Thomas William Murphy (3 November 1863 – 26 July 1939) was a New Zealand boxer. An early World Featherweight Champion, he was the first world champion of any weightclass to come from New Zealand. In his early career, he took the New Zealand Lightweight Championship.

He was a prolific boxer who fought more than two hundred fights, with a few going as long as thirty and forty rounds. He was known more for a powerful punch than an exceptional defense.^[1]

Murphy was born in Auckland and began boxing there before continuing his career in Australia. He called his deadly right, his "Torpedo" punch, which also referred to his ring name.

Murphey won the World Featherweight title on 13 January 1890 defeating Ike Weir in a fourteenth round knockout at the California Athletic Club in San Francisco, California. In the final round, possibly to show his dominance and contempt for his opponent, Weir did a backflip. Murphey immediately unloaded a serious right as Weir landed, known as the "torpedo punch", which resulted in a knockdown that ended the bout after a count of ten.^[6] The purse for the fight was $2,250.

According to one source, Weir, who led through much of the bout, was down repeatedly in the thirteenth round when Murphy rallied.^[7] In a rematch, on 2 November 1893, Murphy lost to Weir in a sixth round knockout, which was one of the high points of Weir's late career. In the fourth round, Weir knocked Murphy entirely out of the ring. Weir successfully used his clever ducking and bobbing as a defense in the fight, avoiding Murphy's powerful right which had plagued him in their earlier title bout.^[8]

After the match with Weir, he defeated Tommy Warren, Tommy White, and Eddie Greaney before returning to Australia in September 1890. Murphy was considered to have forfeited his title because he left the United States to return to New Zealand. However, Australia and New Zealand continued to recognise his title until he lost to Albert Griffiths known as Young Griffo in Sydney on 2 September 1890. The bout was recognised as a Featherweight World Title match by Great Britain and Australia. Griffo was knocked down twice in the first three rounds. The fight ended in the fifteenth when a right to Murphy's jaw led him to throw off his gloves and concede the fight.^[9]

He would lose to Young Griffo again on 22 July 1891 at the Sydney Amateur Athletic Club in another World Featherweight Title match. The bout would end in a twenty-second round disqualification against Murphy.^[3]

He returned to the United States in 1892 to continue boxing. On 6 February 1892, he was knocked out by Johnny Griffith in a 122 pound Featherweight Title match in Brooklyn, New York. Both boxers complained of injuries to their hands, not uncommon considering the thin gloves used in most bouts.^[2]

On 31 May 1892, he fought Johnny Murphy in San Francisco in a forty round no contest bout that was billed as a 122 pound World Championship. On 28 December 1892, in San Francisco, he had a rematch with Tommy White, whom he had defeated two years earlier, that ended in an epic thirty-four round no contest. The bout was for a $2,500 purse. In the fifteenth, White lost his momentum and was dropped by Murphy in the following round. From the seventeenth, to the twenty-ninth little fighting was done, both boxers to exhausted or disinclined to give or receive much punishment. The referee said he would allow four more rounds, but stopped the fight on the thirty-fourth as there was too little boxing taking place. No blows were landed in the last eleven rounds, and some in the crowd suspected the fight was fixed. All betting was declared off by the third round by the referee.^[10]

In an unusual match on 16 December 1893, in Paterson, New Jersey, with George Dixon, Murphy was disqualified in the third round for a blow to the referee. Dixon had the best of the first round. Trying to break the fighters from clinching in the third round, Murphy hit Referee James Stoddard with a right in the face either accidentally or distracted by the heat of the moment, and infuriated, Stoddard retaliated with two quick blows that landed Murphy under the ropes. The house became wild, but the police managed to keep order. Some papers described the fight as a knockout, though the referee, not Dixon put Murphy on the mat.^[11]

In 1904, he returned to Australia and continued his boxing career, fighting around fifteen additional bouts. His last battle was with Jimmy Ross in Auckland in 1906.

He died at his home in Auckland, New Zealand, on 26 July 1939 at the age of 75.^[3]

Murphy was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

All information in this section is derived from BoxRec,^[14] unless otherwise stated.

• List of lineal boxing world champions
• List of featherweight boxing champions