Ayrshire boxer ready for the world championships after global success
AN AYRSHIRE boxer is ready to take on the world, after missing out on a gold medal at a global competition by the narrowest of margins.
Aaron Cullen from Kilbirnie was taking part in the 40th edition of the Golden Gloves of Vojvodina Youth Tournament in Serbia earlier this month - a competition featuring boxers from five different continents.
Representing Scotland, 18-year-old Aaron made it all the way to the final, missing out on gold after a razor thin 3-2 split decision defeat.
It has been an outstanding year for Cullen, who has won gold at every international competition he has competed in, since bowing out in the preliminary round of this same competition last September.
He took Gold medals at both the Brasov Open Youth Championships in Romania and the Danas Pozniakas Youth tournament in Lithuania earlier this year.
Although he didn’t win his third international Gold medal of the year, it was still another successful tournament for the Ayrshire man.
Cullen defeated India’s Mehra Vishwas in the Quarter-Finals and then Kazakhstan’s Almat Abduali in the Semi-Finals, before the 3-2 split decision defeat to Asian champion boxer, India’s Ashish in the final.
The next competition for Aaron is the biggest of them all - the BA World Youth Championships, which take place in Spain in November.
And Aaron has his sights set high: “I want to medal at that event,” he said.
He continued: “It was frustrating that I didn’t get Gold in Serbia, so now I need to get something at the Worlds.
“Gold is the aim, but I want a medal at least.”
Further to his competition experience, Aaron was also part of the Team Scotland Achieve 2022 programme at the Commonwealth Games, which aims to give future stars a feel for a large Games environment.
Aaron saw Scotland claim five medals in the ring, in the nations most successful games, and now he wants to emulate that glory.
He commented: “It is great to see them doing so well – it does show that if they can do it, then I can do it.
“They have got a few years of experience on me, so hopefully by that time I should be able to do the same.”