Article first published at Roundtable Boxing

Australia is rarely the epicentre of the boxing world. It has had its heroes of course, from the relentless Jeff Fenech in the 1980s who tackled the great Azumah Nelson, Bantamweight Lionel Rose in the 1960s – the first indigenous Australian to win a world-title, thundering Jeff Harding and adopted Aussies like Light-Welterweight king Kostya Tsyzu, Vic Darchinyan and the nomadic Joe Bugner. A century or more ago, when fighters boarded ships to travel the world in pursuit of new challengers – to prey on the whimsy of wealthy men willing to back their local contender or opportunists seeking to capitalise on a scrap of land to pitch a ring – Australia had its share of illustrious visitors.

The Boxing Day fight between Jack Johnson, the challenger, and Tommy Burns the Champion, was a long time in the making but does represent one of the few occasions Australia became the centre of the boxing world. Hugh Macintosh promoted a fight which brought together two men with a genuine dislike for each other. A heady brew brought on by contrasting personalities, the colour bar which ran between them like a line in the sawdust in a saloon and Burns’ insistence on a $30,000 purse to step across it. A fee that would usurp any other fee he’d commanded during his reign.