Nyika in doubt for C Games
A hand injury has bruised David Nyika’s shot at Commonwealth Games history, but not his longer-term ambitions of world domination.
The New Zealand cruiserweight is in doubt for the event in Birmingham later this month, where he could become the first boxer to win Commonwealth gold at three consecutive Games.
The 26-year-old struggled to remove his glove after an existing issue flared up during a second-round stoppage of Louis Marsters on the Jai Opetaia world title undercard on Saturday on the Gold Coast.
Nyika won New Zealand’s first Olympic boxing medal since 1992 in Tokyo last year and was set to ramp up his professional career after one last Commonwealth campaign.
But with his left hand submerged in a bucket of ice, he admitted that he’d need the dust to settle before making a call on the campaign.
‘‘It’s an existing injury; I’ve had scans already [before hurting it in the fight] and it comes with the territory,’’ Nyika said.
‘‘We’ll have to sit on it now and make some decisions in the next few days.’’
Nyika’s camp was buoyant regardless, new trainer Noel
Thornberry confident he has something special in his stable to rival former heavyweight world title contender Alex Leapai.
‘‘He’s the sleeper, but he can go all the way to the top,’’ Thornberry said of Nyika, who fought before the pay-per-view segment of Saturday’s card and is currently a promotional freeagent.
‘‘We’ve had seven world title fights out of our backyard and he’s going to be eight.
His boxing ability is far past not just Alex’s, but anybody’s. He’s been sparring with Jai the whole time [before he won the world title on Saturday].
‘‘They have different styles, but I just see two world-class fighters. One’s had 20 fights, one’s had four, that’s all.’’
Nyika has been based at Gatton with Thornberry for the last three months but also holds a British passport. It means he could set up camp in the United Kingdom, where he has already established connections as a sparring partner to world champion Tyson Fury and fellow Kiwi Joseph Parker, whose trainer Andy Lee he has also worked with.