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

While Sidline Sid's holiday memories are starting to fade away, there is one night on the trip to Oz that will stay with him forever.

Attendance at a boxing tournament staged by the Caloundra Boxing Club on the Sunshine Coast provided me with the opportunity to have a few minutes of conversation with one of the true greats of Australian boxing.

Australian Sports Hall of Fame and International Boxing Hall of Fame member Jeff Fenech was the special guest at a night of amateur boxing that went on to late in the night.

Part of the dinki die Aussie sports fans' makeup is the way that they recognise with genuine enthusiasm the achievements of the legends of Australian sport. While Jeff wasn't quite mobbed at the tournament, there was a steady stream right throughout the night, shaking the hand of the boxing great and seeking autographs and photographs.

While in New Zealand we tend to take a more reserved approach when meeting our sporting greats – across the ditch they embrace the likes of Jeff Fenech with enthusiastic greetings and embraces.

Fenech was born in Sydney and was one of the toughest and hardest working fighters of his era. The captain of the Australian boxing team to the 1984 Olympics turned professional after losing a controversial decision at the Olympic Games.

As a professional, the supremely conditioned boxer swarmed his opponents from the opening bell, and didn't stop throwing punches until the referee intervened, or until the final bell. Fenech won the first of three genuine world titles as a bantamweight in 1985, and went on to annex featherweight and junior lightweight world crowns.

He is best known for a trilogy of fights with Azumah Nelson. In a Mike Tyson under card in 1991 – Fenech, who appeared to easily account for his Ghanaian opponent, was given what became a highly controversial draw.

The rematch a year later in Melbourne, which attracted the largest crowd ever to attend a boxing event in Australia, left the crowd stunned when Fenech was stopped in round eight.

Unbelievingly Fenech and Nelson did it all again, as old men in 2008, with Jeff winning a split decision.

The Aussie workingman has real regard for knockabout larrikin characters in Australian sport such as Shane Warne and Jeff Fenech.

They often make headlines for all the wrong reasons, but keeping bouncing back to face there critics and adversaries with a smile on there face.

Jeff has now found life as a boxing trainer and promoter and is usually the first asked for an opinion when the likes of Anthony Mundine engages in boxing contests.

His friendship with the so-called ‘Baddest Man on the Planet' Mike Tyson was part of the reason that he was ringside on the Sunshine Coast.

Fenech also engages in the supply of sporting memorabilia. On the night several pieces, either signed or obtained by Jeff, which included a large framed signed pair of Tyson gloves and shorts were off auctioned off.

The few minutes of conversation that I had with Jeff will remain in my memory forever, along with his autograph that he gave me.

A few words he added to the autograph perfectly sums up the Aussie boxing great ‘Tough Times Don't Last – Tough People Do'.

Seeya at the Game