With the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on the horizon, it is a fitting time to look back at the New Zealand Olympic boxing representatives that stretch back one hundred years. In this first edition we go back to the first four Olympics that New Zealand boxers wore the Black Singlet into the ring of competition.

Since Charley Purdy represented New Zealand at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, twenty-nine Kiwi boxers have donned the black singlet in Olympic competition. In what is considered the ultimate goal of Olympic representation, New Zealand boxers have won Gold, Silver and two Bronze medals.

In 1928 Ted Morgan was half of the two-man boxing team selected for the Amsterdam Olympics, along with fellow Wellingtonian Alf Cleverley. Morgan was the current New Zealand lightweight champion and Cleverly had taken the light heavyweight title at the 1927 nationals.

Ted Morgan was a pupil of Ted Tracy, in his old Willis Street gymnasium. When Morgan received the nomination from the selectors for the Olympics, he had lost just two of his twenty-four bouts, to Jack Rodds of Blenheim, which he reversed in their further four fights, and to Harold Kindley from Otago.

The Olympic team arrived in England five weeks after departing on the SS Remuera. Not for them the comfort of a twenty four-hour flight of today, but five weeks at sea where fitness had to be maintained, in far from suitable training conditions. Disaster struck the future Olympic champion on arrival when he dislocated the first knuckle of his right hand in a sparring session.

A further problem was the increased weight that Ted had gained on the sea voyage, which forced him to fight in the welterweight division, rather than his customary lightweight class. A Swede by the name of Johansson was the New Zealand boxer’s first victory and after he defeated the Italian Caneva, the expectations of a gold medal rose markedly.

After the second fight, a leading British boxing journalist wrote “The best amongst the British Empire contingent is the New Zealander Morgan who is competing in the welterweight division. He knows how to use both hands and hits hard with a minimum of effort. His right bursts holes in the defence of his opponents, who also suffer from vicious jabs to the jaw. Morgan is one of the best boxer-fighters, if not the best, participating”.

The 21 year old apprentice plumber went on to outbox Galataud from France, and in the final Landini, an Argentinean knockout specialist. The final victory gave New Zealand its first Olympic Gold Medal.

Ted resisted offers from European and American interests to turn professional and returned to New Zealand to enter the paid ranks some twelve months later. While he captured the New Zealand professional welterweight title and undertook a short campaign in America, in later years he never really lived up to the early expectations in the pro ranks.

Morgan later became proprietor of a thriving plumbing business in Wellington and turned his hand to refereeing for a time. The first New Zealand Olympic champion passed away in 1952 at the early age of forty five and is buried in the Karori cemetery in Wellington. The winner of the New Zealand welterweight title at the national championships each year, is presented with the Ted Morgan Cup.

The first New Zealand Olympic Boxing representative was Charlie Purdy, who boxed at the 1924 Games in Paris. He was adjudged to have been out-pointed by local French idol Marcel Thorley, although many at ringside were convinced that Purdy had prevailed. Purdy showed his true class, with a decisive win in the Tail Teann Games in Ireland after the close of the Olympiad, at which he was awarded the boxer of the tournament.

Another to be considered unlucky was Clarrie Gordon at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. In a magnificent fight with the Finn, Karlson, the Kiwi representative lost by a solitary point.

1924    Paris, France

Featherweight:

• Charlie Purdy (Auckland)
  Lost to Jean Thorley (France) - Points

1928    Amsterdam, Holland

• Welterweight: 
  • Ted Morgan (Wellington) GOLD
    Defeated Selfrid Johansson (Sweden) – KO 2
    Defeated Romano Caneva (Italy) - Points
    Defeated Robert Galataud (France) - Points
    Defeated Raul Landini (Argentina) - Points
• Light Heavyweight:  
  • Alf Cleverley (Wellington)
    Lost to Alfred Jackson (England) - Points

1932    Los Angles, USA

• Featherweight:         
  • Bobby Purdie (Auckland)
    Lost to Mario Bianchini (Italy) - Points
• Lightweight: 
  • Harold Thomas (Wellington)
    Lost to Luciano Fabbroni (Italy) - Points

• Welterweight            
  • Bert Lowe (Otago)
    Lost to Hans Bernlohr (Germany) - Points

1936    Berlin, Germany

• Featherweight:         
  • Clarrie Gordon (Patea)
    Lost to Ake Karlsson (Finland) - Points
• Lightweight:             
  • Norm Fisher (Canterbury)
    Lost to Lidoro Oliver (Argentina) - Points
• Welterweight:           
  • Tommy Abuthnott (Wellington) 
    Lost to Raul Rodriquez (Argentina) - Points

Photo:  Ted Morgan Olympic Welterweight Champion 1928
Photograph – Alexander Turnbull Library

Article added: Wednesday 03 July 2024