Although appearing amateurish and clumsy, Sullivan would later name him as one of the toughest men he ever faced.
A month after the loss to Sullivan, Herbert was just as easily disposed of by England's champion, Charley Mitchell. Slade never won another prize fight and retired from the ring in 1901.
BOB FITZSIMMONS (1897)
Timaru boxer Fitzsimmons was the first man to win professional world titles in three weight divisions: middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight. Fitzsimmons came to New Zealand from Cornwall when he was 10. He worked in his father's blacksmith's forge where he built up powerful arms and shoulders.
A devastating puncher, he knocked out Jack Dempsey to win the world middleweight title in 1891. Six years later he claimed the heavyweight world crown, knocking out 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett in the first fight to be filmed. In 1903, at the grand age of 40 and having lost some condition, Fitzsimmons completed a hat-trick of titles by outpointing George Gardner over 20 rounds for the light-heavyweight title.
Stories of Fitzsimmons punching power abound. In his title fight against Dempsey, he knocked him down 13 times and was begging the American to quit. When he refused to do so he knocked him out again and carried him to his corner. Another fight with Jim Hall was called off by police after Fitzsimmons had knocked him down several times. Most devastatingly, he killed Con Riordan after knocking him down during a public sparring exhibition in New York. He was charged and acquitted of manslaughter.
Fitzsimmons died of pneumonia in Chicago in 1917 and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. There is a statue in his honour in Timaru.
TOM HEENEY (1928)
A plumber by trade, Gisborne's Heeney was a top rugby player and a powerful swimmer. He turned professional in 1920 and soon won the New Zealand heavyweight title.
After fighting with considerable success in Australia, Britain, South Africa and Ireland, he sailed for New York in 1926. He won an elimination series to become the opponent for world champion Gene Tunney. They met at Yankee Stadium in New York, where the 'The Hard Rock from Down Under' entered the ring wearing a Māori cloak. He was guaranteed US$100,000 (equivalent to around $1.5 million today) for the bout. Tunney, a boxing legend, was too good for Heeney and the bout was stopped in the 11th round.
Heeney married an American, Marion Dunn, and settled down in Miami where he owned a bar and spent many days fishing with his friend Ernest Hemingway.
Until Joseph Parker, Heeney was the only New Zealand-born heavyweight boxer to fight for the world title.
JIMMY PEAU aka THUNDER (1993)
This is a tenuous entry, as Peau was fighting as Australian heavyweight champion and the WBF title he won in 1993 is not recognised by the International Boxing Hall of Fame and therefore not ratified.
What we do know is he beat Jamaican Melton Bowen in Townsville. He lost the title in his next fight to Englishman Johnny Nelson. He also claimed an IBO (another unrecognised organisation) world title, along the way beating former WBC world champion Trevor Berbick in 1995 and holding the belt for two years before losing in a split decision to WBA world champion John Ruiz.
Two months later, he scored what is listed as the quickest knockout in boxing history, when it took him 1.5 seconds to land the shot that would lay out Crawford Grimsley.
Peau's life took a turn for the worse and in in 2011 it was reported he was living on the streets in Las Vegas. It is understood he is now back living and working in Auckland.
DAVID TUA (2000)
David Tua, like Thunder, was born in Samoa, was the last Kiwi fighter to have a chance at the heavyweight world title. And it was a genuine chance.
On November 11, 2000, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Nevada, there were high expectations his powerful punching could dethrone Briton Lennox Lewis and bring him the WBC, IBF and IBO belts as well as the right to be called the genuine heavyweight champion of the world. Tua was unable to get anywhere near the much taller Lewis, however, and while he went the distance in a dull fight, he was overwhelmingly beaten on points.
While he never landed the world title he craved, he won fights against top-ranked fighters such as John Ruiz, Hasim Rahman and Michael Moorer. He is still regarded as one of the hardest punchers to have graced a ring.
He made a late-career comeback after a protracted legal battle with former business partners Kevin Barry and Martin Pugh over tangled finances. In 2009 he defeated fellow New Zealander Shane Cameron in a brutal performance that went just seven seconds into Round 2. It remains the largest pay-per-view audience in New Zealand history.
* The print version of this story appeared without reference to Slade.
