By Ron Lane
WELL, it’s that time of year again.
For the fifth year in a row, Damien Smith, known affectionately to one and all as “Butch’’ will organise and promote the Contender of the Codes, a night of boxing; to be held at the Leisure Centre Noosaville Wallace Drive, this Saturday 19 November. Tickets are available and the doors open at 6pm.
This is always a night with a difference, for the contestants are not drawn from world rankings, but from the various football codes around town; and is on occasions a case of Mate vs Mate. If last year’s event is any indication then we can rest assured that it will be a sell-out.
One of the reasons for the tournament is to give our footballers an opportunity to move into a different world of training.
“It’s pre-season and gives the boys the chance to put their condition into practice.’’
The tournament will be run like a round-robin type draw, with the fighters having the chance to have a couple of fights. It will be a winner vs winner, in some cases even a loser vs loser.
It will be another great night and each event will be properly matched and the fights will be under the control of referee, local boxing coach and former professional National Champion, Israel Kani.
For Israel, the referee’s job will not be his only commitment, for some contestants have been using Israel’s gym – known as the NBO (Noosa Box Office) – for their pre-fight coaching and training.
As he has done for the past three years Israel and the people of NBO are doing all they can to make the evening a success.
As we go to press, the program will consist of two contestants from the Tigers AFL, four from Dolphins rugby union, three from Pirates rugby league, one from Noosa Lions soccer and one from the Noosa Life Guards.
Points will be awarded for wins and these will go towards the award of the Mick Hamilton Sporting Community Shield, currently held by the soccer club.
The feedback regarding The Young Guns Boxing Tournament at Cooroy, proudly hosted by the Impact Boxing Academy, has been good.
Local fans said they were very impressed and will continue to support the tournament, and most important of all, visiting coaches said they will definitely return.
Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the outstanding performance of Impact Academy’s Tyler Blizzard.
Fighting in the 51kg division, Tyler stopped his much bigger opponent when he was unable to come out for the second round. Such was his display of body punching, speed and fitness that many at ring-side have tipped him for a place on the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games.
As a result of his display, Tyler has been booked for a major fight in Sydney on 9 December against Josh English.
English, who carries good credentials winning Australian titles and boxing on the Australian team for the world championships in Doha 2015, will certainly be a tough opponent.
Tyler is fully aware of what he is up against when he said: “This fight will be my biggest test today.”
Good luck to Tyler and coach Mark Evans.
