I believe that I found the death date of a former holder of the Australian version of the world middleweight title (according to at least one source), Mick King. According to a copy of a death register in digital form that I found on the Ancestry.com website, one Joseph Wakefield Kent died at the age of 55 on March 20, 1949 in a mental hospital located in Orange, New South Wales, Australia. He was known as "Michael King" when he was a professional boxer. His parents were Joseph Wakefield-Kent, an accountant, and "Mame (?)" Meehan (her maiden name). There were two listed causes for his death, one of them being "senility." The other listed cause is not very legible. The full title of the death register is: 1949 Deaths Registered in the District of Orange and West Macquarie at Orange in the State of New South Wales. The information of Joseph Wakefield Kent's death was handwritten. The file containing the death register in digital form was attached to a page of Joseph (Mick King) Wakefield Kent on the Family Tree section of the Ancestry.com website. - Chuck Johnston
Very nice detective work Chuck. Mick King is one of the best unsung heroes of Australian boxing and many Aussies have never heard of him, he beat some good fighters, good names and of course he lost to some good names, it shows Mick King was never afraid of anybody. Best known as a victim of Les Darcy where he was totally outclassed. He is no ATG, he lost too many fights to be that but he deserves a lot of respect. His big step up in class was against his first "name" opponent, American Gus Christie who he beat on points, next he fought Jeff Smith who we know as one of the best middleweights but in this meeting Mick King won on points, this must have made fans and promoters sit up and take notice. The win over Smith was also for the world title making King the champion of the Australian version of the world title but some believe Smith should have got the decision so the fight must have been close so maybe a draw should have been the result. They met again less than a month later, this time King weighed in 4 lbs lighter than Smith which may have been one reason why Smith won decisively on points after scoring one knockdown. His next name opponent was Frank Loughrey who to be honest was not in Smith's class and they fought to a draw. Then King started to have some serious setbacks losing again to Jeff Smith and to Harold Hardwicke, a heavyweight and olympian so King must have given away a lot of weight to the hard punching tough heavyweight. Then came Les Darcy who blew King away in a 10th round KO, then a win over American Billy Murray, then losses to Eddie McGoorty, Jimmy Clabby and Fritz Holland all in succession. Thankfully the promoters gave him a couple of easy opponents which may account for his beating Fritz Holland in their second encounter but then he went on another losing streak, twice to Buck Crouse and also to the vastly underrated and somewhat brilliant Australian welterweight Fred Kay. Tired of being outmatched against ATG's King decided to go to America and he began as he left off losing two fights to guys I never heard of but then began winning fights again with a win over Jimmy Darcy and some unknowns, he won and lost against Fred Farmer, Battling Ortega and Jimmy Darcy again. He really should have smelled the roses and given up after winning the first Ortega fight because he was simply worn out and no wonder, although a good boxer he simply was not in the class of the great he fought like Les Darcy, Jimmy Clabby, McGoorty and Jeff Smith and I would rate him under the second tier of very talented fighters like Fred Kay, Tommy Uren and Loughrey and Christie but still he was considered good enough to fight all those great fighters. I suspect his later mental problems from the late 20's on a result of all those losses. Rest In Peace Mick.
