muay thai fighter blade augey, 25, shows off the spoils ... · punches and lost some weight and i...
TRANSCRIPT
Centralian Advocate, Friday, August 30, 2013 — 55
SPORT
Thank Lord for fighter’s itchy feetBOXING
Nick Kossatch
PROFESSIONAL AliceSprings middleweight boxerJason Lord is fighting Eng-lishman Jamie Weetch inan Angelo Hyder promotionin Perth tonight.
Weetch has had only oneprofessional fight, but is awell-rated amateur fighterin England.
‘‘He’s a UK boy and anational champ over there. . . had a few internationalfights, so he’s got a goodamateur background and Idon’t know much abouthim,’’ Lord said
Hyder is one of boxing’stop trainers and promotersin Australia.
Lord’s trainer of two yearsMark Nixon said Hyder has
trained som e of thenations’s top boxers.
‘‘He’s trained guys likeJeff Fenech and he’s hadbits to do with DannyGreen, Anthony Mundineand Kostya Tzu . . . all thebig names’’ Nixon said.
Nixon has been involvedin boxing for three decades.
‘‘These last two yearsJason and I have been train-ing together and Jason lastyear decided to make acomeback after many yearsout of it,’’ Nixon said.
The thought of compe-tition and a healthy lifestyleprompted Lord to get backinto the sport he loves.
Prior to a hiatus fromcompetition, Lord was anex-Australian champion.
‘‘I think when I stoppedboxing I was number two inAustralia, so I was always at
that elite level,’’ Lord said.Lord could not specify as
to who was his toughestopponent as the quality offighters he competedagainst was elite at nationalor international level.
‘‘Itchy feet mainly, Ireckon it was just playingaround throwing somepunches and lost someweight and I got fitter andstronger again.
‘‘The skills were prettymuch intact and then wehad that fight opportunityin Perth which is under theDanny Green card, DaveGalvin and I, and thatpretty much got the ballrolling,’’ Lord said.
This convinced Lord thata comeback to competitionwas the right thing to do.
Lord said at the age of 37,the middleweight category
presents a chance for boxersto fight at an older age.
‘‘You peak a bit later inmiddleweight and I haven’tboxed since probably in myearly 20s and I haven’tdrank or smoked and Ihadn’t kept active thatmuch and it’s pretty much afood for me, so I always hadthe edge,’’ Lord said.
He may have more fightsin Perth but it depends onthe outcome tonight.
‘‘We’ve got probably anopportunity to have anotherthree more fights in Perthbefore the end of the yearand if things pan out prettygood in this one we fightagain on October 4, which isa televised event,’’ Lord said.
That fight may be againstAustralian 12th-rankedfighter Sam Hogan, who iscurrently injured.
Not just for kicksMUAY THAI
Nick Kossatch
Muay Thai fighter Blade Augey, 25, shows off the spoils from his first title win Picture: JUSTIN BRIERTY
BLADE Augey has reason to celebrateafter claiming his first title in Mel-bourne last week.
The 25-year-old professional MuayThai fighter defeated Geelong-basedPat Richards in a unanimous decisionafter five rounds of intense fighting inthe WBC Victorian State Titles
‘‘He was strong in the grapples but Idid better in the punching, kicks andknees,’’ Augey said.
His fighting record is impressive anda strict training regime is paying off.
‘‘I have my own gym calledHeadrush Gym and I do two sessions aday with a lot of cross training in-volved,’’ Augey said.
Muay Thai is a traditional Thailandform of martial arts and knees, elbows,kicks and punching are used.
‘‘I’ve been training for around aboutthree years now and competing forthree years,’’ Augey said.
‘‘I just needed to find something toget my head in the right place andfound an instructor and started train-ing . . . got offered a first fight and thenone fight led to another fight.’’
Several people have been big influ-ences throughout his career.
‘‘When I first started, Glenn Orkneywas my first trainer and I trained withhim for about a year,’’ Augey said.
Raymon Dekker is a Europeanfighter who Augey looks up to.
Augey went to Canada for a year tocompete under trainer TrevorSmandych, then returned here
‘‘I teamed up with a guy namedCorey Impelmans and he owns amartial arts academy in Darwin calledMan Ho Academy of Martial Arts andCorey is now my head coach, mentor,
manager and promoter for my fights,so he organises everything for me.
‘‘I had a majority of my fights underCorey,’’ Augey said.
His strong fitness has been re-warded with an impressive fightingrecord, winning 10 out of 13 fights.
Augey’s next assignment may againbe interstate.
‘‘I want to give the WMC Titles ashot in Perth, but I am waiting onconfirmation if it is to go ahead,’’Augey said.
Augey previously beat current WKAchampion Patrick Xena in Perth andsaid he aims to break into the top fivewithin 12 months.
He encourages anyone to join hisHeadrush Gym with training sessionsMonday to Wednesday/Fridays from6.30pm and kids’ martial arts on Mon-day/Friday at 4.30pm and Wednes-day/Thursday from 4.15pm.
Nothing will holdback in-form aceTENNIS
Nick Kossatch
George Shepheard
ALICE Springs tennis starGeorge Shepheard is com-peting at another tennistournament on the back of asuccessful campaign lastweekend.
Shepheard reached thesemi final stage last week-end at the NewcastleTopspin Open before losingto Troy Lockwood 6-2 6-2.
Shepheard’s coach MattRoberts said his strongsurge in form augured wellfor two major events inAlice Springs scheduled forSeptember.
‘‘George is backing upfrom his Mt Isa form and ithas been a long road . . . he’shoping to get his rankingdown for the Alice SpringsInternational and RedCentre Open,’’ Roberts said.
Shepheard entered thetournament in Newcastle asan unseeded player and be-gan by beating numberseven seed William Youngin straight sets 6-0 6-0.
He made the quarter final
stage by beating 10th seedJack Kliner 6-4 6-2
The quarter finals wasagainst another seededplayer, Cameron Green inwhat Roberts described as atremendous comeback.
Shepheard’s 6-3 4-6 7-6 winincluded an impressive thirdset comeback.
‘‘He came back from abreak down in the third setto win and that is a prettygood sign in his comeback,’’Roberts said.
Shepheard did a trainingblock at the National Acad-emy in Homebush, Sydney .
Hodgins rockets home toearn his licence to thrillDRAG RACING
ALICE Springs drag racerDan Hodgins is the firstNorthern Territorian tohave received a Nitro carlicence.
Hodgins did a time of5.97sec over a quarter mileduring a test meeting at theSydney Dragway recentlywhich was enough for himto get the licence.
He was proud of theachievement and Hodgins
said it could not have beendone without his supportcrew.
‘‘I got a drive with theRocket Industry and a bigthanks to Graeme Cowanand my crew TerritoryTrimmer boys,’’ Hodginssaid.
Hodgins will compete onSeptember 8 at the AliceSprings Inland DragwayCADRA Quarter Mile SmileMake-A-Wish FoundationRace Five event.
Statistics for themonth of August
Average daily max temp: 22.6Average daily min temp: 6Record highest temp: 35.2 on 22/8/2009Record lowest temp: -4.1 on 16/8/2002Average monthly rainfall: 9.2mmHighest monthly rainfall: 144.1 in 1947Rainfall this month: 0mmTotal rainfall last month: 40.2mmTotal rainfall this year: 146.2mmTotal rainfall last year: 209.4mmRecord annual rainfall: 782.5 in 1974Sunrise: 7.06am Sunset: 6.15pmOutlook issued by the Bureau of Meteorology forThursday: SunnyForecast:Fri 30: 35(11) Sat 31: 35(15) Sun 1: 35(16) Mon 2:33(16)