvenich.

After retiring from boxing, Palmer returned to play Australian Rules Football with the Footscray Football Club (now named the Western Bulldogs) in the AFL. He played 83 games and kicked 44 goals in a successful football career in which he usually played in the ruck-rover position. Ironically, his football career ended when he suffered 9 fractures of the skull and 6 fractures of the jaw in a collision with some Essendon F.C players. This injury was far worse than anything he ever suffered during his boxing career. Later on in life, Palmer became one of Australia’s best boxing trainers. In this capacity he took Johnny Famechon to the World Featherweight Title.

Palmer’s record: Total Bouts 67, Wins 58 (23 KO), 7 Losses (2 KO by), 2 Draws.

DAVE RUSSELL

Dave (The Destroyer) Russell won the W.B.F World Cruiserweight title from the American titleholder “Dangerous” Dan Murphy at the ripe old age of 32 years old at the Knox Stadium in Melbourne, via point’s decision on an extremely hot night on the 11th December 1992. This win capped off a distinguished career as one of Australia’s premier Cruiserweights ever.

Russell was born on the 16th June 1960 in England, however, he moved to Australia as an infant. After an amateur career in which he represented his home state of Victoria, Russell turned professional as a heavyweight on the 23rd October 1983 in a fight against Sydney southpaw Leo Moore. Russell won within four rounds of the scheduled eight. Before long, Russell had attracted a large number of fans to his bouts. He had approximately 95 tattoos, a drooping black moustache and a shaven head (long before it became trendy in Australia). His looks however, belied the fact that he was a really good bloke and a gentleman in and out of the ring. He regularly visited prisons in Victoria, including the notorious Pentridge Prison, to give boxing exhibitions, sign autographs and give advice when needed.

He won a few more bouts before touring the United Kingdom in 1984, to gain some international experience. Russell had three fights in England, winning two points decisions against Frank Robinson and Lee White respectively and he also scored a draw against John Westgarth. While in England, Russell also sparred with future W.B.C Heavyweight Champion Frank Bruno. After returning to Australia he knocked out Mandingo in 3 rounds in Melbourne. Next up, Dave Russell hit the big time when he challenged veteran Steve Aczel for both the Australian and Orient & Pacific Boxing Federation (O.P.B.F) heavyweight titles on the 15th February 1985 in Melbourne. Russell dominated his more experienced opponent to win by a TKO in the 6th round. The OPBF title is the WBC regional title for the Asia-Pacific region.

Big Dave then won his next four bouts, before “Mean” Dean Waters challenged him for the Australian heavyweight title. They fought in the town of Swan Hill on the Murray River on the 15th March 1986. Russell was leading the fight when Waters stopped him in the 10th round, to take his crown. Russell was a small heavyweight at around 200-210 pounds, and it came as no surprise when he dropped down in weight to fight in the Cruiserweight division. His first fight at Cruiserweight was against the tough Zambian Chisanda Mutti for the Commonwealth title in Melbourne on the 9th May 1986. Before a national television audience, Russell showed immense courage before being stopped in the 11th round. In his next fight he fought for the Australian and Orient & Pacific Boxing Federation (O.P.B.F) Cruiserweight titles against Kevin Wagstaff in Melbourne on the 30th April 1987. Russell blasted Wagstaff out with a second round KO. After a few more wins he defended against Apollo Sweet. Again, Russell was leading until he run out of steam, and was stopped in the 9th round. After a few more fights, including a win over American Jack Johnson on the Fenech-Navarro undercard and two wins over South Australian “Irish” Kevin Barry, Russell had a rematch with Apollo Sweet for the Australian Cruiserweight title at Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne. Sweet had a cut opened up in the first round by an accidental head butt and the fight was declared a draw after one round. To say the crowd was extremely unhappy is a bit of an understatement.

In 1991, Russell challenged Briton, Derek Angol for the Commonwealth title. Angol stopped Russell in the fourth round. The year of 1992 proved to be possibly the best year of his career. After beating Jack Johnson and Ted Cofie, he again challenged for the Australian Cruiserweight title. This time he fought “Vicious” Vivian Schwalger from Queensland in front of 4,000 people at the Knox Stadium. Russell dominated the fight, eventually stopping Schwalger in the sixth round to win the Australian Cruiserweight title for the second time. His next fight was the pinnacle of his career, when he outpointed the American Dan Murphy for the W.B.F Cruiserweight title in Melbourne. There was even a brawl in the crowd that night.

His first defence of his new title was against the talented Englishman Johnny Nelson on the 30th April, at Melbourne’s Festival Hall, known locally as the “House Of Stoush”. After eleven hard fought rounds Nelson eventually stopped the game Australian.

Russell retired after this fight with his head held high. He was arguably the most popular Melbourne boxer of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. He had held the Australian and O.P.B.F Heavyweight titles, the Australian (twice), and O.P.B.F Cruiserweight titles, and the W.B.F World Cruiserweight title. He was one boxer who always gave the boxing fans their money’s worth.

Dave Russell keeps in touch with the fight game by helping out at the Melbourne boxing gymnasium, The Fighters Factory. Record: Total Bouts-33, Wins-22 (13 KO), Lost-8, Draws-3.

VINCE CERVI

Vince Cervi (The Voodoo Man) was born 22nd November 1966. He weighed around 216 pounds during his career and hailed from the city of Melbourne, Australia.

He started his professional boxing career in 1985 when only 18 years old as a Light Heavyweight/Cruiserweight. His first fight was a 1st round TKO win over Glenn Irvine in Geelong. Next he fought in his home town of Melbourne against Paul Donnelly and again he won by 1st round TKO. Next up he experienced his first loss via a 6 round points decision to Paul James. His next two fights were against Kevin Hargreaves. He lost the first by 6 round Points decision, and also lost the second when Hargreaves knocked him out in 4 rounds. He then retired for 5 years. When he came back in 1991 as a Heavyweight he said of his previous attempt at boxing “I was a teenager and too young for the sport. Now I have more confidence and no doubts about what I’m doing”. His words proved to be correct. His first fight back was at the Fitzroy Central Hall in September 1991, when he outpointed the Melbourne based boxer Steve Hudson with a close decision win. His next fight was against Queenslander Mitchell O’Hello at Melbourne’s Festival Hall. Cervi won by 1st round KO with a murderous right.

He then fought a rematch with Steve Hudson at Princess Park in Melbourne, on the undercard of Fenech-Nelson II in front of 38,000 fans. The result was a majority points draw over 4 rounds, with two judges scoring it a draw and the third scoring a win for Cervi. In the lead up to that fight Cervi was a sparring partner of Virgil Hill, who was preparing for his fight with Aundrey Nelson. Cervi benefited greatly from sparring with Hill. His next fight was against Theo Tsakis for a draw over 4 rounds. Three months later he TKO’d Tommy Hammer in the first round in West Brunswick, Melbourne.

One month later he fought the classy former Australian Cruiserweight Champion Gary Wills. Wills, who came from Brisbane, was an experienced fighter who had fought and beat the best in Australia. When they met in Melbourne, Wills was favourite to win. Cervi however, didn’t read the script and in a boilover he TKO’d Wills in one round. He then knocked out Pilua Taito in one round in the Melbourne suburb of Preston. Everyone who doubted him before, were now sitting up and taking notice of the Voodoo man, who packed an extremely powerful punch.

Vince Cervi’s next fight was the most important in his relatively short career. He was to meet his fellow Melbourne Heavyweight James Grima, who also had a reputation as a very hard puncher, for the vacant Heavyweight championship of Australia in West Brunswick. In the end Cervi was the man who landed the more telling blows to win the fight by a third round TKO. He was now the Australian Heavyweight champion after 13 fights. In his first defence he met the veteran “Aussie” Joe Bugner, who by this time was fighting out of Queensland. Unfortunately for Vince, Bugner’s size (259 pounds), strength and vast experience won him a unanimous decision over 12 rounds (119-109,119-111,and 117-111) at Carrara stadium, Gold Coast in front of 3,500 people. So, Vince Cervi lost his Australian title in his first defence, but he was unlucky for it to be against the vastly experienced Bugner.

After losing his title, Cervi travelled west for his next fight, to beat yet another Queenslander Colin Wilson in Perth, Western Australia by an 8 round points decision. One month later he fought in Melbourne again to KO Matthew Reid in 2 rounds. Next, he travelled north to Nerang, Queensland to fight Colin Wilson again, though this time the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Heavyweight title was at stake. Cervi won the fight and the OPBF heavyweight title with a 12 round point’s decision. Nearly one year later, Wilson and Cervi had their third fight, this time for the Australian heavyweight title. Again they fought in Queensland, this time in Southport. Wilson won via a 12 round point’s decision. Vince Cervi retired not long after. His final record was: 18 fights, 11 wins (8 KO), 5 losses (1 KO by), 2 draws. He scored 6 first round KO’s out of his 8 KO’s, which was a pretty good effort. He had dynamite power in both hands and was entertaining to watch.

Vince Cervi might not have been a world beater, but he did fight and beat the best Australia had to offer, and he has a small place in boxing history by being an Australian Heavyweight champion. Alongside such famous names as: Peter Jackson, Paddy Slavin, Joe Goddard, Bill Squires, Bill Lang, Les Darcy, Dave Sands, and even his own conqueror Joe Bugner, who all held the title at some time.

Sources: Australian Boxing, The Illustrated History (1990), Heroes Of The Fancy, A History Of Australian Boxing (1999), Lords Of The Ring, A History Of Prize Fighting In Australia (1980), Two Champs From Narrabri (1990’s), Boxrec.com, Tracy Callis, In The Day’s Of The Giants (1931), Various Newspapers, Australian & New Zealand Olympians (1984).