Tommy Burns was the professional name of the Australian boxer Geoffrey Mostyn Murphy (19 May 1922 - 14 February 2011). He was born in Mullumbimby, New South Wales, but spent most of his life in the neighbouring Australian state of Queensland.

Murphy chose his fighting name in honour of the Canadian heavyweight boxer and former world champion, Tommy Burns

Tommy Burns (boxer)

Tommy Burns , born Noah Brusso, is the only Canadian born world heavyweight champion boxer. The first to travel the globe in defending his title, Tommy made 11 title defenses despite often being the underdog due to his size. Burns famously challenged all comers as Heavyweight Champion, leading to...

, who had lost his title to Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson (boxer)

John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...

 in Australia in 1908.

In 1947, he won the Australian Welterweight Championship and fought many of the best Australian boxers of his era, becoming a crowd favourite.

He also appeared in the 1949 Charles Chauvel Australian movie Sons of Matthew

Sons of Matthew

Sons of Matthew is a 1949 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film was shot in 1947 on location in Queensland, Australia and the studio sequences in Sydney...

.

Murphy, as Tommy Burns, was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame was founded in 2001 and began inducting boxers into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Since then annual induction dinners have been held....

in 2004.

External links

• Neil Bennetts interview at National Library of Australia
• Biographical information supplied to National Library by son Peter Murphy in December 2009
• Boxing record at BoxRec

Sources

• The Australian Film and Television Companion, ed. Tony Harrison pub. Simon and Schuster, Australia 1994