The NZ national boxing champs was held this month in Tauranga and we had x3 boxers from Revill's boxing gym representing Auckland with Jono as head coach for the Auckland team.
The National champs was held in Tauranga from the 4th to the 8th of July at the Tauranga Boys College hosted by Central North Island Boxing Association. This was the one hundred and eleventh championship and the first time in thirty years it was held in Tauranga. The nationals normally held in October was held this year in July due to Olympic qualifiers being held later in the year in the Solomon Islands.
This years nationals had a record number of entries with a total of 197 boxers chasing national championship glory. The numbers and diversity of divisions, reflect the vast strides the sport has achieved since the first New Zealand Boxing Association titles in Christchurch during 1902. The initial titles saw twenty boxers fight out the first featherweight, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight national crowns.
Revills boxing gym had 3 boxers representing Auckland, all elite boxers (19yrs and over) Head Coach for Auckland this year was Revill's assistant coach Jonathan Nevin
Wendell Stanley 71kg Elite Male and Auckland Team Captain
Tim Max 75kg Elite Male
Kheva Potatau 67kg Elite Male
The competition was tough in each of their weight divisions, with 4-6 competitors in each of their respective divisions.
Tim Max, who has been with the gym for about 3 months and has shown huge improvements and potential since coming on board, secured his spot in the team after winning the Auckland champs in the 75kg division and impressing the Auckland selectors. This was Tim’s first nationals and lost his bout against the eventual winner in a stacked division. Lots of learnings for the middleweight who has the desire to work hard and improve for next year’s event.
Kheva Potatau who was runner-up last year at 63.5kg stepped up a weight division to 67kg, having two hard bouts to win the gold and the Morgan Cup in the Welterweight division. Kheva's opponent in the finals represented NZ last year at the Youth Worlds and is a very talented boxer from Christchurch. Kheva's performance was high class and he used technical skills and speed to control the bout, in what many have commented on as his best-ever performance. Having won previous titles in the Junior and youth divisions this was a fantastic achievement for the 21-year-old.
The one to watch was Wendell Stanley going for his 3rd back-to-back title in the light middleweight division and with Olympic selectors watching, the pressure was on to perform. Having won his semifinal bout, Wendell faced a very skillful boxer in Xavier Mata’afa-Ikinofo, who represented Niue at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. This was a close even technical bout leading into the 3rd and final round in which Wendell stepped it up to seal the deal. This round had the crowd on their feet with an all-action fast-paced round and Wendell winning the bout 4:1. (5 Judges score the bout)
Due to the action and skill shown in the final bout, Wendell was awarded the Jamison Belt, which is NZ Boxing's most prestigious award and awarded to the most technical Elite male boxer at the end of the tournament. The list of previous winners of this belt is a who's who of NZ boxing legends and is a great honour to receive this award.
The icing on the cake for the Revills gym was Head Coach Lance Revill being awarded the Joe Thwaites memorial challenge shield as Trainer of the Jamison belt winner Wendell Stanley.
The Revills gym is having another busy and successful year with attending plenty of tournaments both local and international. Youth boxer Ian Tauaika won the youth 75kg Oceania champs at Samoa in May, representing New Zealand, also in the team was Revill's assistant coach Jonathan Nevin as one of the coaches in the New Zealand Youth Team.
With plenty of new talent coming through the doors, Revills Boxing is busy as ever and having the 3 boxers represent the gym to such a high standard is showing all who walk through those gym doors that they too can reach the top with hard work, discipline and dedication, by living the Gym’s moto of Champions inside and outside of the ring, they can reach great heights in the sport and in life.
