UNDER the glare of hot lights and the roar of a cheering crowd, a weathered voice bellows across the dust-choked air.
“Who’s game enough to take on one of my fighters?”
It’s a call that’s echoed through the Australian outback for decades, and later this month it returns to the Walloon Hotel for two nights only.
At the heart of the spectacle is Fred Brophy, recognised as Australia’s last travelling boxing tent showman.
A fourth-generation entertainer, Brophy has spent his life preserving one of the country’s most iconic and gritty traditions: tent boxing.
His troupe – known as Brophy’s Boxing Troupe – sets up a striking red-and-white tent wherever it travels, calling on local challengers to step into the ring and face off against Brophy’s stable of hardened fighters.
The format is simple: three rounds, a modest cash prize and the chance to earn local legend status.
The upcoming Walloon stop, on Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24, will mark the fourth time Brophy has brought the tent to the Walloon Hotel.
Hotel owner Stewart Gibson said the events regularly drew large crowds, with up to 500 spectators attending each night.
“People come from far and wide to see him at Walloon,” Mr Gibson said.
“It’s full of outback camaraderie – a bunch of people enjoying a cold beer, a good laugh, good food, and of course, a good biff.”
Mr Gibson said each show attracted seven or eight contenders from the crowd.
While few go the distance, some have managed to pull off the rare feat of defeating a Brophy fighter.
Now in his 70s, the OAM recipient and Queensland “Living Legend” continues to tour, donning his trademark Akubra and captivating crowds with a mix of showmanship, storytelling and no-nonsense boxing.
Brophy’s crew – made up of journeymen, Indigenous warriors and tough-as-nails women – form a travelling family that thrives on the thrill of the road and the camaraderie of the tent.
The shows at Walloon Hotel will be held rain or shine in the venue’s new all-weather beer garden.
“Fred Brophy is the most iconic Australian event there ever was and ever will be,” Mr Gibson said.
