I recently had the opportunity to speak to Vice President of the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame, Angie McCormick. In this interview we discuss the history of the Hall of Fame and some of its previous inductees, which include Barry Michael and Jeff Fenech. We also talk about the future of the Australian boxing annual dinner which is on October 10th in Melbourne. Additionally, we discuss the comeback of Manny Pacquiao and the possibility of A Danny Green-Anthony Mundine rematch. Here is what Angie had to say.
Robert Brown: We have the annual Australian Boxing Hall of Fame dinner coming up on October 10th. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Angie McCormick: We have our annual induction dinner which we hold every year and obviously we induct some of Australia’s greatest boxers into it. This year it’s back in Melbourne, we were in Sydney last year, and we’re looking forward to another good night.
Robert Brown: Can you tell us a little about the history of the Australian Hall of Fame and some of the names that have been inducted already?
Angie McCormick: Yeah it started off back in 2001 with a guy called David Hanvey and Gary Ellis. They got together and with a few of Australia’s boxing historians and came up with the idea to start the Hall of Fame and they voted Gus Mercurio as President and Jack Rennie as Vice President and then it just went on from there. They had a fund raiser back in 2002 to get things started, which was a great hit.
We had our first dinner in 2003 at Crown Casino. We’ve had a big night for our 13th year now and we’ve got some great names in there, Les Darcy who is a legend, we’ve got Jeff Fenech, Johnny Famechon, just to name a few of our greats that are in there, and obviously we add more every year.
Robert Brown: Can you give us any hints on who you might be adding this year?
Angie McCormick: I can tell you that one of our inductees this year fought some of the greatest. He has fought Fenech, Lester Ellis and a lot of Australia’s great boxers. He’s well know, he has his own gym, but I won’t give too much away just at the moment.
Robert Brown: We got Zach Dunn who has just won the IBO super middleweight title and we got a lot of very prominent women in Australian boxing at the moment. How do you feel about the depth of Australian boxing at the moment?
Angie McCormick: I think we’re doing pretty well, I think we’re doing good on the international scale. We got Lucas Browne as a heavyweight, he’s doing great. Zac Dunn is going gangbusters at the moment and I think he’s doing great things for Australian boxing. The Maloney twins are doing great things and keeping boxing in Australia alive. I think at the moment it’s a really good position to be in boxing.
Robert Brown: We had Danny Green who just came back and had a good win against Roberto Bolonti. Do you feel we’ll see a rematch between Danny Green and Anthony Mundine?
Angie McCormick: It would be great wouldn’t it? Hopefully they put it on because I think Australian boxing fans would love to see that and I really think they are two of the biggest names in Australian boxing and getting them in the ring is always a good show.
Robert Brown: For people who would like to attend the Hall of Fame dinner, would you give us some details on how they can attend and the prices of tickets?
Angie McCormick: There are tickets, they are $175 a person and that includes a three course meal and as much beer and wine as you would like. We also have sponsorship packages available for anyone interested in some sponsorship. They can call myself on 0478 188 380, or they can jump on our Facebook page and buy tickets from there. We got some great supporters that come along every year and hopefully that will all be back again this year.
Robert Brown: Last year you had Ricky Hatton as a guest didn’t you?
Angie McCormick: Yeah we did, we heard he was coming over for a fight, so we organized for him to come along. Kostya Tszyu was back in Australia, so we got them together for the first time in about ten years.
Last year was a great dinner, it was a really good night, perhaps we can get some more big names again. Ricky was great, he got up and gave us all a good laugh, told a few stories. It was good to talk to them about their careers and their personal lives. It was great and getting out there on Facebook and Twitter was really good for us.
Robert Brown: Do you follow much of the international boxing scene?
Angie McCormick: I try to keep up as much as I can, but I do follow more of the Australian side of boxing, that’s my passion. I think Australia is not falling behind in the boxing world but I don’t think they’re right up there as they could be and I would love to see Australia get back up and have more fighters and more recognition for the fighters that we do have. We just haven’t gotten the recognition that we deserve in the media.
Robert Brown: Manny Pacquiao is looking like he will be fighting Amir Khan next. What are your thoughts on that fight and who do you think would win?
Angie McCormick: I think there’s very few boxers in the world at the moment that get the world excited about boxing like Pacquiao and Mayweather. I think no matter what the fight, they definitely bring something to it.
As far as Pacquiao goes, I think it’s hard to say, I think Amir Khan is a good guy, he’s actually fought an Australian fighter in Gairy St Clair a few years ago. On the day it could go either way. You’d love to see Pacquiao come back and get a win and do that because I think he’s great for boxing.
Robert Brown: Daniel Geale is coming off some losses against some of the best in the world. Do you still think he has something to offer in the world level?
Angie McCormick: Absolutely, you have a look at Sam Soliman, he fought and fought and he got a world title. There’s no doubt that Daniel Geale will come back and do exactly the same thing. I think Daniel Geale is a great fighter, he just had a couple of tough opponents but he’s getting himself back together and he’ll be back on top again.
If you are interested in attending the Australian boxing annual dinner, call 0456 027 668 for bookings, The cost is 175 dollars per person, beer and wine included.
Oh yeah Pacman is more exciting than Mayweather. The last fight of Floyd could speak for itself. The people did not want to buy his boring defensive style of boxing which only after for the money. People are trully glad because Floyd has retired already, boxing fans think he is the most forgettable fighter in the World. Pacman vs the arrogant Khan lets get it on!
Angie seems like a cool person. I like what they are doing honoring the best of that country.