A 2005 file photo of a Sports Treasures stamp featuring Lionel Rose, issued in acknowledgment as being one of Australia's greatest sporting icons. His state funeral is being held today. [ABC]

Last Updated: Mon, 16 May 2011 08:41:00 +1000

Up to two-thousand people are expected to attend the funeral for Australian boxing champion, Lionel Rose.

The state funeral will be held at Melbourne's Festival Hall where Rose won his first major fight in 1963.

The former boxer died at his Australian home earlier this month aged 62.

He had been suffering from health problems since having a stroke in 2007 that left him partially paralysed with speech difficulties.

Rose made Australian sporting history in 1968 when he became the first Indigenous boxer to win a world championship.

He beat Japan's Fighting Harada in Tokyo to claim the world bantamweight title.

When he returned to Australia, Rose was greeted by more than 100,000 people outside the Melbourne Town Hall.

In 1968 he was named Australian of the Year for his achievement.

He also became a recording artist in the 1970s and had two top 10 hits - I Thank You and Please Remember Me - as a country musician.