The Otago boxing team of (from left) Jamie Dick, Sam Beck,
Cherine Henry and Bridget Morton at the NZ Fight and
Fitness gym in Dunedin yesterday. Photo by Linda Robertson.
Five Otago team members will be packing their gloves
after being selected for the national championships in Lower
Hutt next week.
Otago Boxing president Colin Falloon said the team was
feeling confident. The younger boxers had trouble finding
suitable local opponents, so had been fighting some heavier
and sometimes more experienced boxers, he said.
Jamie Dick (17) will be fighting in the youth welterweight
division and Sam Beck (16) will fight in the junior
welterweight.
Martin Mech (32), twice runner-up in the Czech Republic
national amateur championships, will be fighting in the
welterweight division.
Mech said he was ready for the competition.
"I'm happy for the opportunity to be boxing for Otago," he
said.
In April, Mech fought New Zealand No 1 welterweight Bowyn
Morgan, but was defeated 12-8.
"I have been fighting bigger boxers in training," he said.
"They have a longer reach and they move faster."
Falloon said the number of women entering the national
competition had doubled.
"They're just as competitive as the men."
Cherine Henry (32), the current South Island Golden Gloves
female featherweight champion, will be fighting in the female
bantamweight division.
Henry claimed the South Island title after toppling
Canterbury's Tasha Brown in May.
The fifth member of the team, Bridget Morton (23), will fight
in the flyweight division.
The North Island teams will provide some tough competition,
but the South Island still had some solid contenders, Falloon
said.
"[The] South Island's pretty strong."
The competition is on October 26-29.
• By Andrew MacKay.
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