Danny Green
Danny Green (1990) is the youngest of four siblings, including Narelle (1984), Sharni (1986), and Brendan Green (1988). Danny’s father Mal, who he considers an ‘absolute legend’, taught Danny the values he learnt growing up in the bush, and fighting his way out of really tough times. He was firm, fair, and raised his boys to never pick a fight or throw the first punch.
Many will remember Mal, as he coached with the Marist Junior Football Club (MJFC) for 50-odd years, coaching AFL players like ‘Spider’ Burton (1987), Quenton Leach (1989), Matt Connell (1989; current Mathematics and HPE Teacher) as well as Danny and his brother Brendan, who was a 1993 West Coast Eagles draft who played for Claremont before going to work with Danny.
Growing up, Danny loved surfing and ping-pong – but really wanted to be a boxer. To that end, Mal suggested Danny go into martial arts when he was about 12, around the time he came to Newman.
After finishing Year 11 in 1989, Danny entered into a carpentry apprenticeship, believing it was important to always have something to fall back on. After completing that, he was laser-focused on boxing.
In 1993, aged 20, he competed in his first amateur match and subsequently began to win title after title. In 1998, he won a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport and a bronze medal at the Liverpool International Boxing Tournament. He was selected for both the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 2000 Summer Olympics, and remains immensely proud to have represented his country.
In 2001 Danny moved to Sydney and turned professional, training under three-time world champion Jeff Fenech. Over the next 17 years he fought 38 times, winning 33 and losing five. His first loss in his professional career was not until his 17th fight against Markus Beyer in Germany in 2003. He lost to him again in his 21st match in 2005.
Danny’s third loss was to Anthony Mundine in his 24th fight in Sydney, in 2006. At the time, the two were engaged in an ongoing feud, resulting in their fight being the most-watched pay TV event in Australian history. They went the full 12 rounds. Mundine won but, as difficult as it was to accept, Danny acknowledges Mundine was the better fighter on the night.
In 2006, director Mick Angus produced ‘The Fight Game’, a documentary about the early part of Danny’s boxing career, which Danny followed up with ‘Closed Fists Open Heart’, his biography published in 2008. That year he also retired from boxing and appeared in Season 8 of Dancing with the Stars. He was very light on his feet and he and his partner, Natalie Lowe, came second overall.
In April 2009 he came out of boxing retirement for eight years. He won all his fights except for two in 2011. His last was in Adelaide in February 2017, when he finally beat Anthony Mundine and retained the Australian cruiserweight title.
Danny has broken many boxing records in his time, won many titles all over the world, and is the only Australian to win the World Championship four times.
In 2002 Danny married Nina, and they are tremendously proud of their two children, Chloe and Archie.
He still loves surfing and is often at the beach, for which at least one man is particularly grateful. In October 2006, Danny was out in some massive waves at Yallingup when he spotted someone being dragged out to sea in a rip. Danny grabbed him and paddled him safely back to shore, his actions that day resulting in him later being awarded a Commendation for Bravery.
In 2009 he was part of the Sydney to Hobart team on supermaxi yacht Investec Loyal. Danny recalls the first night was horrendous! At one point he nearly fell off and thought for sure he was going to die.
“Give me a fight any day,” he says,
“I thought I was tough, but those ocean racing sailors really are!”
In early 2013 Danny heard how young Daniel Christie (18), had been king hit in Sydney, on New Year’s Eve 2012. The punch knocked him unconscious, and he fell and cracked his head. His grieving family had no choice but to turn off his life support system 11 days later.
Daniel’s story touched Danny deeply. Despising street violence, his disgust led him to launch the ‘Stop the Coward Punch’ campaign, which changed how coward punches are now reported and perceived. It has had an effect on lowering the number of attacks overall, but it breaks Danny’s heart to hear of one, saying people need to learn the difference between being tough, and just being a thug. The campaign, still going strong, and his anti-violence advocacy led to him being nominated as WA Australian of the Year in 2017.
In 2014 Danny launched an online health and fitness program to offer everyday people the chance to embrace a healthier lifestyle. Working with him were the country’s top sports and exercise specialists, dietitians and nutritionists. Later that year, with Tim West, he launched a new kind of boxing gym, called 12RND which, as implied, has 12 stages/rounds, each of which takes just three minutes to complete. This revolutionary method means people are no longer bound to session times, and can do their rounds when it suits them.
The idea has since spread all over the world, with 90 sites around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with an estimated 15,000 members. In 2020 the franchise united under one brand – UBX (You Box), which is now rolling out across the US, UK and Ireland, making UBX the largest provider of boxing for fitness in the world.
While Danny inspires everywhere he goes, with his energy, enthusiasm, and giant heart, he continues to inspire at Newman College too, where he is featured on one of five Alumni Inspiration Walls, in company with Prof Barry Marshall AC (1968), Dr Rosanna Capolingua AM (1976), David McAllister AC (1980) and Daniel Ricciardo AM (2006). Danny’s feature is at the entrance to the Weights Room in the Frank Ehlers Swimming Pool rooms where, every day, his words encourage students to pursue their dreams, no matter how wild. Danny’s still busy, pursuing his!
