Leithfield boxing boom in back shed
It sprung up overnight in a garage and after three years the Leithfield Boxing Club is now home to three champions.
Club founder and head trainer, Cooky, spent 30 years working as a trainer alongside Kevin Barry Snr before eventually finding himself in Leithfield with his own boxing club.
‘‘After Kevin Snr died I gave it up and through the earthquakes, I ended up shifting to North Canterbury,’’ Cooky said.
‘‘I walked in the Leithfield Pub and listened to some people complaining about their kids sitting at home on their computers.
‘‘So I said to send them down home.’’
Before he knew it, he had 16 boys training and decided to start the boxing club which has continued to grow.
‘‘I ran into Bob Halliday in the pub, told him what I was doing and he said he would give me a hand.’’
Initially, they trained out of Cooky’s garage before being offered a bigger garage to use by Debbie Topp. When she moved, Halliday freed up his shed for the club.
‘‘It was the garage for a motorhome but that’s a second class citizen now and is parked on the drive,’’ Halliday, a top boxing referee and judge, said.
The caravan doesn’t get a look in at getting back inside anytime soon.
Cooky said they have at least 10 people in the gym on the set training nights, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with some boxers having their own sessions throughout the week.
‘‘We are here most days. if they set a time to turn up, we’ll train them,’’ Cooky said.
Cooky was a boxer himself before Kevin Barry Snr pulled him aside in 1981 and said: ‘‘let’s get young Kevin ready for the 1984 Olympics’’.
‘‘I was with Kevin [Snr] for 30 years as a trainer. I just enjoy doing it.’’
It’s also not all about the boxing.
‘‘Not everyone is a boxer. You can still do all the fitness and not have to take the punches.
‘‘My main objective is to get kids off the streets and look after the youth in North Canterbury.’’
With Waikuku and Rangiora clubs also operating the sport is growing in the region with Cooky keen to put a North Canterbury team together for a representative bout against Canterbury next year.
From the humble beginnings in a spare garage a few years ago, the Leithfield Boxing Club is currently home to three champions.
Bo-Dean Blackburn and Carlos Earle hold South Island Golden Gloves titles, with Blackburn recently winning the South Island title as well, and the third is Zane Bocock collected a Canterbury title.
The club is building up to a big first, hosting a tournament in conjunction with the Amberley and District Lions on August 24.