Larry Foley
Laurence 'Larry' Foley (12 December 1849 – 12 July 1917) was an Australian middleweight boxer. An exceptional boxing instructor, his students included American champions Peter Jackson, and Tommy Burns, the incomparable English-born triple weight class champion Bob Fitzsimmons and Australian champion Mike Dooley. Due to his success as a boxing champion and internationally acclaimed instructor, and for introducing his country to the modern Queensberry Rules, he is often referred to as the "Father of Australian Boxing". Early life Foley was born to an Irish schoolmaster, Patrick, and his wife Mary (née Downs) in Bathurst, New South Wales on 12 December 1849. He was baptised a few years later on 2 May 1852 in Penrith. At three his family moved to Sydney, and at fourteen he moved to Wollongong as servant to a Roman Catholic priest with the expectation that he would join the priesthood. This never happened and instead, he returned to Sydney where at the age of 20, he worked as a building labourer and eventually as a sub-forman and building contractor. In Sydney, he joined a street-fighting gang in his youth, often fighting members of a rival Protestant group. His first fight, lasting seventy-one rounds, was believed to have been on 18 March 1871 against Sandy Ross, a leader of the rival 'Orange' or Protestant gang, and ended when police stopped the fight. He was known as 'Captain of the Push' after the Rocks Push street gang in Sydney. On 17 September 1873 he married Mary Anne Hayes. Sporting patron George Hill, a member of the “Fancy”, recognized Foley's exceptional ability and helped set up several exhibitions and Prizefights. Between 1872–76, Foley defeated at least six opponents by knockout in New South Wales, earning a reputation as a talented middleweight who in time might fight for a championship. On 2 December 1878, Foley fought a championship bout with Peter Newton, though the dates of the fight vary as do the number of rounds. The fight was declared a draw as the police intervened in the 40th round, and no decision of a winner was made. Career Middleweight world champion, 1879 Having abandoned street fighting, he moved into prizefights and exhibitions, winning or drawing all but one of them, including a gloved exhibition in 1877 with former English champion Jem Mace in Sydney, who would become a friend and mentor. On 20 March 1879, he fought Abe Hicken bare-knuckle by London Prize Ring Rules, four miles from Warparilla, near Echuca, on the New South Wales side of the River Murray. He had been reluctant to fight Abe Hicken in an antiquated bare-knuckle bout, and his friend Jem Mace discouraged him from accepting the challenge, but Hicken had claimed he was the true Australian champion, and Foley accepted the challenge regardless of the extra risk inherent in bare knuckle boxing under London Prize Ring Rules. Over a thousand spectators assembled at the remote spot to watch the contest for the Australian middleweight championship and a purse of £500 a side.