Updated ,first published
Warning: This story contains images and the name of a deceased Indigenous person.
Australian boxing great Tony Mundine has died, age 75.
The boxer, who is also the father of professional boxer and rugby league player Anthony Mundine, died at the weekend, sources close to the family have confirmed to this masthead.
Mundine was the only Australian boxer to compete professionally across four weight divisions and held four different Australian titles.
On Sunday night, Anthony Mundine said he was “broken” in an Instagram post.
“Dad I love you man my Allah bless your soul. I’m on my way home to say goodbye one last time til we meet again… there’s only one Tony Mundine.”
In 2024, Anthony Mundine described his father as his “biggest inspiration” in and out of the ring.
“You’ve shown me what it means to be a man of strength and integrity, and for that, I’m forever grateful. I wouldn’t be who I am without your sacrifices, your wisdom, and your unwavering support,” he wrote at the time.
Tony Mundine retired from professional boxing in 1984 and became a member of the Order of Australia in 1986 for services to sport, particularly boxing and Aboriginal youth.
A Bundjalung man from Baryulgil, just north of the NSW town of Grafton, Mundine moved to Sydney in the mid-1960s with the hope of becoming a first grade footballer.
He played with the Redfern All Blacks and it was while doing some off-season training at a local boxing gym his talent was discovered.
Mundine had his first fight in Sydney in 1969 – competing in 96 bouts in a career that spanned till 1984 that also saw him travel the world and challenge unsuccessfully once for the World Middleweight belt in 1974.
Upon his retirement from boxing, Mundine was heavily involved in a gym in the neighbourhood known as The Block in Redfern, on the corner of Eveleigh and Vine Streets.
The gym had been set up inside an old shoe factory that had been acquired by the Aboriginal Housing Company and Mundine’s work had a positive impact on young Aboriginal people as the venue became a popular place for the community to spend time.
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