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Lionel Edmund Rose MBE (21 June 1948 – 8 May 2011) was an Australian professional boxer who competed from 1964 to 1976. He held the undisputed WBA, WBC, and The Ring bantamweight titles from 1968 to 1969, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title. He later became the first Indigenous Australian to be named Australian of the Year.
Rose was the 2003 inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame "moderns" category and was the second person to be elevated to "legend" status in 2010.
Later, at the age of 10, Rose was given a pair of boxing gloves by his teacher, Ian Hawkins (who observed him shadow boxing). Aged about 15, he went under the tutelage of Frank Oakes, a Warragul trainer (whose daughter Jenny he later married). He won the Australian amateur flyweight title at 15. He was the godfather to model and actress Ruby Rose.
After five wins in a row, on 23 July 1965, Rose was rematched with Singtong Por Tor, whom he had beaten in a 12-round decision. Por Tor inflicted Rose's first defeat, beating him on points in six rounds. On 14 October of the same year, he had his first fight abroad, beating Laurie Ny by a decision in 10 rounds at Christchurch, New Zealand.
Over his next nine fights, Rose had a record of eight wins and one loss, with one knockout. The lone loss in those nine fights was to Ray Perez, against whom Rose split a pair of bouts. Then at age 18, on 28 October 1966, he met Noel Kunde at Melbourne for the Australian bantamweight title. He won the title by defeating Kunde in a 15-round decision.
Rose won one more bout in 1966 and eight in 1967 (including a thirteenth-round knockout win against Rocky Gattellari to defend his Australian championship) before challenging Fighting Harada for the world bantamweight title on 26 February 1968 in Tokyo. Rose made history by becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to be a world champion boxer when he defeated Harada in a 15-round decision. National Film and Sound Archive: Lionel Rose World Title on australianscreen online. Aso.gov.au. Retrieved on 24 July 2015. This win made Rose an instant national hero in Australia and an icon among Aboriginal Australians. A public reception at Melbourne Town Hall was witnessed by a crowd of more than 10,000. On 2 July of that year, he returned to Tokyo to retain his title with a 15-round decision win over Takao Sakurai. Then, on 6 December, he met Chucho Castillo at the Inglewood Forum in Inglewood, California. Rose beat Castillo by decision, but the points verdict in favour of him infuriated many in the pro-Castillo crowd and a riot began: 14 fans and fight referee Dick Young were hospitalised for injuries received.
On 8 March 1969, Rose retained the title with a 15-round decision over Alan Rudkin, but five months later he returned to Inglewood, where he faced Rubén Olivares on 22 August. Rose lost the world bantamweight title to Olivares via a fifth-round knockout.
Rose continued boxing after his defeat against Olivares, but, after defeats against practically unknown fighters, many believed he was done as a prime fighter. However, he was far from finished: he upset future world lightweight champion Itshimatsu Suzuki on 10 October 1970 in a 10-round decision, and once again, he positioned himself as a world title challenger, albeit in the lightweight division, 17 pounds over the division where he crowned himself world champion.
Despite having lost to Jeff White for the Australian lightweight title, Rose got another world title try when he faced WBC world junior lightweight champion Yoshiaki Numata, on 30 May 1971 at Hiroshima. Numata beat Rose by a fifteen-round decision, and Rose announced his retirement soon after.
In 1975, he came back, but after losing four of his next six bouts, including one against Rafael Limón, Rose decided to retire for good. Rose compiled a record of 42 wins and 11 losses as a professional boxer, with 12 wins by knockout.
It is widely thought that Rose's singing career didn't give him time to get enough preparation training in, which is why he lost bouts against so many unknown fighters (after his loss to Ruben Olivares).
Rose sang "Jackson Track" and "I Thank You", in both the SBS documentary and accompanying CD, .
In 2007, Rose suffered a stroke that left him with speech and movement difficulties.
Rose died on 8 May 2011 after an illness which lasted for several months. Australian boxing great Lionel Rose dies aged 62, Daily Telegraph, 9 May 2011.
In 1968 Lionel Rose became the first Aboriginal Australian of the Year Chronology . Australia Day. Retrieved on 24 July 2015. and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Birthday Honours List for services to sport.Australia list:
In 1969 Lionel Rose was granted the "Key to the City of Gold Coast", only the second recipient of the city's highest honor.
In the 1960s, he won the Australian Amateur Flyweight title.
In 2003 he was an inaugural inductee in the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame.
In 2005 he was featured on a stamp (part of the 2005 edition).
In 2005 Rose was also awarded the E9 title of 'King of the Ring'.
In 2011 he was inducted to the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll.
The TV miniseries Rose Against the Odds was produced in 1991 – a period drama of Rose's life story starring Paul Williams and Telly Savalas. It was released as a feature film in 1995.
In 2008, after nearly three years of conducting interviews with Rose, his family and friends, Melbourne filmmaker Eddie Martin premiered his feature-length documentary Lionel at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Lionel (2008). IMDb After a brief theatrical run, a shorter version of the film premiered on SBS television on 28 November 2008.
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Singing career
During his time off from boxing in the 1970s, Rose embarked on a modest singing career in Australia having hits with "I Thank You" and "Please Remember Me" in 1970. Produced and written by Johnny Young and engineered by John L Sayers, the song "I Thank You" was a top 5 nationwide hit. Comedic sports commentators Roy Slaven and Greig Pickhaver played it as a substitute to the Australian national anthem during radio broadcasts of the State of Origin series and other sporting events.
Studio albums
Singles
+ List of singles, with Australian chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2" Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2" Title
! scope="col" colspan="1" Peak chart
positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"Album 1969
! scope="row" "I Thank You" / "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" 2 I Thank You 1970
! scope="row" "Please Remember Me" / "Good Old Country Song" 40 1970
! scope="row" "Little Ole You" / "Guitar Pickin' Boy" -
Retirement
In retirement, Rose became a successful businessman, and he enjoyed the monetary benefits his career brought him. Rose was showcased in 2002 in The Ring section 'Where are they now?'.
Awards
Rose was featured in Australian author: Wendy Lewis's book of "Australia's Greatest People" in 2010.
TV and film
His life inspired the TV serial The Battlers (1968) about an Aboriginal boxer, played by Vincent Gill in blackface.
Professional boxing record
52 Loss 42–10 Rafael Limon TKO 3 (10) 28 Aug 1976 51 Win 42–9 Giuseppe Agate TKO 3 (10) 13 Nov 1975 50 Loss 41–9 Billy Moeller PTS 10 8 Oct 1975 49 Loss 41–8 Blakeney Kid Matthews MD 10 29 Aug 1975 48 Win 41–7 Bomber Uchida PTS 10 30 Jun 1975 47 Loss 40–7 Yoshiaki Numata UD 15 30 May 1971 46 Win 40–6 Tanny Cuaresma KO 1 (10) 4 May 1971 45 Loss 39–6 Jeff White UD 15 12 Feb 1971 44 Win 39–5 Guts Ishimatsu UD 10 10 Oct 1970 43 Win 38–5 Richard Kid Borias KO 3 (10) 4 Aug 1970 42 Win 37–5 Freddie Wicks PTS 10 14 Jul 1970 41 Loss 36–5 Raul Cruz UD 10 16 May 1970 40 Win 36–4 Don Johnson UD 10 7 Mar 1970 39 Loss 35–4 Fernando Sotelo KO 7 (12) 7 Dec 1969 38 Win 35–3 Vincente Garcia KO 5 (10) 1 Nov 1969 37 Loss 34–3 Rubén Olivares KO 5 (15) 22 Aug 1969 36 Win 34–2 Ernie Cruz MD 10 10 Jun 1969 35 Win 33–2 Alan Rudkin SD 15 8 Mar 1969 34 Win 32–2 Chucho Castillo SD 15 6 Dec 1968 33 Win 31–2 José Medel MD 10 28 Aug 1968 32 Win 30–2 Takao Sakurai MD 15 2 Jun 1968 31 Win 29–2 Tommaso Galli PTS 10 26 Apr 1968 30 Win 28–2 Fighting Harada UD 15 27 Feb 1968 29 Win 27–2 Rocky Gattellari KO 13 (15) 11 Dec 1967 28 Win 26–2 Gary Garber PTS 10 20 Nov 1967 27 Win 25–2 Kamara Diop TKO 3 (10) 13 Oct 1967 26 Win 24–2 Ronnie Jones PTS 10 1 Sep 1967 25 Win 23–2 Tiny Palacio PTS 10 28 Jul 1967 24 Win 22–2 Rudy Corona PTS 10 9 Jun 1967 23 Win 21–2 Akihide Tamaoka KO 6 (10) 11 May 1967 22 Win 20–2 Nevio Carbi PTS 10 17 Mar 1967 21 Win 19–2 Felipe Gonzalez PTS 10 18 Nov 1966 20 Win 18–2 Noel Kunde PTS 15 28 Oct 1966 19 Win 17–2 Jackie Burke TKO 6 (12) 14 Oct 1966 18 Win 16–2 Noel Kunde PTS 12 26 Aug 1966 17 Win 15–2 Ray Perez PTS 12 8 Jul 1966 16 Win 14–2 Flash Dumdum PTS 12 17 Jun 1966 15 Win 13–2 Jerry Stokes PTS 12 13 May 1966 14 Loss 12–2 Ray Perez UD 10 4 Apr 1966 13 Win 12–1 Ray Perez UD 12 18 Feb 1966 12 Win 11–1 Arthur Clarke UD 8 2 Dec 1965 11 Win 10–1 Billy Brown UD 12 5 Nov 1965 10 Win 9–1 Laurie Ny UD 10 14 Oct 1965 9 Win 8–1 Billy Brown TKO 10 (12) 1 Oct 1965 8 Win 7–1 Bobby Wells TKO 8 (12) 20 Aug 1965 7 Win 6–1 Teddy Rainbow PTS 12 27 Jul 1965 6 Loss 5–1 Singtong Por Tor PTS 6 23 Jul 1965 5 Win 5–0 Singtong Por Tor PTS 12 25 Jun 1965 4 Win 4–0 Jackie Bruce TKO 1 (12) 2 Apr 1965 3 Win 3–0 Joe Oliveri TKO 2 (6) 6 Nov 1964 2 Win 2–0 Mario Magris PTS 8 9 Oct 1964 1 Win 1–0 Mario Magris PTS 8 9 Sep 1964
Titles in boxing
Major world titles
The Ring magazine titles
Undisputed titles
See also
Further reading
(1994). 9780521435130, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521435130
External links
Categories: 1948 Births, 2011 Deaths, Australian Of The Year Award Winners, Bantamweight Boxers, World Boxing Champions, World Bantamweight Boxing Champions, World Boxing Association Champions, World Boxing Council Champions, Indigenous Australian Boxers, Australian Members Of The Order Of The British Empire, Sportsmen From Victoria, Commonwealth Boxing Council Champions, Australian Male Boxers, Sportspeople From Warragul, Australian Republicans, Sport Australia Hall Of Fame Inductees, 20th-century Australian Male Singers, 20th-century Australian Sportsmen
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