Dan Creedon (9 June 1868 – 10 July 1942) was a

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

boxer who challenged for the world middleweight title twice and claimed the title between 1895 and 1897. Creedon was born in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

, New Zealand but his boxing career developed in Melbourne, Australia. Like many of Australia's best boxers of this era, Creedon was taught by boxing pioneers

Jem Mace James "Jem" Mace (8 April 1831 – 30 November 1910) was an English boxing champion, primarily during the bare-knuckle era. He was born at Beeston, Norfolk, Beeston, Norfolk. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani people, Romani eth ...

and Larry Foley. He held the Australian middleweight title from 1891 until his departure for America in 1892. He challenged

Bob Fitzsimmons Robert James Fitzsimmons (26 May 1863 – 22 October 1917) was a Cornish professional boxer who was the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating "Gentleman Jim" Corbett (the man who beat John L. Sulliv ...

for the world middleweight title in 1894, in what would be Fitzsimmons' last defense of his belt before becoming a

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

. Creedon was knocked out in just 2 rounds. However, a year later he claimed the world title following his victory over

Frank Craig Frank Craig (April 1, 1868 – January 1, 1943) was an American boxer who was the colored middleweight champion of the world in the Gay Nineties. The 5′10" Craig fought at a weight of between 153 and 169 lbs. as a middleweight and l ...

in London. Creedon defended his claim to the title at least twice, but he is not commonly recognized as a middleweight champion by boxing historians. He would eventually lose to Kid McCoy, after which his career took a downward spiral. Creedon returned to Australia in 1902 and would fight a handful of fights, most of which he lost, before eventually retiring. A benefit was held for him on 26 November 1924, in the Socialist Hall of Melbourne, as he was "in ill health". Creedon was inducted to the

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame The Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame which was founded in 2001 and began inducting boxers into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Since then annual induction dinners have been held across Australia. Inductees are nominated ...

in 2011.

References

1868 births 1942 deaths Middleweight boxers New Zealand male boxers Australian male boxers Colony of New Zealand people New Zealand emigrants to Australia {{Australia-boxing-bio-stub