By Ron Lane
Move over boys, the girls are back in town.
These were my thoughts, when on Saturday evening, I sat ringside to watch the ninth annual Young Guns Amateur Boxing Tournament.
Held at Noosa District State High Cooroy, before a crowd of some 500 fans, I sat and watched girls representing some 20 boxing clubs from around the state indulge themselves in, dare I say it, the manly art of self-defence.
In what can only be described as some of the best bouts on the program, the young ladies showed us that they possess great skills in this toughest of sports.
Sitting next to me, former Australian Olympic boxer Benny Pike remarked as we watched local girl Ella Boot, holder of the 60kg Youth Commonwealth championship, “We could be watching a future Olympian.”
Where as many young men consider the three by three minute rounds to be a slugfest, many of the girls gave us a good example of exactly what the sport is all about.
In her bout, Ella displayed good footwork and combination punching.
Taylah Robinson again boxed well for a points win; snappy punching and good combinations put her in front.
It is interesting to note that the few local ladies that were beaten lost on split decisions. Following this sportsmanship shown by all, was a credit to coaches involved.
With a program of 38 fights, it was indeed a busy night and happy to relate our three local clubs were involved; NBO under the guidance of Israel Kani, Impact Academy under Mark Evans and the smaller club Noosa Ringside run by Mick Hamilton.
Mick’s gym, which is situated in Tinbeerwah, apart from teaching the manly art also does a lot of good work with small children.
Among our locals – Lachie Proctor boxing at 75kg and Taylah Robertson at 51kg (both of Impact) – scored wins as did Jackson Thomas and Keane Welsh NBO. Welsh, who has a total of 13 fights for 11 wins with five KOs, is definitely one to watch.
Representing Noosa Ringside, Zane Grogan 64 kg, was unlucky to drop a split decision to Arjun Arop. Despite Zane taking the fight to his opponent, Arop received the nod, however in all honesty, Arop proved very elusive with a long lead that kept his opponent at bay.
Also from Ringside, Ruby Hamilton lost on a split decision, but like her gym-mate Zane, Ruby boxed well.
Speaking on the night Paul Thompson, member of the Commonwealth Games committee, said: “This type of tournament is a great lead-up for the Australian titles which will work as selection trials for the Games’ boxing squad; so all involved should be congratulated.”
To organiser Mark Evans and his support team – well done to all.
