Bobby Sin: "Tiger.. What a classic pic. The DON who tackled OUR 3 world champs.. Carruthers, Rose & Fammo. The fight with Wally Taylor was another huge one. Must be proud to have had the chance of a pic.. at Leo's????" .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Yes at Leo's ; big brother Glenn had been sparring Fammo on the weekends, and eventually moved to Ambrose's, and I was to follow later. That photo on the wall behind Don, you cannot make it out, but I do recollect it was a photo of Steve Nittes V Gary Cowburn..... (funny how things stick in your head ey?) Don V Fammo; many of us at Leo's thought Don beat Fammo; when I went to Ambrose's I thought Fammo had won: hahaha, I guess it depended on what gym you were at ! When I look at this photo, it brings great memories back of Leo and The Don; Leo was one of my dad's best mates; Don was such a wise man, and such a giving person to every kid at Leo's at that time. Don and his beautiful Miss World wife (Miss Johannesburg), on arrival to Australia, were living in a boarding house right next door to my Grandmother's house in Richmond....the gloves I am wearing were Barry Wilkens, a bloke who beat Lionel Rose in the amateurs, and who eventually fought Harry Hayes.(poor Barry met a very tragic sad end shortly after that fight.) The Photo: The news reporter, wanted to splash water all over me, make it look like I had had a torrid workout, until Gentleman Don stepped in and assertively said to the journalist, "No, don't splash him, he'll catch a cold, take the photo with him shaping up to me." Don told me once, if you want to be a good fighter, practise continually at increasing your hand speed.....he said, "play a game at school where you put an orange in the middle of a table, have your friends sit around, and then compete to see who can grab the orange first...you must be fast !" I was a flabby 13yr old kid....and I grew a lot taller over that next two and a half years, (had my first pro fight on TVRingside in 1970, at 16yrs) Eating all those oranges I won at school, made me run very fast to the toilet....hahaaha.
Great picture Tiger - must be some memories there mate. You look like you had the makings of a heavyweight at that stage .