Well known Australian boxing promoter and TV boxing host Peter
Maniatis supervising the fight for the WBF told the Manila Standard that
Basadre showed heaps of courage
and boxing ability

Maniatis said that the sky is the limit for the 19 year old former amateur
star who had Romasas down twice in the 9th round.”

The Aussie promoter described Basadre as a very good boxer and counter

puncher who reminds him of (Juan Manuel) Marquez

As Adrians dad/manager I know he was really committed to getting the job done as he felt he should have won the title in Wollongong in their last drawn fight.

From the first round I could see he was ready, he was all business & boxing well. In my opinion he easily won the first three rounds & if the fight had gone the distance would have continued to dominate.

Unfortunately Chad sustained an injury but fortunately the bell had gone for the fourth round thus it went to the scorecards & the title was his! I can tell you that there were anxious moments until we were sure the bout would have a result!

What a proud moment for his wife Skye, daughter Tywarna, myself & his trainer Joe to be in the ring with him that night.

In 2012 Adrian is seeking more WBF glory culminating hopefully in a World Title & I hope I can assist to make it happen with the aid of his sponsors Pilfreak Dancers & Jimmy owner of two hotels in our local area, their support is invaluable to us.

Ron Campbell

Marija Pejakovic (Serbia) claimed the Women’s WBF World Super-Middleweight crown at the Arena Sparta in Prague last night. The win came via a split decision over hard working and talented Latvian Zane Brige.

The contest was all action from the outset with both fighters giving everything they had and trading punches right to the death.

Ultimately, though there could be just one winner and it was Pejakovic that got the nod from two of the three judges. Marek Oravsry scored 96-97 for Brige, Ondre Holcbek had 96-94 in favour of Pejakovic and rather bizzarely Linka Vladimir, perhaps watching a different contest, scored 100-91 to Pejakovic.

Considering the quality and heart displayed by both fighters a Pejakovic and Brige re-match is a scintillating prospect for a first defence of the title. Certainly by the closeness of the scoring (nonsence aside!) this has to be a real possiblity.

Also on the bill Miguel Velozo (Cuba) won the Vacant WBF Inter-continental Light Heavyweight title against Ata Dogan (Turkey)

Velozo, the taller man, looked calm and purposeful through out the contest and used his long reach to control proceedings behind an extremely effective jab eventually opening up a cut on Dogan’s eye and forcing him to retire on his stool before the 11th round.

Dogan though displayed true grit and resiliance from the very start and found his mark a few times during the 11 rounds. But Velozo’s defence was as good as his jab and he was able to handle the few attacks coming from Dogan.

Both men looked tired by the 10th round and judging by the pace of the contest this was no surprise. Velozo had outclassed his difficult opponent and his impressive proffessionalism will stand him in good stead for a potential World title challenge.

The show was promoted by Milutin Ilic in association with Pound4Pound Box promotions.

Mullins Of Europe
December 1st 2011

The World Boxing Foundation would like to wish Australian boxing legend Dick Blair a Happy 70th Birthday today on behalf of its members and all the best over the coming year.

WBF President Mick Croucher also fought Dick Blair on 11 May 1966 at the South Sydney Leagues Club losing on points in the tenth round.

The following article first appeared in the August issue of leading Australian boxing publication The Fist:

During the 1960’s and 70’s three middleweight brothers named Phillips, from
the small Tweed coastal village of Fingal, punched out more than decent
statistics in rings around Australia and the Pacific. The eldest two
brothers, Richard and Aubry made it main event status with the older,
Richard Carl, fighting under the name Dick Blair becoming the 160 lb
champion of Australia. The younger of the three, Clarence David, who fought
as George Blair, was a useful performer during his short career. The
Phillips boys all worked out of Ern Mc Quillan’s famed gym in Newtown and
were taught by Billy Moran.

Sons of Langus and Gladys, the three brothers are just a few of a long list
of credentialed boxers from the Tweed region, on the NSW-Qld border over the
years. Dick, a respected man in his community and an ordained pastor lives
in Redfern but commutes often to the Tweed. He was born on August 23 1937.
Obviously the best of the brothers, he had his first pro bout in August 1963
and tangled with names such as Australian and/or Commonwealth champions Bob
Dunlop, Al Korovou, Charkey Ramon, Trevor Christian, Billy Choules and
Johnny Gorkom as well as name opponents like, in no particular order, Bob
Murdoch, George Carroll, Frank Roberts, Al Roberts, Roy Thurgor, George
Fogas, Sione Sani, Billy Opetai, Mick Croucher, Les Dixon, Kid Lewis,Dimitri
Michael, Al Foster, Trevor Thornberry, Bronco Jones, Joe Hill, Errol Mc Ivor
and Jim Brown Ted Gray.

A late bloomer, his career got off to a rough beginning, going 5-4-1 in his
first 10 outings. He had his first scheduled 10 rounder in his 9th start, a
points win over Fogas. After steadily climbing through the ranks, facing the
best available, he won the vacant Australian title by knocking out Bob
Murdoch, the father – trainer of world title challenger Paul – in round 10
on October 16, 1968. Entering the ring that night Dick had a 27-13-2 log and
held points wins over Christian, the Aussie jnr middle champ and future
world championship R & J, as well as Fogas, Croucher, Roberts, Hill, Thurgar
and knockouts of Opetai and Dixon. He finished 1968 with decisions over
Frank Roberts in Sydney and Fred Taupolo in Tahiti. After 3 more wins, he
lost the title to Billy Choules (L15) in Melbourne on September 19, ‘69.
Choules lost it to Tony Mundine on February 9, 1970 (KO by 5).

Dick was known for his defensive craftiness and his experience in later
years held him in good stead against class up and comers. In 1972 he went
the 8 round distance with future world number one jnr middle Charkey Ramon.
5 months later Ramon was crowned C/Wealth champ with a TKO 8 win over Brit
Pat Dwyer and retired 2 years later at 31-1-1, 21 KO’s. The still sturdy
veteran from the Tweed also gave unbeaten,13-0, prospect Jim Brown, the
father of the Withers boys, such a tough time Jim briefly retired thinking
he’d lost! Brown stayed without an “L”ending his career at 18-0 including
another decision over Dick.

In 1975, Dick “hung ‘em up” after early exits against big punchers Al
Korovou and Ted Gray. He’d lost 7 of his last 8 and 11 of 15. His best
period was ‘66-’68 where he went 12-5. He finished with a rock solid record
of 46-31-5, 12 knockouts. He fought under the name “Blair” to honor his
mother whose maiden name was Bellear. A have gloves will travel type, Dick
fought in Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Aubry was born on March 20, 1947, and fought 51 times between 1964-’71. He’s
best known for defeating Kahu Mahunga in New Zealand, via disqualification.
He also had a points defeat to the hard hitting Muhunga, who was the first
man to knock out a young Mundine Snr. Other ranked foes he faced were John
Wright (5 times for 1-2-2), future Aussie super middleweight champ Joe Vella
(2 draws), Mick Canavan, Malcolm Bulner, Mickey Jay and Jim Brown. Aubry
died on the Tweed in 1994 after a long battle with cancer. He was the first
trainer of current top promoter and future Queensland champion light
heavyweight Jamie Myer at the Tweed PCYC.

George, born on February 5, 1948, registered a 9-8-2 record between May 25
1969 – December 29 1970. A busy fighter, his best result was a draw over 4
rounds with Semi Bula, a future middleweight champion of Australia. He
fought Semi 3 times. Other names he faced were Joe Vella (3 points defeats)
and Kevin Mundine (1 points win – 2 points losses).

Another top liner from Fingal was lightweight Johny Slockee, an uncle of
rugby league legend Larry Corowa. A very handy fighter in a great era,
Johnny’s first recorded bout was in 1948. He had good wins over Johnny
Corbett, Kevin Kelly (KO 6 – Kelly’s previous start a points loss over 8
rounds to world rated *Trevor King), Teddy Mc Coy, Bill Lowe and Mick
Dunningham. Tragically, Johnny’s last fight occurred on May 11, 1953, a KO
loss in the 12th round to Dick Lowe at Sydney Stadium and he died from
injuries suffered in the fight. Johnny’s final record read 11-6-4 but
chances are that’s incomplete as his first bout on file was a 6 rounder.
(*Trevor King went a brilliant 63-1 through his career with 37 KO’s,
besting Elly Bennett and Ray Coleman and avenging his only loss-to Sigi
Tennenbaum. Kelly was his 39th victim).

Kevin Johnson, born in 1966, fought professionally on 17 occasions from 1987
– ‘96. Trained by Don Glover, he was Queensland Flyweight amateur champion
in 1985 and ‘86 and also captured the National title in 1986 at Tweed
Seagulls. After representing his country at an international meet in
England, he turned professional winning the Australian bantamweight title
against Charlie Brown at the same venue as he won his Australian amateur
championship on Dec 7 1988. He lost it to Robert Spencer in Brisbane in
1990. Kevin often fought above his weight and had losses to the likes of
Scott Brower Diego Duran, Cliff Samardin, November Ntshingila who were world
rated at some time. Kevin’s last fight was a draw over ten rounds at Nerang
for the Queensland junior lightweight title, a fight he won from The Gold
Coast to Townsville.

Jamie “Butcher Boy” Myer, born in Wollongong in 1973, fought professionally
from 1995 -2000 after 25 amateur bouts. He represented NSW on a trip to New
Zealand as a “lilly white”. He challenged for the Queensland super
middleweight title in 1997, dropping a ten round decision to Glen
Fitzpatrick. The following year he defeated Fitzpatrick in a non title bout
and then challenged for the PABA super middleweight title against Paul
Smallman, losing on points after twelve rounds on the Joe Bugner –
Bonecrusher Smith bill at Carrara on July 4, ‘98. With the win, Smallman
gained a top ten WBA world rating. In 1999, Jamie traveled to New Zealand
and fought Timo Masua for the PABA light heavyweight title. Ahead on points
he was stopped in the 11th round. He rebounded with a brave win over
Lawrence Tuasa, now a world class fighter boxing as a heavyweight. In
January 2000, Jamie won the Quensland light heavyweight belt by stopping Dan
Radecker in seven rounds on a show he promoted himself at Coolangatta Hotel.
Jamie’s last fight was a loss in two rounds to heavy handed Adrian Bellin, a
former Australian and OPBF cruiserweight champion in March 2000. He finished
with a 17-6-1 record and also fought Pierre Karim, a disputable six round
decision loss in Sydney and Paul Murdoch – who went on to fight for the WBO
world title – knocking Murdoch down on way to a six round draw in Geelong.
Since retiring he has become one of Australia’s elite promoters and has been
named Queensland promoter of the year four times.

Cabarita’s Juarne “Dynamite Kid” Dowling, born in Lower Hutt, NZ, in 1978,
became the Australian super middleweight champion on February 13, 2004 by
defeating 6 time champion Marc Bargero at Southport on points. He lost to
Anthony Mundine, TKO by 3 at Carrara on October 13 the same year. Juarne
turned professional in 2001 after mixed results in 20 bouts as an amateur.
He won the Queensland title in his 3rd fight, in November ‘01 beating Peter
Rolph. In his next start, in March ‘02, he lost a hotly disputed verdict to
Australian middleweight champ Ian Mc Leod in a non title contest at Jupiters
Casino. In 2003 Dowling challenged for the PABA title in Melbourne, losing
another controversial decision, to Stewart Moller over 12 rounds. He then
won the Australian title, made one defense by out pointing tough Dale
Westerman, a future OPBF champion, before facing Mundine. Juarne was known
for his toughness and courage and he retired in 2005 with a record of 12–5,
losing his last to world rated opposition.

Chinderah’s “Iron” Ryan Langham, born in Blacktown in 1981, began boxing at
the Tweed PCYC in 1995, training with this writer and won three Australian
amateur titles before representing as a featherweight at the 2004 Athens
Olympics – being the area’s first Olympic boxer. At a pre-Games meet in
Germany, Ryan stopped eventual Athens bronze medalist Vitale Tarjbert (TKO
3)! Ryan has since turned professional. Last year he won the WBF Asia
Pacific junior lightweight title knocking out Daniel Hoskins in round six.
Ryan is back at Harry’s Gym in Perth and is 9-0.

Other credentialed fighters with strong links to the Tweed include Dick’s
son Kirk “Kid” Blair who had a 34-31-5 record at the end of a career
spanning 1977 – ‘89. Kirk squared off with a who’s who of the lighter
weights of the 70’s and 80’s. He stopped national top ten ranked Clint
Brown, Bimbo Morris and Darryl Cribb, decisioned Billy Mullholland (an
Aussie champ), Allan Clarke, Patrick Young, Barry Bell, Tommy Roberts,
Steve Assang, Sparrow Freeman, Patrick Burns and Wayne Wallace. He drew with
Gary Rosen but lost to future world IBF junior lightweight champion Lester
Ellis, world title challengers Paul Ferrari (bantam) and Renato Cornett
(lightweight) as well as Mullholland, Dennis Talbot, Peter Berrigan, Reg
King, Charles Baou, Roland Aldemir, Gary Williams,Willie Tarika, Sam
Gibilisco, Shane Riley. His last two bouts were losses to future Australian
jnr welter champion Riley, both points pats over ten heats in West
Australia. While he never challenged for a National title, Kirk faced
several men that were titlists at various times including lightweight Billy
Mullholland who he split two “dimes” (10 rounders)!

David Leon had an 8-6-4 slate between 1971 and ‘75. He drew with Allan
Aldenhoven, a later claimant to the national welterweight title and scored
a three round knockout win over future Australian junior middle champ Johnny
Layton. His last bout was a stoppage loss in five rounds to the outstanding
Steve Dennis, later an Australian welter and middleweight title holder. For
a time David was trained by Lionel Rose’s trainer-manager Jack Rennie in
Melbourne.

Brisbane based Wayne Doherty fought from 1963 – 1971 and went 18-11-5. He
beat classy Nick Neophitou twice, had a win and draw with Commonwealth and
NZ lightweight titlist Manny Santos, a draw and three points defeats against
Australian junior light, lightweight and welterweight champion Jeff White,
who once beat Lionel Rose. Wayne also had a draw and loss with Australian
welterweight boss Paul Moore. He also went the route with national junior
welter champ Leo Young senior and was stopped only once, by Victorian
lightweight champ Hillary Connelly. He later worked as assistant corner man
for trainer Reg Layton for several years.

Welterweight Johnny Azzard, was born in Texas, USA and fought professionally
out of Brisbane from 1951 – ‘57, going 11 -7-5 (possibly incomplete) after a
long amateur career which included the 1946 All Allied Service Men title. He
beat the capable Merv Stewart over ten rounds. He was later an R & J for
several years, working many bouts at Brisbane Festival Hall. Johnny was for
twelve years coach at the PCYC in Tweed Heads (early years teamed with Aub
Phillips) after long stints at the Valley’s and Nerang clubs. He also
traveled to the Victoria, Canada and Edmonton, Scotland, Commonwealth Games
as a volunteer supervisor in 1994 and ‘98.

English born Alan Shephard was 10-8 from 1948-’58. Trained by Snowy Robbins
in Sydney, he beat NZ welterweight champ Noel Fitzwater 3 out of 4. In later
years, Alan resided on the Tweed…Don Glover was an amateur stand out in
Sydney and fought pro at jnr middle before moving North and training several
champions out of Tweed and Gold Coast gyms…Stuart Stone was a credentialed
amateur who then fought pro in Sydney in the ’80s. Stuart has run the
Murwillumbah Boxing Club for several years…Ezzard Charles Morgan was a
deaf boxer who campaigned admirably in prelim ranks from feather to jnr
welter. Based in Sydney, Ezzard had 55 fights between 1975-’80, including a
win and loss with Willie Leslie, an Aussie amateur champ, and was 1-2-1 (all
points) in 4 contests with Gary Rosen. Ezzard’s last bout was a 5 round TKO
defeat to Brisbane star Brian Janssen, future 2 division Australian and
Commonwealth welterweight champion….Tough as teak NSW country Rugby League
rep Alan “Stumpy” Willoughby was a silver medalist at NSW amateur titles in
the mid ’70s and later fought 2 pro bouts at middleweight. He KO’d Noel
Thornberry (son of “The Iceman” Trevor, brother of Ricky) in 3 rounds on
debut and was then involved in 1985’s “Queensland preliminary fight on the
year” against Gary Tomlinson (L6)…Ashley Byrnes fought sporadically
between 1986 – ‘89, due to a successful Group 18 C.R.L career, having just 6
fights from middle to cruiser, before coming back in 2002, aged 35, having
just one fight, (D4) at heavyweight. Ashley finished with a 3-3-1 log… Qld
Golden Gloves finalist Paul Buxton had one pro bout, a points win over
nationally ranked lightweight Mike Slivika in 1986…Bobby Wilson was
Australian light heavyweight amateur champ in 1984. Bobby then trained
several stars, Jack Russell, Jeff Malcolm, Jamie Myer before returning to
battle himself, fighting pro at heavyweight, ending unbeaten (5-0) in 2002.
He now trains rated pro’s James Chan, Israel Kani & Andrew Ghosden at
Noosa…. Mark Swain was Australian amateur kick boxing champion
featherweight. He had one pro boxing bout, a TKO 4 v Roy Saunders… Jack
Russell, a 4 division Australian champ was based on the Tweed for quite some
time and fought for the IBF world strawweight title in Thailand in that
period (1995)….Shayne King was a Queensland amateur junior champion who
went 3-1 in prelim bouts as a light middle in 1997 and then resumed last
year winning a cruiserweight 6 rounder…Then there’s recent Queensland
champions, welter Simon Noble, jnr welters Dale Hawke, Brett Trudgeon, jnr
middle Matt Burns…Bantamweight Johnny Binge and super bantam Frank De
Milo became Australian champions, S.M. Angelo snatched Queensland and WBF
A-P straps at middle and super middle and Baden Oui claimed the Queensland
heavyweight title while based at Tweed PCYC under this writer.

Today there’s a small band of amateurs coming through the ranks.

Big names that have come out of the wider Northern Rivers, from Grafton to
Tweed, include of course Jeff “Hitman” Harding, the Mundine’s, the Roberts’,
the Rowsell’s, Tommy Burns, George Kappeen, Johnny Jarett, Athol Mc Queen,
Arthur Maloney, Billy Graham, Steve Cansdell,Geoff Peate, Reg King, Bobby
Williams, Johnny Binge, Steve Walker, Brentan Bowen, Gary Martin and Tilta
Halpin.

There’s bound to be many more past and future!

*Note: records read win – loss – draw.