During the mid 1950's to the mid 1960's, professional boxer Tuna Scanlan, ranked alongside such as All Blacks, Don Clarke, and Colin and Stan Meads, and cricket greats in Burt Sutcliffe and John R Reid, as national sporting heroes in New Zealand.

Sideline Sid was recently surfing through papers past, and couldn't believe his eyes when he stumbled upon a press report of a New Zealand Professional Middleweight title fight in Tauranga in June 1959, featuring Tuna Scanlan.

As a teenager in the late 1950's, Sideline Sid would stay awake late at night to listen with the nation's sports fans to the blow-by-blow action on the radio, as Tuna Scanlan engaged in his latest battle.

Unlike today's professional boxers who only engage in combat once or twice a year, the pugs of the golden age of boxing in the country during the 1950's and 1960's, would hop into the ring at the drop of a hat, as shown by Scanlan's 64 fights in just over a decade.

Tuna Scanlan was from the top draw of New Zealand professional boxers.

Boxing historian and author of the ‘New Zealand Boxing Scrapbook', Don Cameron, says that 'Tuna Scanlan was the most exciting boxer of his era”.

Scanlan stood just 5ft 7inches, however, he boxed as southpaw leading with his right before unleashing his dynamite left hand. This lead to him knocking out plenty of opponents during his time in the ring.

In December 1957, Scanlan won the New Zealand Middleweight title, vacated by the Barry Brown, defending the crown three times, including during his visit to Tauranga.

On June 20, 1959, Scanlan put his New Zealand title on the line at the (then new) Memorial Hall in Tauranga, against Fritz Leuii.

The fight venue, which now stands alongside the QE2 Youth Centre in Memorial Park, was a break from tradition, with previous professional fight programs held at the Tauranga Town Hall.

The New Zealand title fight was a big deal in Tauranga, with the only previous professional championship fight being a middleweight contest between Jock Graham from Auckland and Sailor Brown from Invercargill, in December 1921.

Fritz Leuii was no pushover. Scanlan and Leuii having met three times in Samoa in the early days of their respective careers, with Fritz Leuii holding a two - one advantage.

A New Zealand Press Association report stated "Tuna Scanlan retained his New Zealand professional Middleweight title when he beat challenger, Fritz Leuii, by a technical knockout early in the thirteenth round of a scheduled 15 round bout at Tauranga on Saturday".

"Scanlan had Leuii in trouble near the end of the twelfth round. Caught in a corner of the ring, Leuii offered no resistance to a lightning series of hooks to the head, with the gong saving him. Soon after the start of the thirteenth round, Leuii became helpless against Scanlan's onslaught and the referee raised Scanlan's hand (in victory)".

Scanlan would go on to defeat Gomeo Brennan, from the Bahamas, for the British Empire middleweight title in 1964.

The title fight took place outdoors at New Zealand's Rugby League headquarters at Carlaw Park in Auckland, before a sold out crowd.

Today, New Zealand professional boxing reports are the domain of boxing websites and facebook postings, which is a far cry from the pro fight reports in the fifties and sixties which featured in daily newspapers the length and breadth of the country.

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz