The forgotten story of … Ted Whiting

In 1919, former middleweight boxing champion of Australia, Edward 'Ted' Whiting, lay in hospital after having had six bullets extracted from his head. Surgeons stated that he'd only survived because of his exceptionally thick skull. In 1911 he'd been at the top of his sporting profession but now he was at the top of Squizzy Taylor's list of people to kill.

In many ways Ted Whiting's early life mirrors the classic tale of the kid who boxes his way out of a tough neighbourhood. He was born the fifth of 11 children in the slums of Fitzroy in 1882. Four of his siblings died in infanthood from gastroenteritis. His sister was made ward of the state in 1892 when she was found working in a nearby brothel at the age of 14.

Constable Joseph O'Sullivan summed up the family situation at the time by stating: "The father is a man that has been much addicted to drink. The mother sometimes drinks, the children have been brought up in a very loose way … they have been allowed to run about the streets late at night and associate with what is termed larrikins and larrikinesses. The parents never seem too troubled about the welfare of their children but let them roam at pleasure."

Although appearing regularly in police surveillance notes because of the company he kept, Whiting managed to mostly stay out of trouble in his younger years. He set himself up as a hawker and earned a quid by pushing a fruit barrow around the streets of Melbourne. His first real brush with the law was early in 1902 when he came off second best in a Fitzroy street fight. Seeking retribution, he returned with a large piece of road metal tied to the end of his leather belt and laid about his aggressor's head with the makeshift weapon. Whiting avoided gaol by paying a £10 fine and began to fight professionally shortly thereafter.

The early days of Whiting's boxing career were more notable for toughness and stubborn tenacity than fistic prowess or ringcraft. Considered a third-rate pug, he stood face to face and slogged it out regardless of the punishment received. He was an athlete who had to learn on the job, and for this purpose his exceptionally thick skull served him well.

Whiting quickly became a crowd favourite. He was a promoter's dream because he couldn't be knocked out and he rarely knocked out his opposition. This meant that his fights generally went the distance and gave the audience full value for money. As Whiting's status grew he attracted better trainers and despite early detractors he began to be considered a fine exponent of 'the sweet science of bruising'.

By 1907 he was offering to fight any boxer of his weight in Australia and in January of that year he had his first crack at the Australian Welterweight title. He was losing the fight comfortably when he was disqualified for dragging his opponent to the ground. This wouldn't be his last disqualification for that year. In November he was winning easily over Ted Nelson before being disqualified for a low blow. So furious was Whiting that he closed with the referee and they exchanged blows. The crowd ripped chairs from their moorings and entered the ring, mixing it with the referee as well as the boxers and trainers. Police arrived to break up the melee and it was some time before Whiting and the referee could be separated.

Whiting stood just over 5ft 7in and used the boxing style of 'in-fighting', a technique suited to those with a shorter reach. He would attempt to get in close, keep his head low and pound away at his opponent's torso. The kidney punch was yet to be outlawed in Australia and it was a Whiting special. As an in-fighter he relied on pure unrelenting aggression – this in turn necessitated tremendous fitness and endurance. His conditioning was apparent when he travelled to Tasmania to fight Bob Greenshields at the Gaiety Theatre in April of 1908. A journalist from the Zeehan and Dundas Herald marvelled: "Whiting … stripped a perfect model, like a statue of one of the Greek gods, even to the wide round Ajaxian top-head and the long straight nose. The likeness was generally remarkable."

It's well accepted that pretty boxers don't stay that way very long and by December 1911 Whiting was described by the Sunday Times as "a typical hard-jawed pug who looks as if he had been several times assaulted with high-speed road metal".

Whiting's first national title came as a welterweight in 1910 and he promptly stepped up in weight. Within a month of victory he was fighting Dave Smith for the Australian middleweight belt in front of one of Brisbane's largest ever crowds. He held his own in an entertaining fight until the 12th round when Smith delivered a blow which almost closed his eye, prompting his trainer to throw in the towel. The next month he met south-paw Jerry Jerome in an encounter which would signal the beginning of a friendly rivalry celebrated by the masses. Jerome was the first indigenous boxing champion of Australia and a much-loved figure, both for his pugilistic talent and comic genius. The fight was held in Brisbane's open-air Olympic Stadium in front of a record crowd on one of the warmest December days the city had experienced. The floor of the ring got so hot that Whiting's feet were literally being cooked through his shoes and between rounds wet cloth was wrapped around his blistered soles. When they faced up at the beginning of the fifth, Jerome remarked to Whiting: "It's warm!" Whiting burst out laughing and retorted: "Yes, but I'm not going to be talked out." At the end of 20 gruelling rounds, Whiting was declared the winner. He had huge blisters on his bald crown and the boots had to be cut off his swollen feet.

Whiting won six encounters which were billed as Australian titles but only two are recognised by boxing historians: the 1910 welterweight and 1911 middleweight titles.

Whiting's younger brother Bunny, also known as 'the Pieman Slogger', had also started a boxing career by 1911. He was much smaller than Ted and less gifted as a boxer. He was never destined to be much more than a preliminary bout bantamweight pug and by 1923 he was known to be the oldest preliminary fighter in all of Victoria.

The year of 1912 was the beginning of the end for Ted Whiting's boxing career. He was suffering badly from rheumatics and lost four of his five bouts - two of them to Jerry Jerome. He fought one last time in 1913, beating Gus Devitt in a fight that was billed as the Australian middleweight title. He then toured for a short time with Sam Norman's tent boxing troupe before hanging up his gloves for good.

He became notorious to police during 1914 as a leading member of a gang of racecourse swindlers who specialised in the 'pea and thimble trick', the 'three card trick' and a game called Indian Darts. He received two bullets in the face that year but refused to identify his assailant.

In 1915 he was divorced by his wife Margaret after she not only discovered that he was having an affair but began to realise the full extent of the criminal enterprise he was creating. By 1917 he controlled a good portion of the low class brothels and almost all of Fitzroy's sly grog shops - several of which were managed by his brother Bunny. He had the police in his pocket and was rarely troubled by them. Whiting's former trainer Matt Daly was a principal in the organising of large scale robberies and Whiting was involved heavily in this network as well. According to police files, Fitzroy was "the home of criminals generally" and Ted Whiting was "the leader of the lot".

He clashed with gangsters Squizzy Taylor and Henry Stokes in 1918 over the division of the spoils of a jewellery robbery. This war became known as the 'Fitzroy vendetta'. Bunny was convicted for sly grog on 17 February 1919 and sentenced to six months gaol. Whiting was shot six times in the head just two days later. His headquarters were finally raided by police in May 1919 after one of his men shot a constable during a bungled liquor store robbery. Whiting was arrested along with six others and was imprisoned for nine months for being the "occupier of a house frequented by reputed thieves". He moved back to Fitzroy after his release from prison but his gang had been dispersed which meant that he had little protection and every time he popped his head up Stokes would shoot at it again. Eventually he moved out to Brunswick and opened a shop under the familiar occupation of a fruit and veg man. He died in 1941 at the age of 59 from natural causes.