Barry Michael (born 2 June 1955) is an Australian former boxer. He was in his prime during the 1980s and is best remembered for his 1985 fight against Lester Ellis, which received nationwide television coverage in Australia.

Early life

Michael was born on 2 June 1955 in England and his family migrated to Australia in 1957. He grew up in Williamstown and dropped his surname Swettenham.

Professional career

Michael won the IBF super featherweight title on 12 July 1985 over Lester Ellis. He made his first defense three months later on 19 October 1985 with a 4th-round TKO win over Korean Jin-Shik Choi at the Darwin Oval in the Northern Territory. The 25-year-old Choi had a record of 17-1 (15) going into the fight and had won eight straight. Jin-Shik Choi's only loss going into the fight was to Rod Sequenan (Ellis' first defense), two years earlier by 12th-round knockout.

Later career

Michael ran for the Senate in 2013, representing the

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by ...

. Today, Michael is a boxing analyst in the media and appears on

SEN 1116 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria, Australia. Owned and operated by Sports Entertainment Group, it broadcasts a sports radio format. It commenced broadcasting on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the station currently ...

as well as writing for the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

''.

References

External links

Crunch! ... punch from Barry Michael ...
1985 / Bruce Howard *https://web.archive.org/web/20060627150314/http://anbhof.com/barrymichaels.html Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame * 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Watford English emigrants to Australia International Boxing Federation champions United Australia Party (2013) politicians Australian male boxers Commonwealth Boxing Council champions Super-featherweight boxers Boxers from Melbourne People from Williamstown, Victoria 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-boxing-bio-stub