If you had come to the Holy Trinity gym at Dulwich Hill, NSW on April 1, Palm Sunday, you would have witnessed a world record go into the Guinness Book.
Father Dave ‘Fighting Padre’ Smith boxed 120 rounds (3min a round with 1min rest in between) to officially eclipse the former world record of 111 rounds in the USA. Fr. Dave took on all comers including world super-middleweight champion Anthony Mundine, heavyweight Sol Soumono, light-heavyweight Nader Hamdan, and world contenders Lovemore Nhou and Sol Egribine.
I did not box this time, but refereed the first two rounds, the final three rounds, and 40 rounds in between.
Funny, but I felt like a celebrity up there, being interviewed before the record attempt by Channel 7 and other television crews. Of course, those grabs on me would probably end up in the cutting room floor. But it was a memorable experience for me, especially when I was given the honour of refereeing the final three rounds to establish the new world record. There were only three referees from the Boxing Australia. I was the only one without an Australian ‘ticket’ but was invited as a former referee of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines.
The boxing rounds started at exactly 12 noon and finished at 8pm.
What a wonderful day it was for me.