Brad Pitt the boxer takes a swing at Games

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

MELBOURNE, Mar 21 (Reuters) Brad Pitt took centre stage at the Commonwealth Games today.

Not Brad Pitt the Hollywood heart throb but Brad Pitt the burly heavyweight Australian boxer, a former housepainter and the son of a small-town news store owner.

Visitors reading through the competition schedule for the Games today could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled on a remake of Pitt the actor's movie ''Fight Club''.

There it is in bold print: Brad Pitt (Australia) v James Wasao (Kenya), heavyweight 91 kg class quarter-finals.

Pitt's mother says her son has heard all the jokes, ever since ''show and tell'' one day in year six at school on the Mornington Peninsula in southern Victoria state.

''One of the children brought in a news clipping with Brad Pitt in it. That's when he found out there was another one,'' Pitt's mother Leanne told Australian media.

''He gets so much because of his name, by now he is over it,'' she said. ''He'd like to be known for his talent, not his name.'' Pitt's fists have been the star attraction so far at the Games, a four-yearly event for 71 sporting associations from 53 mainly former British colonies.

On Friday he upset favourite Daniel Price of England on points to advance to the quarter-finals.

He also had some heavyweight visitors when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks paid a surprise visit.

Pitt, 24, had just finished his fight against Price when Rice walked in, surrounded by security guards and cameras.

Rice was in Australia for trilateral security talks with Australia and Japan but took time out on Friday to visit a range of events including boxing, weightlifting and swimming, where she met Australian Olympic and world champion Ian Thorpe.

''She was saying how much she enjoyed the boxing. She said her dad would take her to the boxing when she was a girl in Alabama,'' The Australian newspaper quoted Pitt as saying.

Not surprisingly, Pitt's biography details list his nickname as ''Hollywood''.

Reuters VJ DB0757

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X