Kitione Lave

Kitione Takitau Lavemai (16 April 1934 – 2 June 2006), who fought under the name Kitione Lave, was a Tongan heavyweight boxer from the island of Hunga, Vava'u and Kotu, Ha'apai.

Lave was born in the island of Hunga, Vava'u, Tonga in 1934.

By February 1952 Lave had seven fights under his belt, having lost only one.

He then moved to Fiji, where in August 1952 he beat Semi Galoa with a last round knockout.

After two more successful bouts, Lave was matched against Fijian Miliano for the South Pacific heavyweight title.

In 1953 he travelled to New Zealand and set himself up in Auckland.

As well as fighting professionally, Lave also found work as a gardener at the Auckland residence of Queen Sālote Tupou III.

The contest took place on 7 March 1953 in the town of Ba and was scheduled for 12 rounds.

Lave knocked out his opponent in the fifth round to take his first belt.

He defended this title on 13 April 1953 in Fiji through another knockout victory in the second round against Inoke Davu.

In June 1953 Lave travelled to New Zealand on the steamship Tofua.

Within a month he was boxing at the Town Hall in Auckland and quickly became a regular fighter at the venue.

Described as a "boxing promoter's dream drawcard", Lave was young, good looking and was able to knockout opponents with either hand, and in his first three months in Auckland he fought six times, winning all of them within the distance.

The last of these six fights was against Don Mullett, the New Zealand heavyweight champion, who he stopped in the seventh round through a cut eye.

This string of wins brought Lave to the public's attention and he was summoned to meet with Queen Sālote, who wished to advise him on his role as a cultural ambassador for Tonga.

Three months later a rematch was arranged between Lave and Mullett and the two men met at the Race Course in Stratford.

This time the match lasted until the tenth, when Lave knocked out his opponent.

A month later, Lave was matched with experienced English fighter Ken Brady, who had also beaten Mullett earlier in the year.

The contest, held at the Western Springs Stadium, would turn out to be Lave's first defeat in New Zealand, with Brady taking the fight on points after the fight went the full distance.

Despite the defeat, Lave's career continued to flourish and he let New Zealand for Australia.

Lave continued to be matched against top opponents, and his very next fight was against Australian Allen Williams, the New South Wales State Heavyweight Champion.

Held at Leichhardt Stadium in Sydney, Williams entered the fight on a nine match unbeaten run.

Lave failed to be overwhelmed by his opponent and stopped the future Australian champion in the eighth round.

After stopping an inexperienced Paul Butler in April he was rematched with Williams.

Williams fared no better the second time around, being knocked out again in the eighth round.

In September 1954 Lave travelled to Melbourne to face Brady for a second time.

Again the Englishman had the advantage and Lave was knocked out for the first time in his career.

A second rematch was quickly arranged and two days before Christmas Lave and Brady travelled to New Zealand to fight at Carlaw Park in Auckland.

In 1955 his boxing took him to Great Britain, where he met school teacher Patricia Gee.

At the age of 18 he became the South Pacific heavyweight champion and in 1956 he, unsuccessfully, challenged Joe Bygraves for the vacant Commonwealth title.

A heavy hitting fighter, with the vast majority of his victories ending in knockouts, he was known as The Tongan Torpedo.

After retiring from boxing he had a brief career as a professional wrestler.

The two were married in 1957 and they had one daughter, also Patricia.

While in Britain Lave joined the Royal Air Force, and served for some time in Singapore.

After retiring from boxing, whilst in Britain and Singapore, he took up professional wrestling.

Once he had completed his time with the RAF, Lave became a successful nightclub owner running an establishment in Sheffield.

He and Patricia moved to New Zealand in 1971 where he attempted to run a casino, but with little success.

Lave died after a long illness at a rest home in Beach Haven in 2006.

Kitione Lave began his boxing career as a teenager on the island of Vava'u, Tonga.

His first recorded fight took place on Vava'u where, at the age of 16, he won a three round fight on points.