RISING STAR
Pelea Fruean, Joseph Parker’s cousin, off to world champs
Pelea Fruean, Joseph Parker’s first cousin, is considered a rising star in New Zealand amateur women’s boxing and is targeting a medal at the 2020 Olympics.
In the shorter term, the 17-year-old, who struggles to find opposition here in her 60kg weight class, such is her talent, is off to fight at the youth world championships in Budapest, Hungary. She leaves Auckland today with coach Billy Meehan, a former top New Zealand amateur, for the tournament which starts on August 21.
Pelea, a prefect at One Tree Hill College, wears the expectation of being the cousin of a former world heavyweight boxing champion lightly.
She has been boxing since the age of 12 after Parker encouraged her to try the sport and is now forging a name in her own right.
“I first started training with Joe at the garage at his house after school,” Pelea told the Herald. “My interest in the sport grew and I decided to join an amateur gym where I could start fighting.”
She had previously been involved in “netball, swimming, whatever sports could keep me busy, but once I got into boxing, I stayed with that“.
Last year, she won a bronze medal at the youth Commonwealth Games in the Bahamas. She is New Zealand’s only representative in Budapest and has high hopes.
“I want to bring home gold.” Pelea fits her training around her school commitments.
“My goal is to qualify for the 2020 Olympics. Even though I’m young now and I’ll be competing against seniors, I believe I’m capable of making it,” she said.
“I’m having to bring in Aussies to fight or go over to Australia to fight. The majority of my fights are overseas, I can’t get local fights.
“With the fights overseas, it does give me the international experience, but it would be nice to get a few more fights at home.”
Her trainer, Regan Foley, said: “Next year, she’ll be senior and that should open it up a bit. But because of her age, not even seniors will jump in the ring with her at the moment because they don’t want to get beaten by someone so young.
“It’s really hard getting matchings. We’ve been bringing over senior Aussie elite fighters to fight her for experience.
“Her strengths are definitely midrange combat. We describe it as ‘beast mode’. When she gets in there, she can fire and she’s a very strong girl. She can box, but once she gets on top of a girl, she’s pretty strong.”
Foley said there was no longer pressure on her to live up to the family connection.
“She’s outgrown that pressure. Her fight name is the Phoenix and that’s because of the journey she’s been on and now she’s starting to spread her wings and believe in herself.”