Two golds for Southland at national boxing champs
Two Southland boxers have returned home from the national championships with gold medals.
Jesse Hawken, of Invercargill, won the 75kg youth male title and the award for the most scientific boxer at the event in Christchurch last week.
The 18-year-old meat worker won the youth title in a split decision 4/1, while Gore High School student Reece Holz stopped his opponent in the 54th second of the second round.
Holz, 16, won on a TKO (technical knock out) to claim the 66kg title.
‘‘I was pretty happy with my boxing up there,’’ Reece said.
Southland’s other boxer at the championships, Rawiri Tipuna, 16, lost in a close decision in a semi-final of the 63kg class.
The three fighters will have the opportunity to compete one more time before the competition circuit finishes for the year. The Gore Boxing Club will be holding a tournament in November and then the sport in the south goes into recess until March.
Southland Boxing Association committee member Shelley Davis said last week’s national championships attracted about 170 boxers from throughout the country. Davis said Southland had about 10 competition boxers but there could be more in coming years as a lot of people were doing boxing training in gymnasiums in the province.
‘‘There’s plenty in the gyms training and I’d like to think the number [of competition boxers] will go up,’’ she said.
Holz, who has been boxing for two and a half years, said he trained every day for two weeks leading into last week’s championships.
‘‘I’ll keep going and see where it takes me ... I want to go a lot further [in boxing].’’
Reece kept himself busy during the winter by playing rugby as well as boxing.
In June, Reece, Jesse Hawken, Aaron Lay (Gore) and Michelle Blackie (Invercargill) won titles at the South Island Golden Gloves Championships in Christchurch.