Zdravko Micevic

Zdravko Micevic (born 1982 in Serbia) is a Melbourne based Australian professional boxer, but is best known for his involvement in the death of former Australian cricketer David Hookes.

David Hookes

On the night of January 18, 2004, Hookes went to the Beaconsfield Hotel in St Kilda, Melbourne with members of the Victorian and South Australian cricket teams, to celebrate a win by Victoria over South Australia in a one-day match. Shortly after midnight, the party was asked to leave the hotel, though there are conflicting stories as to the reason. It is also unclear whether the party left voluntarily or were forced to leave. The security staff (of which Micevic was a member) continued monitoring the behaviour of the party for a short distance outside the hotel, and there was an altercation in which Micevic physically struck Hookes. Witnesses gave highly conflicting testimony of what occurred and who started the fight, but what is not in doubt is that Hookes fell to the ground, hitting his head in the process, and going into cardiac arrest. He was revived by paramedics but did not regain consciousness. He was taken to Melbourne's Alfred Hospital and placed on life support. Hookes was taken off life support on the evening of January 19 and died shortly afterwards.

Micevic was charged by Victoria Police with assault on the day of the incident but that charge which was later upgraded to manslaughter after Hookes' death.

On September 12, 2005, Micevic was acquitted on the charge of Hookes' manslaughter. The jury had taken five days to come to its decision, after a two-week trial. An issue in the trial was conflicting statements given by witnesses. Throughout the trial Micevic had maintained that Hookes had without provocation punched him twice, and he felt obliged to defend himself against a further attack. After the trial, Micevic expressed his condolences to Hookes' family and his regret that the incident had ever occurred. A civil suit against Micevic and the Beaconsfield Hotel's owners by Hookes' wife Robyn was withdrawn on February 20, 2007.

Boxing career

In 1996, at the age of 14, with only three amateur fights under his belt Micevic became the Victorian amateur champion and was the runner-up in the Australian amateur championships. In the same year he also won a silver medal at the Australian Amateur Boxing League titles in Rockhampton.

In 1998, aged 16, he won the Australian amateur junior welterweight title on the Gold Coast and was talked about as a possible prospect for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, however from that point on he lost interest in the sport eventually quitting the sport after his 25th amateur fight.

After the Hookes trial, boxing promoters began pressuring Micevic to fight professionally as soon as two weeks after the verdict was handed down, however it took Micevic 18 months after the verdict to agree to make his professional boxing debut.

Micevic began his professional boxing career with a unanimous points decision in a 6 round "main event" bout against Wes Ryder in a Light Heavyweight bout at the Darebin Community Sports Stadium in Reservoir, Melbourne on April 13 2007.

External links

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* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/19/1074360697676.html "Boxer's golden dreams" - Melbourne The Age 20/1/04]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1458713.htm "Micevic cleared of killing cricketer David Hookes" - ABC 12/9/05]
* [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21433439-5001023,00.html "I can't hide out forever" - Sydney Daily Telegraph 24/3/07]