For more news and videos visit ☛ http://english.ntdtv.com<br />Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision<br />Add us on Facebook ☛ http://facebook.com/NTDTelevision<br /><br />Lionel Rose, the first Australian Aboriginal to win a boxing world title, has passed away at the age of 62. Rose became an overnight sensation and Australian hero after he won the world title in 1968.<br /><br />Lionel Rose, an icon of Australia's Aboriginal people who gained widespread fame after winning a world boxing title, died on Sunday, age 62. Rose was the first Aboriginal to be named "Australian of the Year."<br /><br />Rose became a major symbol and morale boost for Aborigines in 1968, after winning the world bantam weight boxing title in Tokyo.<br /><br />Rose fought Japan's Masahiko "Fighting" Harada, winning on points over 15 rounds.<br /><br />He returned home to a hero's welcome and a ticker-tape parade with hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets of Melbourne.<br /><br />It was an unprecedented sign of respect for any member of Australia's native people.<br /><br />A life-size bronze statue of the boxing legend was unveiled in the town of Warragul in the state of Victoria in 2010.<br /><br />He was named Australian of the Year in 1968 and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire that same year for service to sport.<br /><br />Rose fought 53 fights over the course of his career, winning 42, and had 11 knockouts.<br /><br />In 1970, Rose declined a lucrative offer to fight in South Africa in order to take a stand against apartheid.<br /><br />His life story became an Australian mini-series, "Rose against the Odds."<br /><br />He retired from fighting in 1975 and in 2007 suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.
