Ron Casey’s call of the Rose-Harada fight in `68

Folks (radio link follows)

In tribute to Lionel Rose….. have a listen to this call of the last round and the decision of his world title fight with Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 68

I was 14 at the time and listened to it broadcast down a phone line from Tokyo on my transistor. I think I picked it  up in Tassy on the wireless from 3DB in Melbourne

Ron Casey’s call remains a lifetime highlight of pure magic from a simpler time.

With about 30 seconds to go you can hear above the crowd noise, Jack Rennie Lionel’s famous trainer urge ” Come on boy, Come on Lionel”  (as Harada landed a couple of bombs)……so Casey must have been pretty much in the corner calling it

In those days they fought 15 x 3 minute rounds

200,000 people lined the streets of Melbourne when he returned. He was a national hero and awarded an MBE

Shane

http://aso.gov.au/titles/radio/lionel-rose-wins-world-title/clip1/

About Shane Johnson

Footy afficiando who has worked professionaly in the industry for 29 years on and off

Comments

  1. johnharms says

    Classic Shane. Thanks for digging that out.

  2. Andrew Starkie says

    Shane, the final round is an official ‘Sounds of Australia’ in the Museum of Moving Image(?) in Canberra. Gold.

  3. Marcus Holt says

    I remember listening to the fight on the radio and willing Lionel to victory. Some time after the fight someone, (channel 7 maybe?) released a recording of the final round of the fight on plastic 45rpm records. They were very thin and you could bend them in half. I loved playing it at 33 and 78 on my parents brand new HMV stereogram, Ron Casey on dope or speed, take your pick!

    Lionel Rose was one of my heroes and I remember him fighting Alan Rudkin and then losing his title to Ruben Olivares, I was shattered!

    NB, Has there ever been a better boxing name than “Fighting Harada”? I think not.

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