Where the legends of New Zealand boxing live

Welcome to the New Zealand Boxing Hall of Fame established on 1st October 2020.

Herbert Slade, an indigenous New Zealander, this country’s first global sporting identity was also born on this date in 1851.

Slade holds a unique place in our nation’s social and sporting history. On the 6th August 1883, in New York’s Madison Square Garden Slade challenged John L Sullivan for the World’s Heavyweight Boxing Championship. The “Boston Strong Boy” outclassed Slade knocking him down once in the first round, four times in the second, and beating him so severely in the third that the contest was stopped in the champions’ favour.

Regardless of the result, Slade that day created history, not only was he the first New Zealander to compete at the highest level in a globally recognized sporting event. He was also the first “non-white” granted a shot at sport’s greatest prize. The colour bar in those days was firmly up and Slade the day he fought Sullivan momentarily broke it down.

The NZBHOF’s annual induction day, October 1st, remembers Herbert Slade and his contribution to New Zealand’s story.