Whakatu boxers win four from five

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When Libby Brumwell got her first taste of boxing at last year’s Fight 4 Victory, she loved it so much she decided to take it up as a sport.

A year later the pint-sized hairdresser climbed in the ring again, this time for her first amateur fight at the South Island Novice Tournament in Christchurch.

Because the corporate fight counted as her first fight, Libby was put in the novice grade, for those with one to five fights. There she was matched against an MMA fighter from Dunedin.

Libby admits she was a tad nervous.

“I was really nervous and really surprised that I won,” she says.

She didn’t just win, Libby’s result was unanimous with the judges, meaning all three thought she won each round.

It was one of four wins for the Whakatu Boxing Club at the event.

Head coach Dion Hall says it was a great weekend for his fighters.

“We took seven [fighters] down hoping to get matches and five did, of those five, four won. We were one judge off a perfect weekend,” he says.

The only Whakatu fighter to lose was Thornton Taulilo, on split decision. Dion says he was a standout performer despite the loss.

“Thor stood out, just for his composure and how we went about things and how he stuck to his fight plan.He lost, but in saying that he put an eight count out on the guy and the other guy couldn’t go any further because his jaw was too sore.”

The other Whakatu fighters were Luca Orlowski, who beat Thomas Harvey from Christchurch in the under 57 cadet class; Jared Johnstone who beat Ryan Gilbert from Dunedin in the under 57kg novice junior class and SabianTaulilo who beat Jason Devine in the under 63kg debut junior class.

Another Whakatu fighter, Riley Orlowski, also attended the event but couldn’t get matched for a fight.

Dion says it was a great experience for his fighters.

“Being the first time in the ring for many of them, I was really pleased with how they did.They train really hard so it’s good for them to put it into practice and I thought they looked pretty natural out there.”

He says the club has about 12 members, all training with the goal of fighting. Many of those who competed a little over a week ago were competing for the first time.

Dion says the club is now eyeing up another competition in Christchurch on April 30.

“We’ll be putting a lot of fighters forward to see if they can get a good even match. That’s a big part of it, I don’t mind if the guys lose, as long as it was a good even match up.”