What are the best nights in Australian boxing?

As Jai Opetaia gets ready to defend his IBF cruiserweight title in Broadbeach, Australia, we look at some of the great nights in Australian boxing

Jai Opetaia in action against Jack Massey in October (Getty)

This weekend, live and exclusive on DAZN, Jai Opetaia will defend his IBF cruiserweight title against Claudio Squeo in Broadbeach, Australia.

Opetaia, 27-0 (21), recognised as the world’s best cruiserweight, is having his second consecutive fight at the Gold Coast Convention Centre following three matches in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and one at Wembley Arena in London.

Big-time boxing rarely goes to Australia but when it does, the Australians are some of the most-passionate, vocal fans.

Tommy Burns vs. Jack Johnson, 1908

Perhaps the most significant boxing match on Australian soil happened 117 years ago when the heavyweight championship of the world changed hands between the Canadian Tommy Burns, 47-4-8 (35), and the American Jack Johnson, 53-11-8 (33). Burns is chiefly remembered today for two things – being the shortest heavyweight champion at 5’7”, and for losing his title to Johnson at Sydney Stadium.

Johnson had been chasing Burns all over the globe, following the Canadian to the UK, Ireland, France, and then Australia, goading and taunting the champion for seven fights. Eventually, Burns acquiesced and made Johnson the first black fighter to compete for the world heavyweight championship.

It was over in fourteen rounds when, after a tremendous beating, Burns was rescued by the police from further punishment (the fear of a riot was also a factor). Johnson would go on the road afterwards and the racist plot to oust him end up giving the world the phrase ‘Great White Hope’.

Danny Green vs. Roy Jones Jr, 2009

Fast forward nearly a century and Roy Jones Jr, 66-10 (47), was shifting from being the sport’s pound-for-pound king to being the visiting, expensive attraction. Jones’s fortunes had been dimming for the previous five years following consecutive losses to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, and he was increasingly irrelevant within the US.

So in 2009, Jones went to Australia to face Danny Green, 36-5 (28), in a match that looked like a lucrative, stay-busy engagement.

Green had other ideas, knocking out the former superstar in one round. There was some noise afterwards from Jones about the gloves, but Green showed the world that RJJ was no longer the best fighter on the planet.

Afterwards, Jones lost widely to Bernard Hopkins on points, then began a wandering world tour: Moscow, Russia; Lodz, Poland; Riga, Latvia; and Krasnodar, Russia. At one point, he was scheduled to fight in Liverpool but then pulled out. He sprinkled in a few US fights here and there, in places far, far under the radar from the boxing mainstream.

Green would go on to lose to both Tarver and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk but won his final five fights before retiring after his 2017 match against Anthony Mundine.

Anthony Mundine vs. Shane Mosley, 2013

It is always a shame when a fighter takes bouts at the end of the career that sell solely off their name.

Such it was in 2013 when Shane Mosley, 49-10-1 (41), once one of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters, went to Sydney to face Anthony Mundine, 48-11 (28).

Despite his age, Mosley was winning the fight until an injury in the seventh, a development that led to Mundine being declared the winner by technical knockout. Mosley fight three more times, including two victories, before hanging up his gloves after a 2016 defeat to David Avanesyan.

Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn

He may have been retired for years (and is coming back in a few weeks), but many still remember Manny Pacquiao’s ill-fated journey to Brisbane where he faced Jeff Horn, 20-3-1 (13), at the Suncorp Stadium.

Fighting in the blazing sunlight, Pacquiao, 62-8-2 (39), was on the short end of a very contentious unanimous decision, losing by scores of 115-113, 115-113, and 117-111. Despite protestations and noises of a rematch, the pair never met again.

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