[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/A-MAXWELL-1.jpg” title_text=”A-MAXWELL-1″ _builder_version=”4.11.0″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.11.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#0C71C3″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]ALAN MAXWELL[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.11.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Time is a boxer\u2019s 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?.<\/span><\/p>\n What better way to answer such questions than to reference \u2018Kiwis with Gloves On\u2019 Brian O\u2019Brien\u2019s authoritative history of boxing in New Zealand. O\u2019Brien dubbed Alan Maxwell, \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s \u2018Mr. Boxing\u2019 a boxing champion, trainer, referee, judge, administrator, author and critic \u2013 one of the sport\u2019s greatest benefactors, who for nearly forty years after his retirement from the ring was New Zealand\u2019s most widely read boxing critic\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#0c71c3″ global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding=”||0px|||”]<\/p>\n O\u2019Brien credits Maxwell along with journalist and broadcaster Wallie Ingram and champion boxer Les Murray for their practical assistance in getting \u2018Kiwis with Gloves on\u2019 started and completed.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0He 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\u2019s only gold medal from that year\u2019s championships.<\/p>\n Maxwell\u2019s 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\u2019s penultimate fight, the 38th<\/sup> of his career. Things were certainly different back then.<\/p>\n Maxwell\u2019s 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 \u2018Little Jimmy\u2019. Maxwell\u2019s last fight in 1913 was against experienced campaigner Peter Cook who beat him on points in the Opera House, Palmerston North.<\/p>\n 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, \u201cLittle\u201d Jimmy Heggarty was not so fortunate, killed instantly from a sniper\u2019s bullet on Hill 60, August 27,1915.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There followed a four-year ring hiatus. His last fight was against Frank O\u2019 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He was third man in the ring for many of New Zealand\u2019s best fighter\u2019s during the sports Golden age, names such as Charlie Purdy, Tommy Donovan, Johnnie Leckie and Les Murray. He refereed 7 of Tom Heeney\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cPunch\u201d for Free Lance. This he did for some 38 years up until his death in 1965. This body of work is possibly Maxwell\u2019s most notable legacy. He has left behind a detailed history of the sport in New Zealand covering the period from the mid 1920\u2019s through to the mid 1960\u2019s. He was a regular contributor to \u201cSports Digest\u201d 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.<\/p>\n An avid reader and collector on the sport, he amassed quite an archive of books, programs and photo\u2019s which following his death were donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Alan Maxwell\u2019s induction into the NZBHOF is just recognition for his contribution to NZ Boxing.<\/p>\n Alan Maxwell was made a Justice of the Peace in 1953.<\/p>\n MP 2021<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ALAN MAXWELLTime is a boxer\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":28,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-366","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373,"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366\/revisions\/373"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzbhof.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}