Big contest brewing for Boag in Borough

THERE will be plenty of home-town support for Bendigo boxer Jordan Boag in this Saturday night’s regional featherweight championship bout in Eaglehawk.

Boag, 20, will face Sale’s Hayden Daymond on a 17-match card at Truscott Reserve.

It’s the third edition of the Bendigo Boxing Championships where Bendigo Fight Centre (BFC) has teamed up with the Victorian Amateur Boxing League to draw fighters from across Melbourne and regional towns.

Boag is not daunted by the challenge as he marks his sixth bout as Daymond is on guard in his 18th match. And victory in a 60kg match at Queensland’s Golden Gloves lifted Boag’s confidence.

He has the fighter’s tag of “Juggernaut” and will aim to pile on the pressure from the opening bell.

“There’s been a lot of work on sharpening skills and building up cardio fitness since the Golden Gloves,” Boag said of training with coach Lucas Allen at the Golden Square-based Bendigo Fight Centre.

The Boag and Daymond bout is scheduled to be four rounds of two-minutes’ duration.

Boag first started training to be a boxer when he was 14.

“I trained for about a year, took a break, and then became more serious about boxing about 18 months ago,” he said.

Allen said Boag had worked a lot on countering what an opponent with greater reach can do.

“Jordy is great at stepping in and putting the pressure on. He’s working on his outside game, and not just relying on one way to win.”

Bendigo’s Elsie Tuitupou will fight Leo Nicholson from Gus Moon’s Boxing Gym for the elite cruiserweight Australian title.

BFC clubmates Robert Hopley, Ryan Polglaise and Raul Salisbury will chase regional championship wins. Salisbury, dubbed the Filipino Fury, is in a flyweight (51kg) bout against Heaven Van Bai Iain Thawng.

A multiple titleholder, “Ruthless” Polglaise will face Cooper Martin in a super middleweight (76.2kg) match.

Hopley will again compete in the lightweight division as BFC’s Dane Vedelsby and Levi Bugeja meet in super featherweight class.

Bridgewater’s Hamish Catto will meet Sale’s Fred Shortis in a catchweight (71kg) bout.

Doors open at 3pm. The first match will be at 4pm.