Tommy Burns (Australian boxer)

For the Canadian boxer, see Tommy Burns (Canadian boxer).

Tommy Burns
Born	Geoffrey Mostyn Murphy 19 May 1922 Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia
Died	14 February 2011 (aged 88)
Nationality	Australian
Statistics
Weight class	Welterweight
Height	5′ 7½″ (171cm)
Reach	72″ (183 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	77
Wins	62
Wins by KO	43
Losses	8
Draws	7

The crowd gathering at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney for the screening of the Burns-Patrick Fight, 1946.

Geoffrey Mostyn Murphy (19 May 1922 – 14 February 2011) was an Australian boxer who fought under the name Tommy Burns (after the Canadian boxer). He was born in Mullumbimby, New South Wales, but spent most of his life in the neighbouring Australian state of Queensland.

Murphy chose his fighting name in honour of the Canadian heavyweight boxer and former world champion, Tommy Burns, who lost his title to Jack Johnson in Australia in 1908.

In 1947, he won the Australian Welterweight Championship and fought many of the best Australian boxers of his era, becoming a crowd favourite. He appeared in the 1949 Charles Chauvel Australian movie Sons of Matthew.

Murphy, as Tommy Burns, was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. He died on 14 February 2011, aged 88.

Sources

• The Australian Film and Television Companion, ed. Tony Harrison pub. Simon and Schuster, Australia 1994

External links

• Biographical information supplied to National Library by son Peter Murphy in December 2009
• Boxing record at BoxRec