Justann John Crawford (born July 24, 1973) is a retired indigenous Australian Olympic boxer. Justann earned 9 international gold medals and represented Australia at the 1992, 1996 Olympic Games and 1994 Commonwealth Games. He also held 9 Australian boxing titles mainly in the middleweight division, or in the light heavyweight division.
Justann Crawford's boxing career was cut short because of an eye injury and mild brain damage in 1998 at age 25. However, he was one of the first few indigenous Australians to compete in the Olympic Games.
His commitment to boxing has put him in the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame to recognise his multiple international titles in representing Australia as an aboriginal.
Following his retirement from the ring, Crawford became a personal boxing trainer at Balmain Fitness.
Early life
Justann Crawford was born and raised in Tasmania, Australia. He attended Parklands High School in Burnie, Cosgrove High School in Hobart for the duration of Year 9 and 10, and studied boxing at Elizabeth College for Year 11and 12 .
Crawford began boxing at the age of 12. His grandfather on his mother's side was boxer, Bobby Whelan, who died on the West Gate Bridge when it collapsed in 1970. Crawford was constantly picked on as a child for having freckles, blisters and red hair, he wanted to participate in boxing for a boost of confidence and to be able to look after himself. However, he was rejected from the PCYC Gym at the age of 10 since he was too young to join the gym.
When Crawford reached the age requirements to join the gym, he frequented the gym with his friend Ross under the guidance of Ron Miles, his boxing coach in Burnie. As a training exercise, Miles instructed Crawford and Ross to fight each other, and Ross had the upper hand at the beginning of their training. Crawford feels that this form of training is harsh and does more harm than good. Crawford sparred with boys larger in size, which made him cry. The harsh training resulted in a broken nose in the first few months of training at the age of 13, when he was knocked out by a senior boxer, Bernard Sheilds. Crawford disagrees with this teaching method where fighters are put into the ring lacking proper training on techniques, while he disagrees with this method of learning, he feels that it has made him tough.
As Crawford developed a great interest in boxing, he ran from Parklands High School to Burnie PCYC Gym four to five times a week, where he would spend three nights training by himself and two nights under the guidance of his trainer. Crawford also takes an interest in watching videos of senior boxers - Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali competing in boxing matches while taking care of his two-year-old brother.
Crawford was offered the opportunity to compete two months into his training. While Crawford was ill-equipped for gym wars, a type of training where boxers fight with the intensity of an actual competition, Crawford still felt eager to fight and joined his first boxing competition. Crawford made his debut into competitive boxing on October 19, 1985, weighing . Crawford lost his first fight against a competitor from Melbourne, Tony Prestinezi who trained under Max Bowman, the referee had to stop the fight at the second round. While Crawford lost his next two bouts, he defeated Jason Baxter of the Queensland Boxing Association at a Queenstown tournament on April 19, 1989. Crawford then defeated Dean Parker from Hobart in the third round.
Following his multiple wins, Crawford began to set goals for his career. He believed in "the power of the mind" and would visualize his goals, he believes that "the more you see it, the more you believe it, the more you achieve.". This mindset was inspired by Crawford's mentor, Billy Barr, a professional squash player. Barr trained Crawford's mental strength with training techniques like shuttle runs and wall sits, Crawford feels that Barr's training has taught his mind to "reject a body that is desperate to quit". Suzanne Kim, a director who worked with Crawford on a music video featuring him commented on Crawford's visualisation method being "a big part of his boxing career"
At age 14, Crawford won six out of ten bouts, which included fights in a State junior lightweight title and the selection of boxers to compete in the national titles in Sydney. Crawford started his training at the Burnie Police Boys Club in August 1985, and was seen sparring with Burnie's local champions Mark Filleul and Cole Thompson in preparation for the Adelaide association titles. On August 16, 1986, Crawford defeated Brendon Barber of the Hobart Police Boys Club.