Family slam ‘bullsh*t’ media reports about Vincent Atulia, Andrew Colivas underworld links

A pro-boxer and friend of a Melbourne duo killed in Vietnam has slammed reports suggesting the pair was mixing with underworld figures — claiming they “ended up in bad a situation”.

Two Melbourne boxers who mysteriously died while holidaying in Vietna “ended up in a bad situation” rather than foul play, according to associate

Friends and associates of the two men who died holidaying in Vietnam have hit back at the “bulls—” media reports suggesting the pair were mixing with organised crime figures.

One of Vince Atulia’s closest boxing mates said the group had been enjoying a holiday in South-East Asia before they “ended up in a bad situation”.

He said the media reports that suggested Atulia, 24, and his mate Andrew Colivas, 25, were associates of outlaw motorcycle gang members were “a lot of bullsh—”.

He said Atulia’s family were considering pausing donations to the GoFundMe page as the allegations and rumours about the pair’s alleged criminal history came to light.

“It’s a lot of bullshit”: Kayne Clarke doesn’t subscribe to reports the boxing duo had underworld links. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“It’s all over the news, it’s a lot of bullshit,” professional boxer Kayne Clarke said at a charity event raising funds for the family last week.

“I think they’ve even frozen the GoFundMe page because of all the bad news that has been going around about Vinny and the boys that are overseas.

“(The media are) trying to connect them to bikies, and affiliating (the men) with them, it’s not true at all.

“They were just young boys that went overseas to have a holiday with some good mates and (they) just ended up in a bad situation.

“Now they’re stuck over there and they didn’t have the insurance to obviously get them over.”

Mr Clarke, who is undefeated in 14 boxing bouts, teamed up with memorabilia merchant ‘A Trading Card’ to auction off various collectables to raise funds for Atulia’s grieving family.

Mr Clarke poured $1000 of his own cash to the GoFundMe and helped organise last week’s memorabilia auction that saw nearly $12,000 donated to Atulia’s family.

“Vinny is one of seven brothers and sisters, he’s got a big family, he was the sole provider of his family,” Mr Clarke added.

“It’s going to a good cause.”

Vince Atulia “ended up in a bad situation” in the lead up to his death.

Andrew Colivas also mysteriously died while holidaying abroad.

Three other men this week remained stuck in Vietnam following the pair’s death last month.

DFAT says they are continuing to assist three Australians but have not disclosed what sort of assistance they are providing, or whether anyone is in custody.

There are rumblings that at least one of the three men have been arrested but that is yet to be proven by authorities.

Vietnamese police say they are investigating where the deaths were the result of a drug overdose.

The pair were extremely well known in Melbourne’s boxing scene and have been mourned by thousands of family members and friends in the south eastern suburbs.

Atulia was in 2020 locked up over a violent shooting incident in the eastern suburbs and has been hit with a string of other charges, court documents show.

Colivas has previously been charged with affray and other traffic offences.