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Lionel Rose (born June 21, 1948) was an Australian
Boxing|boxer who became the first Australian
Aborigine|aborigine in boxing history to win a
world title. 

Rose grew up learning how to box while watching
his father, also a professional boxer. He barely
missed the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. 

Rose began his professional boxing career on
September 9, 1964, outpointing Mario Magriss over
eight rounds. This fight was in Warragul, but the
majority of Rose's fights would be held in
Melbourne, Australia|Melbourne.

After five wins in a row, on July 23, 1965, he was
rematched with Singtong Por Tor, whom Rose had
beaten by a twelve round decision. Por Tor
inflicted Rose's first defeat, beating him on
points in six rounds. On October 14 of the same
year, he had his first fight abroad, beating
Laurie Ny by a decision in ten rounds at
Christchurch, New Zealand. 

Over his next nine fights, he had a record of
eight wins and one loss, with one knockout. The
lone loss in those nine fights was to Ray Perez,
against whom Rose split a pair of bouts. Then, on
October 28, 1966, Rose met Noel Kunde at
Melbourne, for the Australian Bantamweight title.
Rose won the regional belt by defeating Kunde by a
fifteen round decision.

He won one more bout in 1966, and eight in 1967
(including a thirteenth round knockout win against
Rocky Gattelari to defend his Australian
championship) before challenging Fighting Harada
for the world's Bantamweight title on February 26
of 1968, in Tokyo. Rose made history by becoming
the first Aborigine to be a world champion boxer
when he defeated Harada by a fifteen round
decision. This win made Rose an instant national
hero in Australia, and an icon among Aborigines.
On July 2 of that year, he returned to Tokyo to
retain his title with a 15 round decision win over
Takao Sakurai. Then, on December 6, he met Chucho
Castillo at the Inglewood Forum in Inglewood,
California. Rose beat Castillo by decision, but
the points verdict in favor of him infuriated many
in the pro-Castillo crowd, and a riot began, with
fourteen fans and fight referee Dick Young
requiring hospitalization to attend to injuries
received during the riot.

Rose was Australian Of The Year in 1968, the first
Aborigine to be so.

On March 8, 1969, Rose retained the title with a
fifteen round decision over Alan Rudkin, but five
months later, he returned to Inglewood, where he
faced Ruben Olivares on August 22. Rose lost the
world Bantamweight title to Olivares by a five
round knockout. 

A little known fact is that Rose presented young,
burn attack victim Tjandamurra O' Shane with his
world title belt after he had lost the
championship to Olivares, as a way to encourage
the youngster to have a quick recovery. O' Shane,
also an Aborigine, had been the victim of a
racially charged attack the year before. 

Rose continued on boxing after his defeat against
Olivares, but, after defeats against practically
unknown fighters, many believed he was done as a
prime fighter. However, Rose was far from
finished: He upset future world Lightweight
champion Itshimatsu Suzuki on October 10, 1970 by
a ten round decision, and once again, he
positioned himself as a world title challenger,
albeit in the Lightweight division, seventeen
pounds over the division where he crowned himself
world champion. 

Despite having lost to Jeff White (boxer)|Jeff
White for the Australian Lightweight title, Rose
got another world title try when he faced World
Boxing Council|WBC  world Jr. Lightweight champion
Yoshiaki Numata, on May 30, 1971, at Hiroshima.
Numata beat Rose by a fifteen round decision, and
Rose announced his retirement soon after.

In 1975, he came back, but after losing four of
his next six bouts, including one against Rafael
Limon, Rose decided to retire for good. In
retirement, he did some jail time, and attended to
his businesses. Unlike many boxers before and
after him, Rose was able to manage his money and
make good financial decisions, and he has enjoyed
the monetary benefits his career brought him. Rose
was showcased in 2002 in the Ring Magazine section
Where are they now?.

During his off time from boxing in the 1970's,
Rose embarked on a successful singing career in
Australia.

Rose compiled a record of 53 wins and 11 losses as
a professional boxer, with 12 wins by knockout.