IPSWICH’S hopes for grabbing an Olympic gold at the Brisbane Games certainly have solid foundation.
The district is home to national junior champions in many sports.
One discipline where locals are excelling is boxing and amongst our budding future stars are three recent Aussie champions.
Ipswich sent a team of four to the National Boxing Titles in Melbourne recently after they had all qualified by winning a State belt.
Rebels Boxing Club’s Livai Savuro fought the big punching Wayne Telepe from Victoria in his first round at the nationals.
In a classic boxer verses brawler fight Livai took the win to set up a gold medal fight against Anthony Capra from NSW.
The fight came down to a couple of punches, and Livia’s speed got him the title.
Springfield Warriors Boxing Gyms’ Oscar Black took on Johnstone Carter from NSW in the U15 60kg.
Oscar, who is just 13, landed clean shots controlling the range and was faster and stronger in tight.
His footwork was the key to his winning performance. He attributed his success to the coaching team of Jessica Cashman, Johnny Black and Robbie Sbeghen,
The coaches expressed how proud they were exceeding expectations winning three National Titles with Beau Jones completing the trifecta of great performances.
Overall Queensland sent 38 fighters and won 17 gold dominating the event where Victoria won 9 gold, A 5, NSW 4 and NT 2.
The competition for the whole tournament was fierce with some having to enter the ring for three fights in three days to win a title.
A few weeks later they managed to win three Golden Gloves against the best fighters in Australia and New Zealand.
