Fiji-born boxer guards stage, screen star actress
FIJI-BORN boxer Ben Valentine has had some unusual jobs and experiences in his long and distinguished boxing career in Britain and United States.
In an interview with The Fiji Times in 1957, Ben said the most memorable jobs which he took was the task of guarding stage and screen star Mae West.
Mae West was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, and comedian whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.
Ben said that he got the job by “sheer luck”.
He accidentally went into a theatre where the star was busy rehearsing for a new show. Ben found himself among the “extras” doing a boxing scene and as he appeared to know something about the sport (more than 300 professional fights against some of the world’s best light heavyweights and middleweights) he soon got the job.
Miss West and the producer decided that he fitted the bill ideally for a boxing scene which they were casting.
So Ben went on tour with the Mae West Show all over Britain and at the same time managed to fit in a few fights to keep himself trim.
When the tour finished, Miss West gave Ben a job as her bodyguard (most stage and screen stars employ bodyguards to prevent them from being pestered in public).
Boxers in the 1930s in Fiji were really tough, according to Ben. He travelled from Fiji to Britain as a crew member on a luxury yacht which had called in to Suva. After eight days, the yacht reached the New Hebrides.
There they found that a boxing tournament which was to have been held the next night (Monday) had to be cancelled because a heavyweight boxer was unable to fight.
Ben, although he had not had any training for eight days, stepped into the breach and knocked the local man out in the fifth round.
A French liner called in the next morning and on board was the heavyweight champion of Noumea. The local promoter, grateful to Ben for saving his tournament immediately arranged another tournament for the Tuesday night.
Ben again upheld the honour of Fiji although this time it took one round longer to dispose of the champion from Noumea.
Ben said that during the early days of his boxing career in Britain when he was struggling to climb the fistic ladder, it was nothing unusual for him to fight three bouts in one week.