Corporal Shaun Dick is pursuing ambition in the ring
IT’S Friday morning in Penicuik, and it’s raining. The sleepy Midlothian town nestled on the outskirts of Edinburgh paints a drab and drookit picture, one that does little to give away that anything out of the ordinary is taking place as grey clouds curl above the passing traffic while passers-by skip with trepidation over the glum puddles under foot.
Away from the bustling Edinburgh Road, a congested artery piercing through the centre of this dull scene, it is raining even harder. With a row of semidetached Seventies houses across the road on Belwood Crescent and a high security fence guarding it from the outside world, the clang and clatter coming from an old disused army hanger is barely audible over the downpour slamming on it’s tin roof.
The weathered building gives little indication to the scene of productivity, desire and camaraderie inside its four walls.
At the heart of it all is Corporal Shaun Dick, a 31-year-old from Paisley in tartan shorts. He jinks frantically inside a boxing ring, firing off punches with all the force of one of the fearsome army vehicles that once occupied the same spot. Eventually the bell rings and he exits. I shake his glove and we retreat to the corner of this renovated boxing gym to get to the bottom of his compelling story.
A soldier of 13 years and a boxer for 21, Corporal Dick speaks of a career that has seen him fight a battle on two fronts. One as a rifleman who at the age of 19 was having rockets fired at him in Iraq, to the mature father and husband who will tonight seek to realise his dream of becoming a professional fighter in the ring.
“I’ve done everything at amateur. I’ve boxed for Scotland and overseas, but I thought if I don’t turn professional now I never will,” said the lightweight, who has been sparring with former Commonwealth Games fighter Joe Ham at the Hayfield Boxing Club in the Gorbals.
“I don’t want to get to an age where I can’t do it anymore and regret it, so I grabbed the bull by the horns.”
Dick’s career in the ring speaks for itself and is one that has gone hand in hand with his military work. He starts his tale in 2003.
“I’ve been in the army for 13 years. As soon as I joined the battalion with the Argylls I went straight into their boxing team and from week one I was fighting for them. Since then I’ve boxed throughout the army.
“It’s massively done me favours. When I joined the army I may never have competed again, but they have encouraged it. It is important to have something to focus on and to de-stress you when you are a soldier.
“It’s a bit more relaxed now Afghanistan isn’t as manic as it was. It means you have a bit more time to do things like this.”
With a gentle ask, the modest Scot opens up about some of the experiences that have helped sculpt him into the person standing before me, the rain still pounding above our heads as the bell sounds behind us.
“In 2003 I was in Belfast for a year. The following year it was Iraq, 2005 it was Bosnia, 2006 was Afghanistan and from then until to 2012 I was in the Army Boxing Team.
“The longest tour I’ve had abroad was six months in Iraq. I was 19 and to be honest I loved it.
“It was absolute mayhem. I was based at Amarah and it was crazy. You used to get rocketed every day and mortared at the camp every day and stuff. We were quite busy. We were kept busy with the attacks. I was never injured, thank God.
“I would be out on patrol, some days were really long days. We had to get rid of all the local workers because we thought it was them that were giving targeting locations for firing on us in camp. We then had to go on patrol for seven hours, come back in then do all the dishes.
“You would think it makes you immune to going in a boxing ring, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter how many fights you have had, or what you’ve been through, you’ve still got that same fire in your stomach.”
The challenge facing Dick tonight may not be of the same level of danger, but it has not diminished the preparation of the soldier who is currently serving with The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS). At Glasgow’s Raddison Blu Hotel, the Paisley native will fight Kristian Laight of Nuneaton in what he hopes is the crucial first step on the road to a domestic title.
He is desperate not to let it pass him by. “I’m aiming for the Scottish title as a professional,” said Dick, who was speaking at the renovated gym at The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) barracks.
“My coach and manager are wanting to push me forward for that next year. It opens up the door for a British title
“I’m getting on. I’ve probably only got two or three years in me then I’ll retire anyway. I want to do it before I regret it.”