PUNCH, DUNK, LOVE
Corio Bay basketballer Brad Armstrong will launch his amateur boxing career on Saturday, then race across town to play for his beloved Stingrays just hours later.
AMATEUR boxer Brad Armstrong will kick off his career on Saturday night, continuing the legacy of his late grandfather, professional boxer Daniel Hearsch.
Then Armstrong takes off the gloves and rushes to Corio Bay’s Big V State Championship game against Diamond Valley.
The 25-year-old (pictured) has played basketball since he was 10, but it was at the end of his Youth League season in 2015 when Armstrong decided to pick up the gloves.
So much did he enjoy being in the ring he took a season off basketball, before returning to the Stringrays this year.
On Saturday, he will have his first amateur fight, in Lilydale, which will hopefully finish in time for him to pull on the Stingrays’ jersey that night 40 minutes away in Greensborough.
“The basketball season started again and I’ve always had a passion for basketball, so I thought, ‘I’m going to see if I can do both’,” Armstrong said.
“I think one is helping the other — I’m getting a lot fitter with boxing, which is helping the basketball.
“I’m feeling amazingly fitter since the start of the season. I came in at 91kg at the start of the year and now I’m 81kg, so I’ve lost 10kg in the past six weeks leading up to this fight.”
Grandfather Daniel was a professional fighter from the 1940s to 1960s.
Armstrong believes his grandfather had 64 fights for 39 wins, and it is his memories as a youngster that had the most impact.
“He had a little gym in his garage; a little boxing bag, a little trampoline we used to jump on — and my Mum’s still got the little timer he used to use,” he said.
“He used to always take us there every time we were at his house. We were always in the garage doing a boxing session.
“Then my older brother was interested, but we’d just put on the gloves and whack each other and then go out and get peaches and ice cream.
“As I got older I realised how more special it was, how amazing it was what he used to do. If I could have, I wish I could have learnt from him.”
Hearsch passed away four or five years ago after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Armstrong hopes to go as far as the sport will take him, continuing a family legacy.
“It’s still living on in the family. I didn’t want Mum to think that us kids had taken for granted what Grandpa used to do,” he said.
“I’ve got all his old records at my house that I love sitting down and reading, and think- ing, ‘Hopefully if I can do the same thing or half of what he achieved’.
“Hopefully my kids can one day look at it and go, ‘Look what my dad used to do’, because that’s how I feel about him.
“I’m happy to go even further with it if I come out a winner, but even if I’m a loser I’ll still be proud of what I’ve achieved and probably jump in the ring and give it another crack anyway.”
But Armstrong will not lose his love for basketball.
“I would hate to think that; I’ve been playing basketball since I was 10, or even younger,” he said. “I don’t think I’d ever give up basketball.”