Golden Gloves champ’ eyes up exciting future
DANIEL HUTCHINSON Taupo¯’s latest Golden Gloves champion says he is just getting started.
Emile Richardson is the number 2 ranked amateur middleweight boxer and he showed why when he won his weight division at the North Island Golden Gloves Championship in Taupo¯ on the weekend.
Sporting success runs in the family for Richardson - the late Sir Colin Meads is a cousin, uncle Leigh Meads was an Olympic boxer and another uncle Justin McDermott - is a Muay Thai champion and owns the ROC gym in Taupo¯ .
‘‘It runs in the family really. I was always going to be either a boxer or a rugby player.’’
Richardson won all three of his fights on the weekend to take the title.
The 20-year-old is an orthodox [right handed] boxer but all three opponents were southpaws [left handers].
‘‘I got a lot of practise. It’s pretty rare getting three southpaws in a row.’’
Now he is eyeing the National Championships in Christchurch, in October, where he will get the chance to fight the number one ranked middleweight.
If he wins, he takes the number one spot and takes a giant step towards achieving his dream.
‘‘My dream is to go to the Olympics and turn pro’ after that. I’m just getting started.’’
Richardson regularly travels to Rotorua where his trainer Rex Jenkins is based and where he gets plenty of sparring practise.
He is also a familiar sight at his uncle’s gym in Taupo¯ .
‘‘I spend countless hours in the gym. It is a lifestyle and you have to put a lot of work in.’’
It has taken him five years of training and four years of fighting to get to this stage and it hasn’t always gone his way.
‘‘You can spend thousands [of hours] in time and training and then you don’t get the win but you learn more.’’
It is not all about boxing for Richardson, although it also helps with his day job as a youth counsellor for Te Korowai.
‘‘It [boxing sessions] keeps them off the street, keeps them busy and teaches them life skills.’’
His next assignment before the National Championships in October is a trip across the ditch, where he will compete for the Australian Golden Gloves title.