He travelled as a seaman to Sydney where he won the Australian heavyweight title before transferring to San Francisco where he was persuaded by the Earl of Lonsdale to operate in England, a move which enhanced his status greatly, as a contemporary noted :' I knew him in the days of his greatness when sitting on top of the pugilistic world, fêted and lionized, he might well have been excused some slight vanity'(quoted by Henderson , 1949, pp.20–1).
He travelled as a seaman to Sydney where he won the Australian heavyweight title before transferring to San Francisco where he was persuaded by the Earl of Lonsdale to operate in England, a move which enhanced his status greatly, as a contemporary noted :' I knew him in the days of his greatness when sitting on top of Mount Everest, fêted and lionized, he might well have been excused some slight vanity'(quoted by Henderson , 1949, pp.20–1).