This is a story of a young man named Dean Gayther.
Dean had a total of 10 professional fights and of those fights, won 6 (3KO’S) and lost 4.
Dean held the Victorian Professional Middleweight Title and fought for the Victorian Super Middleweight Title.
Dean held a few titles as an amateur and although Dean did not set the boxing world on fire, he will always be remembered by me, especially as I promoted most of his fights and this is my tribute to one of the bravest boxers that I have seen.

Dean was born on the 23rd of April 1976 and was 28 years of age when he so tragically died in a motorcycle accident on the 8th of May 2004.
Dean Gayther was the son of Bill and Lorraine. Bill is an ex pug and Dean followed his lead. Dean trained at the Ringwood boxing gym and was trained by Mick Canavan. Dean, like everybody else that Mick trained idolised Mick. Mick Improved Dean’s boxing skills as well as give him the direction he needed.
Dean made his professional debut on my first ever professional card that I ever promoted on June 25, 1999; ironically Dean’s fight was the first of the night. Dean fought an Aboriginal boxer named Derik Brown, who caught the train from the South Australian country town of Mt Gambier for the fight.
At that time, the fights were held at the Hungarian Community centre. It was only a small venue but we managed to squeeze 1200 people in to a venue that really would only fit 700-800. We even had to close the doors and turn away another 4-500 people which brought tears to my eyes.
The place was pumping with electricity and atmosphere the way a good fight night does and it was made better by the fact that a professional fight night had not been held in the area for years. Derik Brown was the first to enter the ring and was virtually unnoticed when entering. Then the shouts of “go Deano” started as he squeezed his way through until he got into the ring where he could be seen by everyone. It was only then that you realised that this “Deano” kid was one popular kid.
Then the bout started. It was scheduled for 6x2 minute rounds and the awkwardness of Brown with his obvious inexperience and Gayther’s exuberance, the crowd were on their feet cheering wildly and although there was not much skill exercised by either, it was just a brawl but a bloody exciting one. The fight at this pace was could not last long and it did not. Dean put Brown away in the second. In his after fight speech with the ring announcer, Howard Leigh, Dean apologized to all his mates that got to the venues after the doors were shut.
Dean was a character and in all his after fight speeches he always was humorous. There were no airs or graces about Dean and he was there for his mates to watch him fight. 
Dean was a good boxer with good skills but his problem was that he got sucked into a slugfest too easily and although your average punter would not care because they were there to witness a balls ‘n’ all punch on, it also meant that Dean made fights hard for himself and arguably lost to some fighters that he had the skills to beat.
Mick Canavan who trained Dean was very sick in hospital at the time of Dean’s pro debut. He demanded that he be allowed to attend the fights and was refined to a wheelchair where he gave instruction from Dean’s corner. That was the kind of trainer Mick was, risk his own health for his boys and his family. Although it may not have been sensible to leave the hospital in his condition, I feel it an honour that Mick got to see the very first promotion that I put on as he was my trainer as well, both in boxing and in life from when I began with him as a 15 year old kid.
Mick died a little over 3 weeks later which rocked everybody’s world and left a lot of people losing a father figure and role model, including Dean.
My 2nd promotion was not technically mine as I did it in association with the legendary boxing promoter Bill Mordey. It was an honour to work with both Bill and Craig Mordey. The show was broadcast live across Australia on Fox sports and was dubbed ‘The Mick Canavan Memorial’.
Three of Mick’s boxers were on; Steve Marks, Stewart Patterson and Dean Gayther. Dean fought a guy from Sydney named Leo Christov and boxed brilliantly, winning a four round decision. It was like Mick was watching because Steven Marks also won, stopping Dindo Caroy to win the Australian Title.
As said before, Dean was sometimes more interested in an exciting slugfest then winning on points and this was the case when he faced Tasmanian Frank Ciampa. Dean got caught up in the atmosphere, and in a great four rounder they got stuck right into it and Dean lost on a point’s decision.
In Dean’s next fight, he easily disposed of Queenslander David Vince inside a round and I then matched him against Townsville boxer Brad Reid over 6 rounds. Dean got put on his behind in the first round and then battled back and in another war that was becoming typical of Dean’s fights, he ended up stopping Reid in the 5th. It was truly a great fight and really made the night as the main event was not half as exciting and everyone went home talking about the Gayther Reid punch up.
Dean’s next fight was against another Tasmanian named David Youd. Youd had only won two of eight but was always in a good fight. It turned out that it was awarded Prelim fight of the year 2007, another great fight that was fought with the determination that Dean has with unquestionable heart. Dean won on points.
Dean’s next two fights took place in Sydney where he was beaten by Andriy Khamula and Joel Bourke. I was at the Bourke fight and there was not a lot in it as they were both a similar build and again it was a very exciting fight.
Dean’s next fight was without a doubt the highlight of Dean’s career. He was matched to fight David Steenson for the Victorian Middleweight Title on the 30th of March 2001, and it was the main event at ‘Fort Knox’ as it has become to be known.
I was training Steenson at the time and he was unbeaten in 7 fights with 5 KO’s. He was a big puncher and had a nasty streak in him which I suppose used to intimidate most of his opponents, but Dean was not one to be intimidated.
The fight between Gayther and Steenson stands out in my memory because there were so many amazing things that happened, and of course, the happy ending.
David Steenson was, as like I said, a big puncher with questionable stamina, but an incident happened at the weigh-inn that was totally amusing, and as I was the promoter of the event, as well as the trainer, I just enjoyed and laughed at what was going on. Steenson got on the scales, got weighed, got his photo taken and then looked menacingly at Dean, and fairdinkum, Dean could not have cared less. Dean just laughed the more Steenson screwed up while trying to find a face that would scare Dean into not laughing and looking back at him. It was actually very comical some of the faces that where being pulled, and the funniest (or saddest) thing was that Steenson thought his plan would work. As Dean walked passed Steenson, he looked squarely into his eyes, laughed and said, “You’re a dickhead”. Maybe you had to be there to understand how I am trying to picture the situation to you, but that was Dean, very real and saw it how it really was.
The fight was very entertaining with Dean having his usual big support base and Steenson having quite a big support base following some good fights in the lead up at Knox. All my boxers got support as it was like our home ground.
The fight started with both boxers not shy to exchange and in what had become typical in Dean’s fights, he got dropped in the first round, and all that did though was kick him into gear. Dean was hurt but he hung in there, the longer it went the more Steenson lost his zap and Gayther was still in there and landing more regularly. The 2nd and 3rd were pretty even but you knew Steenson was getting tired and Gayther was more than back in the fight. The 3rd round ended and Steenson came back to the corner and said his right hand was broken. He did not want to fight on. I personally had never had this happen in my corner before and I really did not know what to do, as he showed no signs of injury during the fight.
So Steenson is shaking his fist, saying that he can not go on and the ref is asking me what is going on until I finally said to the ref to “Stop it”.
The scenes of happiness for Dean’s corner were unforgettable for me.
Dean came back from being bowled over in the first and showed the grit hi was made of and completely took the fight out of Steenson, which may have started at the weight inn the night before.
The after fight interview by Howard Leigh was hilarious, with Dean saying and joking that it was his plan all along to get knocked down in the first and then come back and stop Steenson. He was just a natural and just one of the lads.
Dean had one more fight after this which was another State Title effort, but this time at Super Middleweight. He lost on a very arguable points decision.
Dean had his troubles outside of the ring, and I suppose boxing helped for a long while for him to keep focused.
Although I promoted a lot of Dean’s fights and he used to come to my gym for sparring, I did not know Dean very well outside of boxing. He was always polite to me, and as a promoter, having him fight on your card was always good because you knew he would bring a crowd and give more than his moneys worth. You had to love him, he was funny, brave and a total character.
Boxing helped Dean stay on the tracks and when he retired I did not see him for a long time, but I always asked how he was doing.
Dean had discovered motorbikes and was passionate about it like he was about boxing. It was good because he had a focus again. What ever Dean did he did with everything he had. When you watched Dean fight, you knew that there was no quit in this man and he would literally die trying to win a fight before quitting.
Ironically, Dean died living his other passion with bikes.
Dean brought excitement to the shows and fought with his heart and soul.
Thanks for the memories