Canadian Boxer Joe Burns
The last New Zealand ring death occurred in Auckland when, Joe Burns, billed as a Hawaiian Canadian, died in Auckland Hospital a fortnight after being knocked out at the Town Hall on May 10 1948 by Tommy Downes of Palmerston North in the second round.
Just as professional boxing is gaining favourable publicity with the recent Oscar de la Hoya-Felix Trinidad World Title fight, the ring death in the same week of super middleweight Randie Carver at the Kansas City Casino again makes even the most ardent fan question their involvement in prize fighting. New Zealand,is fortunate (whether by good luck or good management) that it’s record of fatalities in the professional fight game this century only number eight. But of course, that is eight too many).
The last New Zealand ring death occurred in Auckland when, Joe Burns, billed as a Hawaiian Canadian (whatever that is), died in Auckland Hospital a fortnight after being knocked out at the Town Hall on May 10, 1948, by, Tommy Downes of Palmerston North in the second round.
Reports of the nights boxing state; There were marked similarities in the two professional bouts held in the Town Hall last night. Scotty McLeod 11st 7lb (Freemans Bay) stopped Australian Bobby Murant 11 st 1lb in the second round while Tommy Downes 12st 12lbs also won in the second, knocking out Joe Bums 12st 5lbs. Downes and McLeod were both overweight while their opponents, both surprisingly, had the build of boxers. McLeod and Downes were both out of condition; in fact Downes after knocking Burns out had to drape himself over the ropes to recover his breath. Neither Murant nor Burns looked like they belonged in a professional contest.
Burns, who struck his head on the ring mat, was taken to hospital after immediate medical treatment in the ring. He did not recover consciousness for many hours, but after seven days showed slight improvement before relapsing and succumbing on Saturday at 8.40 pm. Subsequent inquiries by the Auckland Star revealed that Joe Burns was in fact a 27-year-old former Fijian Policeman named Peni Latinidavetalevu. Peni had been a constable in Fiji from 1938 to 1942. He had stowed away on the ship Flying Cloud in 1946 with two other Fijians. They were arrested in San Francisco and deported back to Fiji where each received one month’s imprisonment. In March 1947, Peni had again stowed away, this time on the Marine Phoenix. Nothing was heard of him until 1948 when Fijian Police informed the New Zealand authorities that the `Joe Burns’ in a photograph in the New Zealand Press looked suspiciously like the missing Peni. A photograph of Peni and fingerprints were dispatched to Auckland, but before the Police had time to take any action, the fatal bout had taken place. However, from further investigations it was possible to confirm that `Joe Burns’ was in reality Peni Latinidavetalevu. He had been working at the Morningside Timber Companies Ngatira Mill, where he told the foreman that he was a Hawaiian-Canadian and that his mother lived in Vancouver. He had no documentary evidence, but he explained this by saying his luggage had been stolen on the way to Ngatira while he was asleep on the train.
On that ill fated night Tommy Downes, who briefly held the New Zealand light heavyweight title in 1949 died at a relatively young age of cancer; Scotty McLeod died by his own hand while Bobby Murant faded into fistic obscurity.
