By RON LANE
FOR the Impact Boxing Academy of Cooroy the recent Queensland Amateur Boxing Championships held at the Acacica Ridge Hotel, Brisbane, it was its best ever results at a state titles.
“We are stoked,” said Impact owner and coach Mark Evans.
“We took a team of eight fighters and came home with seven gold medals. To top it off when they named the state team all seven were selected.
“This, for us, is a double; all our winners being selected and also it is the biggest number from any one club to be named in a state team.”
This team will now go on to represent Queensland at the Australian Championships to be held on the Gold Coast from 11 May until 15 May.
Ben Cameron-Hands and Byron McKeown are booked to represent Australia against the Kiwis in New Zealand, and Brock Shelby will also have the honour of representing his country fighting a major international tournament in Poland.
This will be contested from 25 May until 11 June.
All up it will give Impact fighters four tournaments in four weeks.
To say that Mark Evans’s recent trip to Anapa in Russia was controversial would be an understatement. With Mark, to box as part of the Australian team were Sam Cameron-Hands and Bailey Seabourne both from Impact.
Sam lost on a split decision to the fighter who went on win the gold medal and Bailey, who handed his opponent something of a boxing lesson, stood stunned when his opponent received the decision.
“I wasn’t stunned, I was shattered,” said Mark.
“To have one of our team beaten on a split decision is part of the game, we tell our opponent well done, and move on. But Baileys decision…,” he said with a shrug of the shoulders, “no further comment”.
Another point of concern was that despite major publicity via big posters in prominent positions around town, there was virtually nil public attendance.
The crowd was made up of the fighters’ coaches and a few family members – and this was supposed to be an international tournament.
It was not only the Australian camp that raised questions about things. For both Scotland and Ireland expressed the opinion that, for them, this would probably be their last event.
“Years ago it was like the mini Youth World Championships,” they both agreed.
“But now, look. It has dropped from almost 100 countries with interest to just 14. It would appear that with this, a new administration, something has gone horribly wrong.”
However for Australia it finished on a good note in two areas.
Sam Cameron Hands said: “Apart from the tournament we got the chance for a lot of great sparing sessions with some of the best fighters from around the world. Good learning, great experience.”
“Add to this,” said Coach Mark Evans, “we received an invitation to send a team to Ireland in September to contest the Celtic Cup, a tournament to be contested in three towns across three provenances. I guess our lads must have impressed the right people.”
During a recent trip to Brisbane I had the pleasure of talking with Danny Green former world boxing champion and author of the Coward Punch Campaign.
When discussing the program he replied: “It is like the Slip Slop Campaign to block skin cancer. Took off slowly but it is being noticed.”
Boxing coaches Mark Evans and Israel Kani have expressed their total support.
