Season 5: #36 Barry Michael

Boxing Life Stories

Tris Dixon

Sports

5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2023

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Australian star Barry Michael was a world super-featherweight champion who has one of the best stories in boxing.

He won the title in a war with Melbourne rival Lester Ellis, a former student of Michael's and future friend but at the time there was a real feud. The story of that fight alone is incredible.

Then there were fights on the road, in Africa, Indonesia, the UK and in Hawaii, rumoured bouts with the likes of Azumah Nelson, Barry McGuigan, Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and fellow Australian Jeff Fenech, but they failed to materialise.

Barry is a well-renowned broadcaster, these days, but he refers back to the Melbourne criminal underworld that was heavily involved with boxing back in the 1980s, and a violent fight with a gangster and his henchmen that, in short, spelt the end of Michael's career.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Did you just say you made 750 bucks for a 15-rounder?
0:04.0	Yes.
0:05.0	Sweet Jesus.
0:07.0	Jesus.
0:09.0	Probably didn't think I'd accept it.
0:12.0	But you know I jumped at her.
0:14.0	They go great round, great round, three round in the world.
0:18.0	He's broke of here for no.
0:20.0	He goes, forget it.
0:21.0	They get it.
0:22.0	Three round in the world.
0:24.0	I was surrounded by half a dozen guys with death in their eyes.
0:28.0	And I just remember saying to him, you f and so and so you've set me up.
0:32.0	And he just jumped me.
0:34.0	And he was a big guy.
0:35.0	And look, one out of five, I punched on with him in the street.
0:38.0	I wouldn't have had a problem because I punched on with a lot of big guys in the ring and outside when I had to.
0:43.0	And I'm going to have a big fellow.
0:45.0	And he latched on my cheek.
0:47.0	He's, that's trying to bite my cheek off.
0:49.0	And I never got off.
0:51.0	I never got, I never threw a punch.
	...

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