AMATEURS
Super-heavyweight stars of the future
AT his rate of progression, Firewalker’s Hosea Stewart is going to be a superheavyweight to watch. After only a handful of bouts he found himself in the England Boxing Elite championships, boxing in the semifinal in only his 11th contest. He went on to win the GB championships and showed some nifty skills in the process.
“That was certainly one to remember. I just wanted to go out there really and perform. I was thinking I’d put on a little performance, get a knockout,” he said. “I’d like to say I’ve got a good boxing brain because of the way we box at our gym. The way we box, everything’s a process. We work off the jab, our straight back hands landing clean scores, get out the way of punches, use a lot of footwork. In the gym it’s drilled in. A lot of padwork. Taking your head off the centre line after attacks.
“I love the thrill of making them miss, getting out the way.”
He’s had an injury to his wrist that he’s currently having to recover from. “I’ve been fighting on it for a year and a half. It was a fracture. We thought it was a sprain or ligament damage. It turns out that I was fighting with a fractured wrist. In my last fight it snapped in the first round,” Hosea said. “I was boxing against Jeamie Tshikeva on his home show… I carried on right to the end. Then as I took my hand out the glove, usually it would hurt a little bit but it wouldn’t be too bad. But then this time I couldn’t move it.”
That kept Stewart out of this year’s Elite championships. “I was really looking forward to it this year, but everything for a reason,” Hosea said.
Last year in the semi-finals he boxed Solomon Dacres, who has gone from strength to strength representing GB. “He’s a good guy, he’s going all the right way. He trains hard, he trains near enough every day I think. For a heavyweight he’s ridiculously fit. That sets him apart as well. He’s a good fighter. I loved that one because it was different. I couldn’t just move around and make him miss, because there’s so much pressure and volume you have to go with him,” Stewart said. “It can be a very, very difficult fight. I enjoyed it. That fight taught me a lot and it let me know that I could step up to that level. A couple of months before that I’d never had a boxing fight!”
He continued, “It was good to know that in a couple of months I’ve gone from being a complete novice to being in with arguably the best boxer in Britain at super-heavyweight. I thought fair play.”
Hosea only started boxing at 18 years old and just turned 21 in April. After only six weeks of training, Firewalker put him in his first contest. “I thought yes, I’m going to be rolling every week now. But I couldn’t get any bouts,” Stewart said. “So for a year I didn’t fight.”
But entering championships has got him significant bouts and when his injury has cleared up he will return to action. He is ambitious. “I want international experience, to mix with the best in the world, so when I turn pro I’m already at that level,” he said. “I’d love to get international glory in the amateurs.”
‘I’D LOVE TO GET INTERNATIONAL GLORY IN THE AMATEURS. I WANT TO MIX WITH THE BEST IN THE WORLD’