I got beat up by a girl now I’m chasing a gold medal
COMMONWEALTH GAMES Doc was outboxed as a kid but reckons he’ll be unstoppable at Games
JOHN DOCHERTY’S introduction to boxing as a shy 10-year-old might have put him off the sport forever after he was given a thrashing by a girl.
Next month the whole of Scotland might be delighted he took the defeat on the chin because Docherty is one of the best chances the country has of securing a boxing medal at the Commonwealth Games.
He had a painful introduction to the sport a decade ago.
The youngster went to a club in Inverness where his older brother Frank trained and was persuaded to put on the gloves and spar with a local schoolgirl – the daughter of the club coach – and he’s never forgotten that. But rather than quit, young Doc vowed to work hard and ensure in time he’d get the better of his female opponent.
Today the middleweight, a member of the travelling community, is with Team Scotland’s boxers at a training camp near Brisbane, preparing for the big event next month and perhaps comforted by the fact the fight game is the only sport in which Scotland’s won a medal at every Games.
The battling 75kg southpaw is no stranger to success and as well as winning national youth and senior titles claimed gold at the Samoa Youth Games in 2015 and silver in the Euro Youth Championships in Poland that same year.
A member of the GB squad with an eye on the Olympics in Tokyo in two years, Docherty now lives in Montrose and as well as his training sessions at Aberdeen’s Byron club under father-and-son coaches Tony and Kevin Kerr, he travels regularly to GB Boxing’s purpose-built training facility.
At the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield he works under performance director and former pro Rob McCracken.
He said: “I used to watch my brother sparring.
“I fancied it and they let me spar with a girl and she beat me up and I remember thinking, ‘I’ve got to get the better of her’.
“I kept training and working hard and had a few fights in the youth divisions and took it from there.
“I’ve come on leaps and bounds since joining Byron and I feel confident of winning a medal in the Gold Coast Games and I’m aiming for gold.
“Winning silver or bronze would be an achievement but I won’t be happy unless it is gold.
“I’ve beaten half of the other people in my weight division already and I’ve been working extra hard in my preparations.”
Among his rivals are Ben Whittaker from the West Midlands, winner of two straight England elite titles, but who lost to Docherty in the Samoa youth final, and Steven Donnelly, a tough customer from Northern Ireland.
Docherty doesn’t rate them as potential gold medallists.
He said: “There are other good contenders but I know I’m levels above them.
“I’ve sparred with top-class pros in the division above me and got the better of them, guys like John Ryder, the British super-middleweight kingpin.
“If I win gold I know there will be offers to go pro but that’s something for me to consider at the time. I may wait for the Olympics in 2020, do well and get an even bigger offer.”
The 20-year-old, who has clocked up around 90 fights, has time on his side to think about the pro game.
In the meantime he looks at how Edinburgh’s WBC silver super-lightweight titleholder Josh Taylor has carved out a name for himself in the paid ranks after winning gold at Glasgow 2014 and hopes one day to take s similar route.
Docherty said: “I look up to Josh Taylor. He’s a southpaw like me. He beat all-comers to win his Games title in Glasgow four years ago.
“It was a great achievement and one I’m looking to emulate.”
JOHN DOCHERTY