November 2011 brought up a significant milestone in the career of senior Australian boxing official Mick Croucher, the fiftieth anniversary of his active involvement in the sport that has been his life. Croucher, the President of the WBF (World Boxing Foundation), readily admits that he had no idea that when he stepped through the ropes for his first amateur bout at the age of 14 on that warm November afternoon in 1961, that the sport of boxing was going to become central to his being for the next fifty years.
Growing up as a baby boomer in Post-WWII in the country Victorian township of Bairnsdale, Croucher is eternally grateful for the influence of the local Police Boys Club that has played a major role in putting many Aussie boys on the right path in life.
“Life in country Victoria after the war was tough. But it was for everyone. No one had much” Croucher reflected.
“Places like the Police Boys Clubs (now known as Police and Citizens Youth Clubs) were instrumental in giving young blokes a go. I have never forgotten old timers like Joe Machen and Len Marriot who took the time and effort to grab hold of young rogues and help give them some direction in life. That’s why I have always remained a big supporter of the PCYC”.
Boxing was to be the key to a lifelong adventure for Croucher, taking him to all corners of the globe and forming friendships that have stood the test of time.
“Country people by their nature take people as they find them. There are no airs and graces and loyalty is a big thing” Croucher commented.” Many of the guys I met early on such as friends Neil Reynolds & Russell Heathcote are still some of my best mates today”.
The Croucher families’ history in boxing pre-dates the Federation of Australia as an independent nation. Originating from the English port city of Southampton, Mick’s Grandfather Harry started the family dynasty in the ring. He was followed by Mick’s uncle Albert (Southern English Champion) and father Dan, who went on to win the Royal English welterweight championship.
It was little wonder that Croucher would follow the same path and pass this love of the sport onto his own son Nathan, who was an accomplished fighter himself, winning three Victorian and three Australian titles as an amateur before controversially having his professional career cut short after winning his debut bout due to a minor clot issue detected in a brain scan.
It was as an amateur that Croucher first learnt the unforgiving nature of this the toughest of all sports. Fighting predominantly in rural Victoria against the best in the bush, the young Croucher would regularly find himself pitted against seasoned fighters who were often older as well as being physically bigger and stronger.
“Many of these boys worked on the land and as a result they were often big strapping lads. They had no fear and didn’t mind giving out a beating if you didn’t come prepared and ready to fight” Croucher recalled.
It was a quick rise to prominence for the young man from Eastern Gippsland as he made his way through the amateur ranks, taking the Victorian title in an amateur career spanning 25 fights for 22 victories. Most experts agree that it was a time when the depth in boxing was far greater than it is today. It was while away on a boxing trip to regional Sale that Croucher first came across a young Aboriginal boy by the name of Lionel Rose who would become a close mate for life. Rose, would go on to become a great of the professional sport by defeating the legendary Japanese fighter Fighting Harada for the WBC and WBA World Bantamweight titles in Tokyo.
“From the moment I saw a young Lionel fight as a 7-stone amateur in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sale in 1962, I knew he was something very special. He was a class way above the rest of the fighters” Croucher recounted.
“Lionel and I just clicked. He was a good mate of mine for nearly 50 years and he was a trailblazer in many ways. Lionel was the first Aboriginal world champion and also was the first Aborigine to be the ‘Australian of the Year in 1968’. You’ve got to remember this was the time when Aborigines were just being accepted after the big 1967 referendum and Lionel did so much to bring together black and white Aussie’s” Croucher commented.
After ending his successful amateur career in mid-1965, Croucher approached the renowned Melbourne trainer Jack Rennie, the trainer of Lionel Rose, to take him on. Rennie helped the young country boy settle into Melbourne life and arranged employment at a local abattoir’s alongside a group of fellow up and coming fighters.
“I spent 3 years under Jack Rennie at his famous Marco Polo Street gym in Essendon. They were the best days of my life. Jack didn’t care who you were, if you put in he’d help you but if you didn’t there was no mercy shown”.
It was during this time that the now professional Croucher, fighting as a middleweight, worked as a sparring partner for the great Rose. Rennie liked to put his champion up against bigger fighters in training to help prepare him for his big fights and at 5ft 11 inches, Croucher adequately fulfilled that mandate.
“Jack used to ask us to give Lionel a real working over so that come fight night, he’d be ready to take whatever comes. I still count it as an absolute highlight of my fighting career knowing I helped Lionel get into top shape for his title fight with Fighting Harada, plus all his other big fights” Croucher remembered.
The payoff for Croucher was the top physical shape he got himself into due to such a rigorous training regime. His first three professional fights, all victories, were at the famed “House of Stoush”, Melbourne’s Festival Hall. This included fighting on the undercard of the legendary featherweight champion Johnny Famechon’s Australian title fight over the full 15 rounds against Italian Domenico Chiloiro, a future European champion.
“What an experience it was for a young bloke to be on the same card as Famechon, well into his career by then but not yet the world champion. In those days an Australian title really meant something, you had to earn a shot. The damned fight went the full championship distance, 15 rounds in those days”.
Croucher went on to fight 25 times as a professional, 17 times at Festival Hall. Free-to-air boxing was the norm in those days and Croucher is credited with 10 appearances on Channel’s 7’s “TV Ringside”. His 1967 battle against Ben Brizzi won “Fight of the Year” honours and Croucher recalls the big following the local fighters had in those halcyon days.
“You’ve got to remember that in those days the world was such a bigger place. There was no internet, mobiles or Pay TV. For your family and friends to see you fighting on national TV was a big thing and you made sure you gave a good account of yourself”.
Croucher’s career peaked in 1967, earning a Ring Magazine world ranking of number 44 and holding the No 1 contenders position for the Australian title. Due to boxing politics of the time, Croucher never got his shot at the Australian title.
“It became clear that I wasn’t going to get a shot at the Aussie title and it got to the stage where I needed to look outside of boxing to earn some better money, so I retired in 1968 and went off working on the oil riggers of Bass Strait for an American company”.
Work took Croucher away from boxing and took him all over the world. But it was never to be a permanent break. The former middleweight returned to his old hometown of Bairnsdale and with the help of good mate Neil Reynolds, formed the Bairnsdale Amateur Boxing and Youth Club in the mid-1980s.
“I wanted to put something back into the sport that gave me so much. So I got my trainer’s credentials and helped train a lot of young guys from my hometown, including my son Nathan”.
It proved to be a successful time, with the gym winning manyregional, state and national titles. Croucher also served time in public life as a local councillor on the Bairnsdale City Council. Come the late 1990s, family took Mighty Mick to the city.
“Both of my girls were doing Masters’ degrees at university in Melbourne and it was easier and cheaper for all of us to be close together to support them”.
Living back in the city allowed Croucher to see more of his old trainer Jack Rennie and the noted referee and official Gus Mercurio. This set the Croucher on the path of officialdom, with Rennie suggesting that Croucher become involved with Australian Boxing Hall of Fame and the Australian Boxing Federation. Guidance from Mercurio set Croucher on the path to becoming an executive member of the Boxing Hall of Fame and the President of the Victorian division of the Australian Boxing Federation.
From there Croucher become the Asia-Pacific Coordinator for the WBF, following the urgings of Jack Rennie to get more involved.
“It never entered my mind that I would one day own and run a world boxing sanctioning body. After the World Boxing Federation hit legal troubles in 2002, I stepped in and reformed the group, rebranding it as the new World Boxing Foundation”
“It’s been a hard slog but we now have here in Australia an organisation that is focussed on giving fighters in this country and the greater Asia-Pacific region an avenue to further their ring careers and fight for some good belts”
The WBF has sanctioned title fights on all corners of the globe, with Croucher making more than 40 international trips sanctioning bouts. Past champions of the organisation include Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, who recently knocked out Danny Green in a WBC Cruiserweight fight as well as Roy Jones Jr and Antonio Tarver.
“Our goal in 2012 is to keep providing opportunities to fighters and building respect for our organisation. I’ve been in this game over 50 years now and believe we are well and truly on the right track” Croucher said.
