RIP Tommy Burns

It's always a sad day when a boxing great Like tommy Burns passes away. Some great posts Bugger and Bollox, thanks.

 

There's a bunch of old guys who should be celebrated. Some of them may not have packed out the Stadium's like Tommy Burns, yet their toughness and place in the game is worthy of remembering.

Noel 'Stumpy' Butwell, Oz Flyweight Champion 1944 & 1950, still lives in Brisbane. A very nice old man, now 85 years old. He might be our oldest surviving Aussie champ. Had the pleasure of sharing a beer with Stumpy last year with Bobby Sinn's son, Ronnie. The Old guys face lit up when he realised who Ronnie was, and shook his hand firmly. His old eye's seemed so proud to be in Ronnie's company. Stumpy also seemed quite emotional when seeing a picture of the tragic Elley Bennett. A deep breath and gentle shake of his head, he simply said, "Awww Elley.." Stumpy had lost his Qld bantam Crown to Elley, an of Elley's 44 victories, he'd won 40 via KO. For Stumpy to lose via cuts to Elley is a sign of his great heart.

Charlie Dunne is another living in Brisbane. This bloke was one of the power punchers from the late 40's & ealry 50's. He knocked out the legend Pat Ford, and also had a bout with Jackie Ryan, which he thought would be a walk in the park. Charlie said he landed his best right flush on Ryan's jaw... "You know what he did??".."He shook his head a little and marched forward.. saying.. 'is that the best you've got?'.. He broke me bloody heart".

Probably be a treat for these old legends to hear from any current boxing fans.. especially those in Brissie willing to share a beer with Stumpy or cuppa with Charlie.

Bobby Scrivano, from Tunisia, now resides in Melbourne. Old Bob was a top 10 Flyweight in the late '40's and fought Jimmy Carruther's in his last bout. He'd lost an eye when clobbered by Elley Bennett's resin covered gloves, and Stadium's requested he fight Carruthers to make some final cash. Scrivano was great friends with French Legend Marcel Cerdan, and sat ringside the night cerdan belted Tony Zale. A dinner with Cerdan and Edith Piaff, Marcel's lady at the time, was followed up that night in NYC. Now the old guy floats around Doherty's gym in Brunswick- still putting the kids through their paces.

 

Very Sad News. =(

 

Great post Bobby. Are any of the Sands still about?

 

None of the fighting brothers are around. There is a grand son making some noise?? Leichardt might know more??

 

Seems he might have been too light in his first trip, and Tommy was shot by the second. Even so, there were numerous mutual oponents of the same time. The same with the third trip out.

Good question.

 

That was the impression i got too, a bout was trying to be set up between the two but Burns decided to retire (the 1st time).

I think Dawson thought highly of Burns though, there was a perticular bout where Dawson was quite keen on Tommy's services as a sparring partner, cant remember his upcoming opponent atm though.

 

Doesn't Dave Sands grandson train out of the Grange gym? I can ask on Friday as I'm heading out there to catch-up with some of the fella's.

 

I dont think Burns would have had a hope in hell against Dawson at any stage. Front on, wipe open and winging punches without nimble feet. Perfect fodder for Dawson. George Barnes only just survived in becoming the first Aussie to last the full journey due to the fact her never stood still.

 

Got a feeling it's Clem Sands's Grand Son?? Love to find out!!

 

Yeh I'm sure now thinking about it when I was last out at the Grange (early Jan.) that one of the lads told me it was Dave Sands grandson. I'll check it out further Friday Bobby.

 

AWESOME!!!! Let us know mate.

 

Leo Berry is another old surviver. Started in 1942 and finshed up after his bout with Jack Hassen in 1948. Three battles with the ill-fated Archie Kemp were held, before Kemp's demise at the hands of Jack Hassen in '49.

Kemp, Hassen and Berry boxed mutual oponents, Roy Treasure and Les Fuller. Got a feeling that Les Fuller mght still be with us.

 

Definately Bobby, it still would have been an exciting fight had it come to fruition (earlier rather than later).

This is an article i found a few months ago by Vic Patrick where he elaborates ( and defends i guess) on a comment made by Dawson that Oz boxers are "right hand crazy". Ofcourse he meant no disrespect but was rather imo pointing out a common mentality within Australian boxers, i guess to fight hard and true to prove your worth in the ring.



PATRICK AGREES WITH
DAWSON... Our Boxers Lacking In Ríngecraft




AUSTRALIAN boxers have forgotten the tremendous value of ringcraft.
That's what Freddie Dawson meant last week when he said that the majority of Australian fighters were right hand crazy. Dawson has not missed a trick in summing up what is wrong with Australian boxing.
He is right in everything he says about the Australian method of fighting and training. Definitely Australian fighters are right hand crazy.
All they want to do is to throw the right hand over and end the fight.
They don't seem to get the idea that before a fighter can effectively throw the damaging right he has to get his opponent set to receive it. All that takes ring craft. You just can't walk up to a good class fighter and knock him down. Nine times out of ten the fighter that goes in for the "kill" without any premeditated campaign will find himself on the receiving end.
Most of the fighters in Australia seem to miss out on the essentials of the boxing game.The excuse is lack of experience.


When they bump into a boxer who knows how to use his hands well and thoroughly and they get a beating they claim that they "haven't been around." I would say that most of our preliminary boys step into the fight ring with a very scanty knowledge of the basic principles of boxing.
Since I have been refereeing fights I have been astounded how few boxers in Australia know how to get their balance to place punches. People are under the belief that boxers are born.


Certainly good fighters have come into the game with a certain amount of natural ability, but they would have got nowhere without having been taught the basic principles of boxing and a sound method of conditioning.
The natural fighter has a punch, but he must be shown how and when to use it.It's the same in every sport, the beginner always wants to start the wrong way.The art of boxing seemed to have disappeared from the game in Australia when Jack Carroll retired.
Carroll was probably the best boxer Australia had from the time when the great Albert Griffo dazzled the world.Carroll was like a will-o'-the wisp.
The first time I saw him fight he seemed to me to be all arms and legs.
He made use of the ring and threw punches like greased lightning. And he was a hard man to hit.


I was never a boxer. Maybe I wasn't a good example to the young boxer in Australia.I won most of my fights the easiest way the knockout. The quicker the better. But I had studied balance and I knew the right time to rip over the left. I was, of course, a southpaw.
Before I ever thought of entering the fight game I knew how to use the gloves and place a few punches.I used to go along to Ern McQuillan's gymnasium and pay two shillings a week to be shown how to use the gloves.


I suppose the fight game had a fascination for me. I used to read all the fight reports in the newspapers, go to the Stadium when I had enough money to pay my way into the bleachers, and read every book that had anything about fight that I could lay my hands on.


I was naturally a hard puncher. Whenever I got the chance I was in the ring at McQuillan's gymnasium, sparring.
Soon I wanted a real fight. Thought I would go all rights
It came along, and I knocked out Les Shocker in three rounds at Carlton Stadium in a four round preliminary. I won seven fights in a row with knockouts, and knew that I could really punch. But very often in my career I was glad that I had learned the basic principles of boxing and knew how to protect myself, and was able to stop punches from landing.
When I began to meet fighters who knew something about the game I soon found out that a punch to the chin wasn't everything about winning a fight.



They called me one of the greatest punchers Australia had produced.
But by that time I knew that hard punching was a waste of time if it wasn't planned beforehand.
Most of our boys just want to throw punches and see their opponent battered down in double quick-time. What they forget is that while they are walking up throwing punches a good, cool boxer can pick them off and wait for the right time to make his return. Dawson was an object lesson to Australian boxers. There was the ideal boxer fighter. He beat Jack Hassen, Norm Gent, and Jean Mougin all the same way.


He boxed each of them into a position when he could just go ahead and deliver the knockout punch without any fear of it missing out. And what is more, he didn't get hurt doing it.
Dawson showed the benefit of having started at the bottom of the rung by learning the basic principles of boxing and building around it a solid knowledge of ringcraft on his wayup.
In Dawson, young Australian boxers saw the polished boxer fighter with a scheming fighting brain.


Harry Rudolph, manager of Freddie Dawson and Johnny Toth, who is looking after Henry Brimm, places considerable value on roadwork. I didn't do any roadwork because I didn't like it. Roadwork might have done me a lot of good. I don't know. I made up for it with plenty of skipping and shadow sparring. I was able to pace it with anybody I met.


But if trainers like Harry Rudolph and Johnny Toth place so much faith in roadwork, they must know what they are talking about.
I advise young boxers in Australia to accept any advice handed out to them from Rudolph or Toth.
I also agree with Harry Rudolph that the small windbag does a lot to speed up punches. Vital Assets. Condition and speed are the two vital assets of the boxer.


Most of Australian boxers train hard. Some train too hard and leave a lot of it in the gymnasium when they step into the ring for the fight.
Punching the small windbag, skipping, shadow sparring, and fast sparring partners will get a boxer into condition. This method of training will keep him working hard and fast and not prove a heavy drag that will burn up his energy. A lot of Australian boxers spar too hard. They make a gymnasium spar almost a fight. A spar in a gymnasium should be a battle of wits to sharpen the eye and speed up the punches.The fighter receives enough hard punches in the actual fight.


I used to punch the heavy bag until 1 found out it wasn't doing me any good. I switched to a swivel bag suspended from the ceiling of the gymnasium and attached to the floor. The bag weighed about 151b. It was fast and I had to move fast.


I do not agree that Australian boxing is In the doldrums. The topline fighters in each division in Australia are good fighters. But I do agree with Harry Rudolph that there are not enough good fighters in each
division.We want more fighters from America, England, and Europe to give our boys experience. American fighters on the rise can gain world recognition by coming to Australia and earn more money than they can in their own country.