Johnny Lewis OAM inducted into Boxing Hall of Fame

(Adapted story from Sydney Morning Herald – 12 June)

Every morning around six o’clock, with the rising sun starting to light up the sky, you can hear it.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap …

He will be standing on the first step in the middle of the old wooden seats at the front of the main grandstand at Erskineville Oval.

He will be holding out two focus pads, just as he has for the best part of 60 years, and he will encourage the boxer standing before him in the same way he’s encouraged dozens of champions, including Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding and Kostya Tszyu.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap …

When your lungs start to burn, and the nagging stitch that started below your ribs now feels like a twisting knife, and you’re ready to pull away, or possibly vomit, he will say it. He always says it in that slow, nasally voice of his.

“Thaaaaat’s my boy. Keep going, son. The only one who beats us is ourselves.”

Johnny Lewis OAM (Past Parent 2015), the heart and soul of Australian boxing was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota in upstate New York in June 2017.

“It’s like winning Powerball — your marble’s rolled out,” he says with typical self-effacement. “[Being a boxing trainer] was thrust upon me at 17, and if I look back over 60 years I’ve got to be honest and say every person who I’ve ever trained has, in one way or another, been part of the end result, which is this induction. From Police Boys’ Club boxing to state titles, national titles, world amateurs, Commonwealth Games, then onto the big stage and the Mecca of boxing in Vegas, I honestly do believe that everybody made me a better trainer.”

From 1989 to 1993, he was trainer for Bob Fulton’s Australian rugby league teams, including the successful 1990 tour of Great Britain and France.

On his first tour, of New Zealand, he pulled out a stack of one-kilogram hand weights and handed them to the players for a quick 40-minute session. Most of the players, mainly the forwards, laughed.

“One-kilo weights?” said one prop. “Are you serious?”

By the end of the session, which included shadow boxing and “curls of the girls”, the one-kilo weights felt like they weighed a hundred. With arms on fire, the players slowly wilted.

Johnny’s second love after boxing is rugby league. When he was a kid, he’d sneak through the fence palings at Erko to watch his beloved Newtown play. He went on to be the club’s head trainer and still hasn’t forgiven the game for kicking them out in 1983.

Boxer or footballer, lover or fighter, lawyer or accountant or art dealer, you never quit on Johnny because you know he’d never quit on you.

Back in his day, there were half a dozen boxing gyms around Newtown and Erskineville. Now, there’s just the early morning sessions at Erko Oval.

“I always think I represent the people of Erko,” Johnny says. “It’s not bad for a skinny kid from Erko. Untrained, untamed …”

As you read this article, Johnny has put together the ‘Johnny Lewis’ Ultimate Fight Night featuring some of the biggest names in boxing alongside the next generation of champions. The series kicked off on Sunday 22 October at The Star Casino.