Australian George Barnes, who was born on 20 February 1927 in Temora, New South Wales and fought mostly at welterweight, had nine fights against some of South Africa’s top fighters.
He made his pro debut on 15 November 1948 and won the Australian light welterweight, welterweight, and British Empire welterweight titles in a 68-fight career against some of the best fighters around at the time.
At a time when an Empire title was highly regarded, he participated in nine fights against some of South Africa’s top fighters.
His first South African opponent was Ace “One-Eyed Ace” Matloka, whom he stopped at one minute 30 seconds of the first round in a scheduled 12 at the Sydney Stadium on 29 June 1953.
In 1956, George travelled to South Africa to defend his British Empire welterweight title against former South African welterweight champion Bennie Nieuwenhuizen (23-1-1), who had been stripped of the title by the Transvaal Boxing Board of Control shortly before.
Nieuwenhuizen’s only loss was a four-round points decision against Johnny “Smiler” van Rensburg on 21 March 1953.
On 14 April 1956 at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg, Barnes’ open stance caused many “ohs “and “ahs” around ringside but that wouldn’t remain for long as Barnes slapped his gloves together, inviting Benny in.
The South African refused to fall for his tricks and began to box and counter-punch and if he had maintained that strategy for 15 rounds, he would have possibly emerged as the new champion.
Going into the 13th round, Nieuwenhuizen was reported as being well ahead before he was dropped for a count of seven. He got up but instead of boxing Barnes he moved in against him and was sent down again, this time for a count of nine.
After the knockdowns, he had nothing left except courage and was down again for an eight-count and on arising, the Australian knocked Benny down with a right to the chin.
Going down for the fourth time in the round, he had nothing left and referee Wilf Lubbe stopped the fight.
Giving away weight, height and reach less than a month later on 11 May at the Olympia Ice Rink in Johannesburg, after a great fight which had the crowd on their feet against the South African middleweight champion Mike Holt, the Australian lost on points over 10 rounds.
Barnes weighed in at 68.27kg and Holt at 71.28kg, the bigger, stronger, and more aggressive fighter was a clear winner even though Barnes had knocked him down in the seventh round with a short left to the jaw for a nine-count.
I was at both the fights and will always remember Barnes as a classy and competent fighter.
Barnes was involved with a four-fight series against Johnny “Smiler” van Rensburg, a 1950 Commonwealth gold medallist, Olympic Games representative in 1952 and as a professional, he would win the South African lightweight and welterweight titles and the British Empire lightweight and welterweight titles. He is the only South African fighter to have won two Empire titles.
In their first fight on 17 May 1958 at the Raylton Sports Ground in Harare (Salisbury), Van Rensburg won on points over 15 rounds to take the British Empire welterweight title, only to lose it in a return fight at the Sydney Stadium on 18 August 1958 on a 13th-round technical knockout.
Van Rensburg was suffering from a bout of flu going into the fight and was in no condition to take on a tough opponent like Barnes.
On 13 October 1955, once again at the Sydney Stadium, Van Rensburg won on points over 12 rounds in a non-title fight and on 18 September 1959 at the Festival Hall in Melbourne, he beat Barnes on points over 12 rounds in a non-title fight.
Barnes could not stay away from South African fighters and on 6 April 1959, he met the South African welterweight and middleweight champion Joe “Axe Killer” Ngidi at the Sydney Stadium in a non-title fight, losing on points over 12 rounds.
Ngidi would go on to become one of the legends of the South African ring and finish with a record of 98 fights.
In Barnes’ last fight against a South African, he knocked out one-time South African welterweight and middleweight champion Dickie William in the 11th round on 22 February 1960 at the Sydney Stadium.
Barnes was one of Australia’s most popular fighters and only lost inside the distance on one occasion. That was in his last fight on 5 February 1962, when he was stopped in the seventh round by Gary Coburn in a clash for the Australian welterweight title.
He fought some of the top fighters around at the time like Wallace Bud Smith, Eric Boon, Freddie Dawson, Barry Brown, Mick Leahy and Brian Curvis.
George finished with a record of 43-21-1; 23. He died on 23 August 2004 and was inducted into the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004.
