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Logan Boxing & Brisbane Boxing History: The Best Athletes Most Haven’t Heard Of

Both Logan boxing and Brisbane boxing has a rich history in combat sports. Over the years, Logan and Brisbane have produced many world-class athletes. This has been across various sporting codes. Sadly, some of our boxers have gone unrecognised in the average household. 

This is despite how these combat sports athletes continue to show why Brisbane and Logan boxing is a force to be reckoned with.

The truth is that some of the talent to come through Brisbane and Logan boxing has received international recognition. These include names that ordinary people may or may not be familiar with. Furthermore, they represent Queensland boxing as well as Australian boxing. Here are a some examples: 

Brisbane and Logan amateur boxers:

  • Joe Goodall was a silver medallist at the Glasgow commonwealth games. He was the first ever Australian to fight for a gold medal in the heavyweight division. This was at a commonwealth game in boxing.
  • Clay Waterman became the first Amateur boxer to win a junior world championship for Australia.
  • Jesse Ross represented Australia at the London Olympics in the middleweight division. He received recognition as a warrior in the ring and a true gentleman and ambassador of the sport.
  • Jeff Horn Represented Australia at the London Olympics. It was at a lightweight, reaching the quarterfinals. After his Olympic career ended, he turned professional. He is currently (2016) ranked 11 in the WBA, 6 in the IBF, and 6 in the WBO rankings. He holds the WBO Oriental & IBF Inter-Continental Welterweight titles and the WBO Asia-Pacific title.

Update: Jeff Horn went on to beat Manny Pacquiao for the WBO Welterweight title on July the 2nd, 2017. The fight took place at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. This is where Jeff raised his hands in victory in front of a sold-out home crowd. Watch the fight here.

(Jeff horn professional highlights)

Brisbane and Logan professional boxers:

  • Alex Leapai made history in 2014. He fought Wladimir Klitschko, who was the scariest man in boxing. This was for the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring magazine heavyweight titles. Alex was the first Australian to fight for the heavyweight world title in 100 years.
  • Paul Briggs was also an incredible athlete. He won kickboxing and muay thai world titles before making the transition to boxing. He fought for the WBC world title twice against one of the greats, Tomasz Adamek, in 2005 and 2006.
  • Robbie Peden fought the best in the world at super featherweight from 1996-to 2007. He had superfights with the likes of Antonio Barrera, Nate Campbell and Juan Manuel Marquez. Peden held the IBF world super featherweight title.
(Robbie Peden vs Nate Campbell)

History of Boxing in Brisbane

Boxing in Brisbane has gone through many changes over the years as Queensland Boxing grows. In 2001 Global Amateur Boxing (known as “Global”) was formed. Matches in this promotion used the 10-point scoring system. This means that at the end of each round, the judges scored the winning fighter with 10 points and the losing fighter with 9, 8, or 7 points. The losing fighter’s score is dependent on how dominant the performance was. Fights were judged according to aggression, power, accuracy, ring control and many other factors.

QABAI, the other leading amateur boxing organisation, utilized a computerised system. In this situation, three (3) judges press a button to award a point for a successful strike landed. At the end of about the winner was awarded according to which fighter had scored the most points. There were many conflicting views on which scoring system was superior. Yet, the QABAI adopted the 10-point scoring system. 

Brisbane Festival Hall was an indoor arena located on the southern corner of Albert Street and Charlotte Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It operated from 1910 to 2003, before being demolished to make an apartment building

Brisbane Boxing Stadium – AKA Festival hall (circa 1925)

The names mentioned are only a few of the local boxers that have set the benchmark in Queensland boxing and Australian boxing. As the youth of Brisbane boxing and Logan boxing continue to show promise, there will no doubt be many more to remember in years to come.

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