Kitione Lave

Kitione Lave
Data
Birth Name	Lavemai Kitione Takitau
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Tonga
birthday	April 16, 1934
place of birth	Hunga , Tonga
Date of death	June 2, 2006
Place of death	Beach Haven , North Shore City, New Zealand
style	Left-hand boom
Combat Statistics
Struggles	72
Victories	51
Knockout victories	43
Defeats	18th
draw	2
Profile in the BoxRec database

Kitione Lave (born April 16, 1934 in Hunga , Tonga , † June 2, 2006 in Beach Haven , New Zealand ) was a boxer from Tonga.

Career

Kitione Lave started boxing as a teenager on the island of Vava'u, part of Tonga . Already at the age of 17 he played his first professional fight on this island against another South Sea islander named Koniseti, which he won on points. By 1953 he completed a total of twelve fights in Tonga and Fiji and won on March 7, 1953 in Ba, Western, Fiji, the championship of South Pacific in the heavyweight division by a knockout victory in the 5th round over Miliano from Fiji. He defended this title on April 13, 1953 in Fiji by another knockout victory in the 2nd round over Inoke Davu.

Kitione Lave practiced a rough, exhausting boxing style. He tried to win his fights prematurely mostly with brute force. He often succeeded in this, as the high number of knockout victories in his career shows. Against technically good boxers, however, he usually didn't get along so well with this recipe. For this reason he was often boxed out by such boxers.

On July 20, 1953, the rough diamond Kitione Lave boxed for the first time in Auckland , New Zealand . He defeated Peter Day by knockout in the first round. In the next fights he won against New Zealand and Australian boxers mostly briefly by knockout. Among the fighters he defeated was the New Zealand heavyweight champion Don Mullet, whom he defeated prematurely on October 5, 1953 in Auckland in the 7th round and in revenge on January 16, 1954 in Stratford in the 10th round.

On February 11, 1954 Kitione Lave lost to the Australian Ken Brady in Auckland over 12 rounds on points. This was his first loss in a professional fight. Against the same boxer he lost on September 24, 1954 by techn. KO in the 7th round, before he could defeat this on December 23, 1954 in Melbourne by KO in the 12th round. After a few more victories in Australia, Kitione Lave fought for the first time in Europe on July 26, 1955 . In Birmingham he met the former British Empire Champion Johnny Williams and lost by knockout in the first round.

Kitione Lave had certainly imagined his European debut differently. In the next fights, however, it became clear that he was able to win quickly by knockout against European boxers in the second row, but had a hard time against the real class people. Kitione Lave initially stayed in Great Britain until 1957 and was subject to a. against Joe Bygraves , Jack Gardner and Brian London . But he beat the former European champion Don Cockell from England in the 2nd round by knockout in London on April 24, 1956 and was therefore able to fight Joe Bygraves for the vacant British Empire Heavyweight Title on June 26, 1956 in London. But he lost this fight over 15 rounds on points.

During these years Kitione Lave fought three times against German boxers. Against Hans Brendemühl and Günter Nürnberg , both from Hamburg he won by knockout in the 2nd and 1st round, but against Hans Friedrichs (boxer) from Dortmund he lost on December 9, 1957 in Nottingham on points. After this fight, he temporarily returned to his homeland, where he fought a series of fights against opponents from Fiji and Tonga.

On December 26, 1959, Kitione Lave fought in Bologna against European champion Franco Cavicchi from Italy and lost over 10 rounds on points. After that he only fought against two important opponents. Against Uli Nitzschke from Germany he lost on August 19, 1960 in Berlin by knockout in the 2nd round and on March 21, 1961 he lost in Boston , Massachusetts against the US world ranking man Tom McNeeley by techn. KO in the 7th round. After two victories in fights in Singapore against lesser-known boxers, he ended his career as a boxer in 1964.

Kitione Lave then worked as a professional wrestler (catcher) in England, Singapore and New Zealand. He later ran night clubs in Auckland for a while, where he lived until his death.

literature

• Box Sport trade journal from 1953 to 1964

Web links

• Kitione Lave in the BoxRec database
• Kitione Lave in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Website fighttimes.com