25 April 2004 17:49
Box: Jeff Fenech pays tribute to Bill Mordey
SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - He might have had the handle of "Break Even" but to Jeff Fenech, Bill Mordey was
decidedly more unstinting than that. "He was the ultimate knock-about Aussie who would give you his last
dollar," said Fenech of Mordey, who passed away on Friday night after a long battle with cancer. "I'm the
first to realise I wouldn't have done what I've done without Bill. "You are not going to get too many bad
words said about him - he was an all round good bloke who'll be sadly missed." Mordey, a highly successful
boxing promoter and well known journalist, was a prominent figure in the Australian boxing revival of the 1980s. His
shrewd negotiating in the notoriously difficult boxing world played a major part in Fenech's success, something
which the triple world champion readily acknowledges. It was Mordey who convinced Kostya Tszyu to relocate from Russia
to Australia, the former scribe paving the way behind the scenes for Tszyu to win the first of his four world title
belts. The pair split acrimoniously thereafter with Mordey claiming a massive compensation payout because of breach of
contract. While Fenech was also drawn into the court action with claims he had helped Tszyu to break the contract, that
action was dismissed. But despite that run-in the pair settled their differences, Fenech today saying that incident was
well in the past. "We can say lots of things but he's not with us now and I'll remember the good things
anyway," he said. "He had an audacity in some situations that I wished I had. He could come up with something
outrageous to get a headline and was a great people person." Mordey,67, had an adverse reaction to chemotherapy
treatment last week and was admitted to the Mater Hospital in Newcastle on Thursday. He died at 9.45pm on Friday night.
Mordey is succeeded by his wife Gwenda, children Karen and Craig and grandchildren Aaron, Luke and Eloise. His funeral
will be held on Friday at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral. AAP gc
[AAP News] |
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