The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 96: Kevin Skinner wins heavyweight title (1947)
But the Otago hard man was also an outstanding boxer.
He flourished in both sports while at Christian Brothers, in Dunedin, and then St Kevin's College in Oamaru.
Straight after World War 2 he decided to put his burgeoning rugby career on hold while he focused on boxing.
"Rugby and boxing didn't mix too well. I needed to get my weight up for rugby and my weight down for boxing," Skinner later told rugby writer Bob Howitt.
Skinner was Otago heavyweight champion in 1946, and in 1947 he claimed the New Zealand amateur title in Christchurch.
Over a two-year period he criss-crossed the country looking for opponents. In Howitt's book, New Zealand Rugby Greats, Skinner recalled facing a Samoan chief in Ashburton.
"He was tattooed from his knees to his chest. About five minutes before the bout this Samoan knocks on my door and says, 'Kevin Skinner - I don't think we should fight. Your brother is a doctor in Samoa and he saved my brother's life.'
"I appreciated his sentiments but told him the bout had to go on regardless. The spectators had paid their money.
"He soon forgot his feelings when we stepped into the ring. He threw everything at me in the first round but he quickly ran out of puff, and I won."
Skinner returned to rugby in 1947. He would play 63 games (20 tests) for the All Blacks.
Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, he lives in Auckland.
