Jeff Harding, the first Australian to win a world light-heavyweight title, was the epitome of tough. Blessed with a granite chin, intestinal fortitude to die for, and a willingness to fight the best, often in his opponent’s backyard, Harding might not have been pretty to watch but, boy, was he entertaining. Harding wore his heart on his sleeve in just about every fight he had, he knew no other way.
Training under the tutelage of Australian legend Johnny Lewis, this alongside another Australian great in Jeff Fenech, Harding managed to win a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1986.
Having dropped out of school at age 16, to live the life of a “beach bum,” who fished and surfed, Harding might have surprised himself in terms of being able to box, fight and train as well as he could. It turned out Harding was a born fighter.
Harding went pro in November of 1986 and he was soon beating more polished boxers with his toughness, with his desire. Harding had a seemingly unquenchable craving for good, old-fashioned toe-to-toe battles; fights that were decided by who was the harder man. And there were not too many fighters who proved they were harder than Harding.
Dennis Andries came the closest. These two no-frills warriors took each other to hell and back no less than three times during the course of their bitter, bloody, and painful rivalry; the rivalry beginning in June of 1989 and coming to an end in September of 1991. Harding had found his dance partner, a veritable mirror image of himself.
Harding shocked Andries in fight-one, in Atlantic City, stopping the Kronk fighter late on to take the WBC 175 pound title. Andries got his revenge in the return, battering Harding to the mat for keeps in the seventh round in Australia.
Then Harding pushed himself and Andries to the brink of real exhaustion in getting the oh, so close points win in the rubber match that was held in London.
These two men, both underrated, could have fought each other ten times and the action would have been as punishing, as closely fought. Neither man was the same again after their 31 grueling rounds.
Harding traveled to France for two fights after taking his belt back from “old man” Andries; scoring wins over Christophe Tiozzo (TKO8) and David Vedder (W12) – before the slick, old-school moves of the great Mike McCallum proved to be far too much. Harding could not drag the supremely skilled McCallum into a dog fight.
But the Andries rematch aside, Harding was never stopped. Harding achieved a heck of a lot inside around seven-and-a-half years of professional fighting.
A long battle with booze came during his retirement years and today Harding carries a low profile.
Those fans who were thrilled by Harding’s tenacity, by his sheer guts, by his ‘I hit you, you hit me’ approach remember him with great fondness. Today, Jeff turns 57. Here’s hoping “Hitman” Harding has himself a very happy birthday.