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longweekend58 wrote on Jun 10 th, 2013 at 1:38pm: Swagman wrote on Jun 10 th, 2013 at 11:31am: Actually I stand corrected it was 4 bouts. http://www.theage.com.au/sport/abbott--not-the-greatest-but-a-fighter-20091204-k... Quote: PLAYING first-grade rugby as a prop for Sydney University at the age of 19, Tony Abbott, the newly elected leader of the Liberal Party, received more than his fair share of foul blows. I understand. I played football for the University of Tasmania during the Vietnam war. We learnt all about fear on the football field.
Eventually, ''Abo'', as he is known to his mates, went off with a couple of others and sought instruction in boxing. A few years later, while drinking in a pub with a group of friends at Oxford, it was put on Abbott that he should fill the vacancy for a heavyweight in the university boxing team. By closing time, it seemed a good idea, but considerably less so when he woke the following morning with a hangover. What happened next is possibly the most intriguing part of the story.
Among Abbott's friends at Oxford was a ''most unusual Jesuit'' from America who took his vow of poverty so seriously he dressed in clothes that had belonged to other priests who had died. He was also a boxer. When Abbott arrived at the gym to declare his unavailability for the Oxford team, he was met by the Jesuit who had gone out and bought him a skipping rope. To a man committed to a life of poverty, a skipping rope represents a major financial outlay. This is like one of those moments in a medieval tale, possibly a comedy, when the knight's honour is engaged. Abbott then believed he had no choice.
In his first bout, against Cambridge, he knocked his opponent out cold in 45 seconds. His second, against a cadet officer from Sandhurst Royal Military College, was also over in the first round. His third bout, against a marine who had fought in the Falklands War and "a much bigger man", was won by Abbott on a TKO when his opponent took his fifth standing count in the second round.
In the fourth and final fight of his career, he triumphed for the second time over a Cambridge man - the bout again being stopped in the first round wow... a whole four fights, all with head gear. There would be a number of people on this forum who have had far more fist fights and punches to the head without protection. And to be honest, sometimes it shows. He fought without headgear, multiplying the brain trauma inflicted onto himself. He also partook in fist fights in places like the Uni and on the rugby field. Abbott is within a very high risk group of mental illness.
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