BARRINGTON REGINALD “BARRY” BROWN.

May 20th, 1931 – November 1st, 2004.                                  

My favourite place in Hastings was the Opera House, where I saw my first boxing and wrestling matches. For half a crown (about 25 cents in today’s money) I was in heaven and could watch my favourite sports. A couple of boys came up from Dannevirke to fight in amateur boxing tournaments, and one was Barry Brown, and the other was his brother Jimmy. I was very impressed with Barry even in those early years when he was still an amateur and I thought “This guy could go a long way if he ever turns Pro.”

Both of the brothers won New Zealand titles, and Barry was selected to represent New Zealand at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland. He ended up in the reserves and did not have a fight.

 I followed his professional career with great interest and went to many of his fights.

His first professional fight was at Petone Recreation Ground when he beat Auckland boy Tommy Rudolph. I was there with my uncle on 14th February 1953.

Next Barry beat some imports from Australia in Ace Chocolate,(That was the name he used in NZ. I believe his real name was Matoaka, and he came from Soweto) Al Wilburn, Ivor Germain, and Bernie Hall. He was getting regular fights in Wellington before he travelled the country and had fought in Timaru, Hastings, Dunedin and a KO win in his home town of Dannevirke.

Barry had won his first 13 fights, and the go-ahead Wellington Association were in contact with Gerald Dreyer in South Africa to try and bring him here to defend his British Empire Title. Gerald had a great amateur career and won a gold medal in the lightweight division at the London Olympic Games in 1948.

My uncle Bill from Wellington loved boxing, and as soon as tickets for the title fight were on sale, he managed to get two seats five rows from the ring.

The fight was held at the Basin Reserve, the home of cricket in Wellington, and was held on a Friday evening. The promoters thought that after late night shopping people would head to the boxing. However, the crowd was disappointing, possibly because of the increased ticket prices, and only around 7000 turned up for this important fight of 15 rounds. Definitely the ones near the ring were expensive. The attendance figure has been disputed but Brian O’Brien told me just under 7000 attended.  Bringing a boxer and his manager from South Africa cost money, and it was only natural that the prices would be increased.

Barry was in tremendous shape and was unstoppable on the night for the British Empire welterweight title fight. At 23 he was on top of the world having put the champion down three times and the referee stopped the bout in round 7 and declared Barry the winner by TKO.

Winning the Empire title sent waves around the boxing world and Australia was interested in bringing Barry over for a series of fights.

The promoter put him against Freddie Dawson first up in a big outdoor bout at Sydney Sports Ground. Dawson was a top fighter and was known as The Dark Destroyer because he destroyed many fighters’ careers. Many thought it was too early to meet a man of Dawson’s calibre, who had a great record in over 100 fights, compared to Barry’s 14 fights.

The fight itself, was as expected, a match that should never have taken place, as Dawson was probably one of the world’s top fighters to never win a world crown. 

Barry was very dejected after the loss to Dawson and considered giving the game away, but after a short lay off he was back in action against Ray Rico at Leichhardt Stadium in Sydney, winning by a stoppage.

A month or so later he was in with another top liner in George Barnes, and this was for Barry’s

British Empire welterweight title. George had also met Freddie Dawson in recent times and had gone the distance with him. The match took place at Sydney’s Sports Ground and was a 15-round contest with George winning on a KO in round 11.

After another fight in Australia, which he won well, Barry returned home and was in big demand around the country.

He faced some very tough imports from Australia in Ricardo Marcus, Pran Mikus and Clive French, all of which he won well, before beating Christchurch boy Barney Shaw.

I attended his next fight in Feilding, and that was a beauty when he beat Charlie Beaton on points. A very entertaining fight and the fans went home very happy. Charlie was an Australian who settled in Wellington for many years and was always good value for money.

After beating Ulf Christenson, he faced up to one of our greats in Tuna Scanlan. Tuna was very good, but on the night had the flu, and didn’t want to pull out of the fight. Some years later Barry told me he also had the flu and had thought of pulling out of this big fight.

Barry started well, but Tuna came back and put Barry down in the first round, as they both wanted to get an early night, and were keen to get an early ko. At the bell Barry was down again and this was definitely a case of “saved by the bell.” The next few rounds saw Barry Brown looking good and was outboxing Tuna, when all of a sudden Tuna was on the canvas after a couple of right-handers. Barry won the fight on a KO. It was a tremendous match, and a great sell-out crowd and Feilding wanted more big fights.

Barry next met Clive French, and I attended this fight in Palmerston North, which he won, and he then beat Coogan Brown. Next up he beat another great prospect in Joe McNally. I attended the McNally bout in Feilding, and as expected, the crowd were packed in like sardines.

Next up it was an import from England in Jimmy Newman, who had beaten some big-name fighters, and Prime Minister Keith Holyoake popped in to wish him well. This was often the custom in big boxing and wrestling matches in Wellington. Barry lost on points and told me years later his heart was no longer in boxing, and he was about to toss the sport in.

 He did have a couple more bouts and beat Ken Anderson, and then lost to Don Barnes from Australia, before finally giving the game away.

In his later life, Barry had settled in Henderson with his wife Jill and had kept his movie-star good looks, where he spent time in the garden and did some knitting.

 I often visited Barry with trainer Vic Gummer, just to talk boxing and view his knitting. He always brought out his cardigans to show us and said his Mum taught him how to knit when he was very young.

Barry was New Zealand sportsman of the year in 1953, a first for a boxer. He had a great career, only losing on four occasions, and I will never forget my all-time favourite boxer.

 Barry had 31 fights winning 27.

D.C.  2020