Herbert Slade

​One of the first international Māori sportsmen didn’t actually win a championship in New Zealand but his talent was enough to get him noticed by bare knuckle champion Jem Mace.
Herbert Augustus Slade was born on January 10, 1852, of Ngāpuhi and Irish descent at Kaikino near Awanui in Northland. He was one of eight children of Irish whaler James Slade and Te Paea Rupu "Sophia" Kopiri.
Mace noticed him as a wrestler rather than a boxer but thought he had potential and took him to America - where he was a curiosity. At the time African Americans were not allowed in the boxing ring and the Māori boy was of great interest.
In 1883, Slade fought John L Sullivan for the heavyweight championship of the world at Madison Square Garden in front of 10,000 people.
Bare knuckle fighting was full on combat with no padding. Sullivan is generally considered the last heavy weight champion before the sport began using gloves.
Sullivan won the match in the third round. It was the first time a non-white contender had been allowed to vie for the title.
Despite the loss, there was plenty of interest in Slade who went on an exhibition tour of the States with Mace as his sparring partner.
He was called the Māori Mauler by the media and one of the cleverest sparrers to enter a ring.
In 1886 he was in Salt Lake City and put on a sparring match with Duncan McDonald after which they were arrested for prize fighting and received short prison sentences which were promptly pardoned.
He retired from boxing in 1891 to become a manager and director, before he tried to make a comeback but lost.
Slade had married Estelle Armenta Swasey, the daughter of a man he worked for and they had five children.
He opened a boxing school in Salt Lake City, worked as a boxing referee in Eureka, Utah and opened an athletics club.
He was also the part owner of the Last Chance gold mine in the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City.
In 1990 was appointed as a deputy sheriff at Knight’s Smelter in Utah.
Slade died in Mona, Utah in 1913 and is buried in the Mona Cemetery.
While he never won a world title, Slade is important as one of the first international Māori sportsmen on the world stage.
He was introduced into the Māori Sports hall of fame in 2011.