Boxing: Triple triumph

Otago Boxing Association boxers (from left) Alex Hanan, Kasib Murdoch and Matt Crawford display...
Otago Boxing Association boxers (from left) Alex Hanan, Kasib Murdoch and Matt Crawford display their medals from the national boxing championships in Rotorua last weekend. Photo supplied.

Richie Hadlow.
Richie Hadlow.
There's a gold rush in Otago boxing circles, with three boxers crowned national champions in Rotorua on Friday and Saturday.

Kasib Murdoch, Alex Hanan and Richie Hadlow all returned as champions following the national championships, while Matt Crawford was just one win away from adding a third New Zealand title to his CV.

Murdoch (15), a Kaikorai Valley College year 11 pupil, won last year's title as well. His win in the final on Friday night came by a points decision over Kavana Vaotu'ua - a New Zealander living in Australia, but back for the championships.

Otago Boxing Association president Leah Hanan said Murdoch won all three of his bouts in the junior male 57kg category "fairly convincingly'', using his high work rate and strength.

Alex Hanan might only be 17 but is very experienced, having racked up 44 bouts in his career.

Hanan wore down his undefeated Auckland rival Suran Juanmiry in the final. Hanan used his angles to outwork and outbox Juanmiry after defeating friend Chedyn Beach in the semifinal of the youth male 75kg middleweight category

Hanan, a year 13 pupil at John McGlashan College, now has three New Zealand titles, after winning at the 2013 nationals and winning a 2014 New Zealand Golden Gloves title. He also claimed a silver at the 2015 Australian Golden Gloves.

Hadlow, a youth worker in Queenstown, won all three of his bouts during the week, including a knockout to beat his Canterbury opponent Christian Tikao in the elite male 64kg light welterweight final.

Hadlow was ahead on points with two of the judges after two rounds, but took the decision out of the judges' hands with a perfectly timed left hook to win his third straight New Zealand championship.

The other Otago finalist, Matt Crawford, a postie in Dunedin, lost his elite male 56kg bantamweight final to Wellington-Hutt Valley Keegan O'Kane-Jones by technical knockout. He has previously won two New Zealand titles.

The three Dunedin boxers represent Team Hammerhead, and train out of the Olympic Fight Centre in Mosgiel while Hadlow and semi-finalist Callum Owen fight out of Fight Science Queenstown.

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