Season 5: #36 Barry Michael

Australian star Barry Michael was a world super-featherweight champion who has one of the best stories in boxing.

He won the title in a war with Melbourne rival Lester Ellis, a former student of Michael's and future friend but at the time there was a real feud. The story of that fight alone is incredible.

Then there were fights on the road, in Africa, Indonesia, the UK and in Hawaii, rumoured bouts with the likes of Azumah Nelson, Barry McGuigan, Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and fellow Australian Jeff Fenech, but they failed to materialise. 

Barry is a well-renowned broadcaster, these days, but he refers back to the Melbourne criminal underworld that was heavily involved with boxing back in the 1980s, and a violent fight with a gangster and his henchmen that, in short, spelt the end of Michael's career.