Time is a boxer’s worst enemy, as it flashes by a fighter losses his/her timing, their legs grow tired more quickly. Skills that once used to dazzle start to dim. Movements that were once graceful become more difficult to execute. Such is the case with many of those who make enormous contributions from outside the ropes, those who keep the sport going from one generation to the next, time diminishes them, perhaps even more harshly, to virtual oblivion as it erodes the memory of their contributions to the sport. Alan Maxwell is a case in point. His contribution to the fight game in this country is now all but forgotten, yet in his day he was involved in all facets of the sport. Today apart from his name appearing in a few old record books one could be excused for asking who was Alan Maxwell and what contribution did he make?.
What better way to answer such questions than to reference ‘Kiwis with Gloves On’ Brian O’Brien’s authoritative history of boxing in New Zealand. O’Brien dubbed Alan Maxwell, “New Zealand’s ‘Mr. Boxing’ a boxing champion, trainer, referee, judge, administrator, author and critic – one of the sport’s greatest benefactors, who for nearly forty years after his retirement from the ring was New Zealand’s most widely read boxing critic”.
O’Brien credits Maxwell along with journalist and broadcaster Wallie Ingram and champion boxer Les Murray for their practical assistance in getting ‘Kiwis with Gloves on’ started and completed.
Alan Cecil Maxwell was born in Toko, Taranaki in 1889. He boxed from a young age, firstly at amateur, then professionally. It would be remiss of a biographer to skip over these early days, after all that was the genesis of his lifetime involvement with boxing.
He had his first amateur fight on Oct 8, 1908, taking the decision over 6 rounds. At the NZ Amateur Championships of 1911 in Invercargill, he dispatched both his semi-final and finals opponents in one round to win the lightweight title. Controversy followed the result when Jimmy Heggarty was chosen over Maxwell to represent NZ at the Australasian Championships to be held later that year. Heggarty, a rising star on the horizon of New Zealand boxing, justified the backing of his supporters by duly winning the Australasian title and in so doing securing New Zealand’s only gold medal from that year’s championships.
Maxwell’s last amateur fight, February 26, 1912, saw him dispatch Unknown Jones, KO 4. He entered the paid ranks four days later earning a draw over 15 rounds against that legend of New Zealand boxing Tim Tracey. It was Tracey’s penultimate fight, the 38th of his career. Things were certainly different back then.
Maxwell’s next nine fights, all scheduled over 15 rounds, all went to the final bell. He lost more than he won but was always upright at the end. Along the way, two fights against Jimmy Heggarty, the second on February 12, 1913, for the vacant NZ Lightweight Championship, both resulted in wins for ‘Little Jimmy’. Maxwell’s last fight in 1913 was against experienced campaigner Peter Cook who beat him on points in the Opera House, Palmerston North.
With war on the horizon, Maxwell signed up in 1914. He saw action during the Gallipoli campaign and was invalided home in 1915. Fortunately, he recovered, “Little” Jimmy Heggarty was not so fortunate, killed instantly from a sniper’s bullet on Hill 60, August 27,1915.
Maxwell had two fights while serving overseas. Armed Services bouts, both in Cairo, Egypt, both of which he won by KO. Seven days prior to the Gallipoli landings on April 18, against Kid James, he is recorded as having won the Egyptian Lightweight Title by KO in the third.
There followed a four-year ring hiatus. His last fight was against Frank O’ Neill in the Greymouth Town Hall. Maxwell lost KO 3, the only inside the distance loss of his career. His professional record stands at 13 fights, 5 wins, 7 losses, 1 draw.
Although Maxwell retired from the ring, he did not retire from boxing. He was involved in all facets of the sport, judging and refereeing, both amateur and professional bouts. Between 1920 and 1939 he refereed well in excess of 100 promotions, many of these promotions he was the sole referee on hand, handling upwards of a dozen fights on some cards, numbering many hundreds of fights over the years.
He was third man in the ring for many of New Zealand’s best fighter’s during the sports Golden age, names such as Charlie Purdy, Tommy Donovan, Johnnie Leckie and Les Murray. He refereed 7 of Tom Heeney’s early professional fights including his first. He was referee when Tom took the NZ Heavyweight Championship from Albert Pooley in October 1920. Our sole centurion, Clarrie Rayner, 5 of his fights were handled by Maxwell.
Maxwell also refereed fights involving several overseas stars, Australians, Bobby Blay and Billy Grime, Silvino Jamito of the Philippines and American, Petey Sarron, are just four that spring to mind. This battling quartet racked up 571 fights between them.
In addition to officiating Maxwell also wrote extensively on the sport he lived and breathed. In 1928 he wrote and published a now extremely rare book on Tom Heeney, he also penned weekly reports under his pen name “Punch” for Free Lance. This he did for some 38 years up until his death in 1965. This body of work is possibly Maxwell’s most notable legacy. He has left behind a detailed history of the sport in New Zealand covering the period from the mid 1920’s through to the mid 1960’s. He was a regular contributor to “Sports Digest” from its inception in 1949 up until his death. In addition to his writing, Maxwell was also involved in administration and served for a period on the council of the New Zealand Boxing Assoc.
An avid reader and collector on the sport, he amassed quite an archive of books, programs and photo’s which following his death were donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Alan Maxwell’s induction into the NZBHOF is just recognition for his contribution to NZ Boxing.
Alan Maxwell was made a Justice of the Peace in 1953.
MP 2021